Episode 1: Looking Through the Portal
Hosted by Dilcia Martinez
Release date: October 5, 2026
When a new art installation called the Portal was unveiled at Philadelphia’s City Hall in October 2024, people didn’t really know at first what to make of it. In this episode, Producer Dilcia Martinez explains how the Portal works in real time to connect people from different parts of the world, from Dublin to Manila. She asks the question—what even is the Portal? Is it a work of art? A monument? Compared to other sculptures and memorials around City Hall, recent installations like the Portal challenge the idea of what a monument is, to the point of asking whether we even need commemorative structures at all. In a city known for its strong identity and even stronger opinions, The Portal disrupts traditional ideas of monuments as fixed symbols of power and instead functions as a living, participatory space shaped by everyday people. Ultimately, it asks not what monuments remember, but what they do.
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About this episode of Monument Biography
About the guests:
Leah Modigliani is Associate Professor of Visual Studies at Tyler School of Art and Architecture.
Nicolas Klaus is the CEO of Portals.org.
Stephanie Farr is a Features columnist for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Want to Learn More about the topics covered in this episode?
Association for Public Art – Philadelphia City Hall
Monument Lab – Two Me (2017), by Mel Chin
Official Portals project website – https://www.portals.org/
Music Credits for this episode of Monument Biography:
“Wonder” by KaizanBlu