Welcome to Monument Lab's Future Memory, a public art and history podcast. Each episode, hosts Paul Farber and Li Sumpter explore stories and critical conversations around the past, present, and future of monuments. We speak to the artists, activists, and historians on the frontlines, building the next generation of public spaces through stories of social justice and equity. Here are the monumental people, places, and ideas of our time.
Plot of Land is a podcast mini-series by Monument Lab that explores how land ownership and housing in the United States have been shaped by power, public memory, and privatization.
Stewarding Sound and Ancestral Memory with Nathan Young
Episode 46 of Future Memory features artist, scholar, and composer, Nathan Young. Young is a member of the Delaware Tribe of Indians and a direct descendant of the Pawnee Nation and Kiowa Tribe, currently living in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. His work incorporates sound, video, documentary, animation, installation, socially-engaged art, and experimental and improvised music. Young is also a founding member of the artist collective, Postcommodity. He holds an MFA in Music/Sound from Bard College's Milton Avery School of the Arts and is currently pursuing a PhD in the University of Oklahoma's innovative Native American art history doctoral program. His scholarship focuses on Indigenous Sonic Agency. Nathan talks with Co-host Li Sumpter about his art and practice and a public art project at Historic site Pennsbury Manor entitled nkwiluntàmën, funded by the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage and curated by Ryan Strand Greenberg and Theo Loftis.
15 Jun 2023
MING MEDIA is the Message with Jon Kaufman and El Sawyer
Future Memory welcomes El Sawyer and Jon Kaufman of MING Media. MING stands for Media In Neighborhoods Group – words that speak to WHERE Jon and El have been focusing their documentary work and the community-centered stories they’re known for telling. It’s been almost 10 years since the debut of Pull of Gravity, their first film and breakout project that shaped their future path in collaborative filmmaking. Pull of Gravity offers a rarely seen perspective on the prison system and those it impacts through the process of re-entry and the almost inescapable force of recidivism. In this episode, El and Jon share their own story of how they met, their style of collaboration and documentation, and how their non-linear, “human” approach to storytelling has taken them to neighborhoods around the world and ultimately changed both of their lives. We also talk about MING’s recent work with Monument Lab on projects like Re:Generation and Beyond Granite that underscore both partners’ connections to the power of truth-telling and the understanding that like monuments, the permanence of media can be hurtful to those it represents or misrepresents and to the communities who will remember its record.
*NOTE: The title of this episode is a nod to the iconic phrase “The medium is the message” coined by communication theorist, Marshall McLuhan. It refers to how the form of a medium or communication platform is ingrained in the message being communicated and creates a “symbiotic relationship by which the medium influences how the message is perceived”.
8 Jun 2023
Teaching Truth with Jesse Hagopian
In this episode co-host Li Sumpter receives a history lesson from Jesse Hagopian, Seattle-based educator, activist, and die-hard advocate for antiracist education. He shares childhood memories that impacted his view of himself, his future path, and his role in the Black Freedom Struggle – a fight that has deep roots in Seattle and the very high school Jesse attended as a youth. He is a true master of the art and science of education guided by great icons of critical pedagogy like bell hooks and Paulo Freire. Jesse is an organizer with the Zinn Education Project, author of the upcoming book Teach Truth the Attack on Critical Race Theory and the Struggle for Anti-racist Education and co-editor of the books Black Lives Matter at School: An Uprising for Educational Justice and Teaching for Black Lives.
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
4.9 / 5
40 ratings
Contact Future Memory
Guest appearances
Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Host of Future Memory?
Claim your podcast to manage its listing and keep your show details accurate.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
