What is an appropriate monument for the current city of Philadelphia? Last year, over 250,000 Philadelphians and visitors engaged this question in a citywide exhibition curated by Monument Lab and produced with Mural Arts Philadelphia. As the exhibition featured twenty prototype artworks, the labs collected over 4,500 proposals from public participants. The proposals offer a stunning, unprecedented glimpse into the historical imagination of Philadelphians.

Now that the research has been transcribed, mapped, and will soon be uploaded to Open Data Philly, the Report to the City offers a reading and reflection on the immense creativity and critical energies by public participants. The Report offers key findings and visualizations from the data. Mark the public release of the Report to the City at a party on Tuesday, October 2nd at Slought Foundation with free newspaper editions of the Report, a virtual reality tour of the 2017 exhibition, refreshments, and a special performance by Monument Lab collaborator Ursula Rucker.

The Report to the City is compiled by Monument Lab and presented with Mural Arts Philadelphia.

Lead Monument Lab partners included the City of Philadelphia; Philadelphia Parks & Recreation; Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy; Historic Philadelphia; Independence National Historical Park; Penn Institute for Urban Research; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts; Price Lab for Digital Humanities; and the University of Pennsylvania.

Major support for Monument Lab projects staged in Philadelphia’s five squares was provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.

An expanded artist roster and projects at five neighborhood sites were made possible by a significant grant from the William Penn Foundation.

Lead corporate sponsor was Bank of America.

Additional support was provided by Susanna Lachs & Dean Adler, William & Debbie Becker, CLAWS Foundation, Comcast NBCUniversal, Davis Charitable Foundation, Hummingbird Foundation, J2 Design, National Endowment for the Arts, Nick & Dee Adams Charitable Fund, Parkway Corporation, PECO, Relief Communications LLC, Sonesta Philadelphia Rittenhouse Square, Stacey Spector & Ira Brind, Tiffany Tavarez, Tuttleman Family Foundation, Joe & Renee Zuritsky, and 432 Kickstarter backers. Support for Monument Lab‘s final publication provided by the Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation.

Media partner: WHYY