Innovative Forms
of Memory Culture

Shaping the Past / Gestaltung der Vergangenheit

How does the past take shape, and 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 are at the center of Shaping the Past, a partnership between Monument Lab, the Goethe-Institut, and the German Federal Agency for Civic Education (Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung/bpb).
More on this project

Project Highlights
Memory Map
Perspectives
Our Fellows
Partners

Project Highlights

Goethe-Institut Washington
Monument Lab Town Hall

Our kick off event contained keynote conversations, a graphic recording and video portraits of the 2020 Shaping the Past fellows. More ...

Approaching Reconciliation, or the Discomfort of Remembrance

Goethe Pop Up Kansas City
Approaching Reconciliation

A panel on two places of remembrance for victims of lynching – with Susan Neiman, Patrick Weems, Glenn North, and Dave Tell.

Goethe-Institut Los Angeles
Civic Displace

How could Indigenous voices shape L.A.’s Memory Culture? A discussion with Julia Bogany, Pamela Villaseñor and Joel Garcia.

Counter-Memories

The Counter-Memories conversation series investigates a number of international monuments and places of remembrance whose symbolic significance often reveals a great deal about our relationship to history.
Watch the videos

Memory Map

Which questions has Shaping the Past tackled so far? Explore videos, photo galleries, and other documentation of the programs and events that have taken part so far in North America.

All locations:

Perspectives

Historical memory is constantly shaped and reshaped by new interpretations of the past. Explore unique perspectives, nuanced arguments, and an examination of current events by scholars, activists, and the Monument Lab Fellows.

For the 76th anniversary of the liberation of Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp, the “Disappearing Wall” presented quotes by survivors

76th Anniversary of the Liberation of Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Concentration Camp
“All of this is our history.”

(12 April 2021)
11 April 2021 marked the 76th anniversary of the liberation of the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp. To remember the horrors of National Socialist rule, the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation, in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut, is showing the “Disappearing Wall” on Theaterplatz in Weimar. Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier commemorated the victims.

Field of stone pillars (stelea) with candles

Look at the process, not the outcome
Germany as a Model for Confronting the Past?

Germany is often seen as a model for how to confront a nation’s history. However, rather than looking only at the results of Germany’s reckoning with its past, it is more instructive to understand the process that led to the current situation.

Cheyenne Concepcion
Edge Conditions

Cheyenne Concepcion describes her project concerning the border constructions between U.S. and Mexico as looking outwards, towards the broader spatial conditions negotiated by borders.

Digital model for the Keupstraße memorial

Anti-racist memorial in Cologne
Radical Listening

Future places of remembrance should be based on the wishes of those affected. To do this, we need flexible designs that change as people change, as Ulf Aminde describes.

Notes on memory works in three parts
Dreaming of Utopias in Architecture

Ada Pinkston reflects on past, present and future of memory works in the U.S. and places her project LandMarked in this context.

Text that became a movement
There Are Black People in the Future

Alisha Wormsley’s There are Black People in the Future is inspired by afro-futurist artists and writers who highlight the need for Black people to claim their place.

More Perspectives

The Power of the Message: Send us your message!

Alisha Wormsley, Ayanah Moor and some very special helpers show you in a short video how to create from everyday objects you may already have at home. Send us a photo of your kite, poster, or yard sign and we will publish it on our Facebook and Instagram pages!
Watch the video

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.

In the News

Recent media reports and events featuring our fellows and partners.

Get a Set of Postcards!

With most of our events being digital, we still wanted to give you something tangible. Enter your address and we will send you a set of postcards with a selection of modern monuments and art in public spaces!
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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).