Paul Farber, founder of Monument Lab, discusses his new exhibition "Rising Up: Rocky and the Making of Monuments" at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The show moves the iconic Rocky statue inside the museum and examines how a fictional boxer's statue became Philadelphia's most famous work of art, exploring broader questions about collective memory and public commemoration. Farber also reflects on the dismantling of the Frank Rizzo statue and how unintentional monuments like the Berlin Wall shape cultural discourse.
The exhibition matters because it challenges traditional definitions of monuments, expanding them beyond bronze and marble figures to include historic sites, murals, protest acts, and even movie props. Farber's work with Monument Lab, which has engaged tens of thousands of people in conversations about public space, highlights how communities are rethinking who and what gets commemorated. This comes at a time when debates over statues and public memory are increasingly central to American cultural and political life.