Shaping the Past

Shaping the Past / Gestaltung der Vergangenheit Photos © Ada Pinkston

How does the past take shape? What happens in the process of coming to terms with the past? What social repercussions are associated with the rooting of history in monuments and memorials? How can those narratives be shifted or upended through alternative, innovative approaches to memorialization? These questions and many others are at the center of our project, Shaping the Past, a partnership between Monument Lab, the Goethe-Institut, and the Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (German Federal Agency for Civic Education/bpb)
More on this project

Recent Updates

Artist Billboard with the text: There are Black People in the Future Photo: Alisha Wormsley

Updated August 3
 In the News

Recent media reports and events featuring our fellows and partners.

The Voices of our Fellows

Monument Lab Fellows and Goethe-Institut Staff during Research Trip Photo: Monument Lab

Monument Lab in Berlin

Over the summer, we traveled to Berlin with members of Monument Lab's 2019 Fellows cohort for a research trip, meeting with memory workers, cultural organizers, and public space advocates, touring both prominent and grassroots sites of memory.
 
Photo of the Berlin Wall Memorial Photo: Cheyenne Concepcion, 2019

The Berlin Wall’s Second Act

Cheyenne Concepcion considers her time in Berlin, especially the ways the formerly divided city offers a site to engage borders and monumentality back in the U.S. while inquiring about the (after)lives of border walls as sites to reckon with legacies of division.
Wall - Past, Present, Future © Johanna Benz 2019

Monumental Violence, from Germany to the United States

Joel Garcia reflects on his time in Berlin, especially around the ways the formerly divided city offered a site to engage borders and monumentality in the U.S., and considers narratives of freedom and manifestations of white supremacy.

Our Fellows

The fellows for Shaping the Past come from Monument Lab's 2019 and 2020 fellowship cohorts and were selected from an applications pool of over 100 memory workers throughout North America and Germany with existing projects using art, activism, history, journalism, and other tools to approach monuments in their communities. Applications were reviewed by a jury representing the fields of art, history, and social engagement, who recommended applicants who demonstrated excellence, innovative processes and projects for public engagement.

Ulf Aminde; Photo: Svenja Leiber

Berlin and Cologne, Germany
 Ulf Aminde

Kanyinsola Anifowoshe

Chicago, IL, USA; New Haven, CT, USA
 Kanyinsola Anifowoshe

Tomie Arai

New York City, NY, USA
 Tomie Arai

Free Bangura

Richmond, VA, USA
 Free Egunfemi Bangura

Sergio Beltrán-García

Mexico City, Mexico
 Sergio Beltrán-García

Arielle Julia Brown

Philadelphia, PA, USA
 Arielle Brown

Zyahna Bryant

Charlottesville, VA, USA
 Zyahna Bryant

Cheyenne Concepcion

San Francisco, CA, USA
 Cheyenne Concepcion

Thalia Fernández Bustamante

San Francisco Xochicuautla, Mexico
 Thalia Fernández Bustamante

Joel Garcia

Los Angeles, CA, USA
 Joel Garcia

A Long Walk Home Headshot

Chicago, IL, USA
 A Long Walk Home’s Girl/Friends - Anaya Patrice Frazier, Danielle Nolen, and Aliyah Young

Hadi Al Khatib

Berlin, Germany
 Hadi Al Khatib

MADAD – Mallory Nezam, De Nichols and Damon Davis

St. Louis, MO, USA; Cambridge, MA, USA
 MADAD – Mallory Nezam, De Nichols, and Damon Davis

Ada Pinkston

Baltimore, MD, USA
 Ada Pinkston

Ada Pinkston is an artist, educator, and cultural organizer living and working in Baltimore, Maryland where she is a lecturer in Art education at Towson University.
Take Action Chapel Hill Headshot

Chapel Hill, NC, USA
 Take Action Chapel Hill- Maya Little, Gina Balamucki, and Annie Simpson

Quentin VerCetty Lindsay

Montreal and Toronto, Canada
 Quentin VerCetty Lindsay

Patrick Weems

Sumner, MS, USA
 Patrick Weems

Alisha B. Wormsley

Pittsburgh, PA, USA
 Alisha B. Wormsley

Our Partners

Shaping the Past is produced in partnership with the Goethe-Institut, Monument Lab, and the Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (Federal Agency for Civic Education).


Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung
Monument Lab Logo

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