Civic Views: A Forum

Floor 3, Theater

Join us for an afternoon of conversations and music inspired by Emilio Martinez Poppe’s Civic Views (2021–2025), currently on view as part of 2026 Whitney Biennial, The program anticipates the upcoming publication of Civic Views: A Reader (Mural Arts Philadelphia and Inventory Press), which explores the historic struggles and radical potentials of the public sector through the lens of artistic interventions. 

This forum brings together six of the interdisciplinary scholars, labor organizers, and artists included in Civic Views: A Reader. With expertise ranging from the aesthetics of resistance to union organizing in Philadelphia, these practitioners consider the current working conditions of municipal employees alongside methods for socially-engaged artistic practice amidst rising authoritarianism and mass privatization. Riffing on the conversations and on their own expertise as city workers, the Philadelphia Municipal Employee Choral Ensemble performs throughout the event. The audience is invited to ask questions and chime into the discussion. 

Speakers

Emilio Martinez Poppe is a New York City-based interdisciplinary artist. His current work explores the potentials of cultural organizing within the public sector as in his public art project “Civic Views” in Philadelphia and his role managing the Public Artists in Residence program in New York. Recent exhibitions and commissions include the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of the City of New York, Queens Museum, Abrons Art Center, and Mural Arts Philadelphia.

Shannon Mattern is the Director of Creative Research at the Metropolitan New York Library Council. Previously, she held full professorships in media studies, anthropology, and art history at The New School and the University of Pennsylvania. Her research and teaching focus on media architectures, information infrastructures, and urban technologies. She was the 2025 Kluge Chair in Modern Culture at the Library of Congress. 

Jameson Paige is a curator and writer based in Philadelphia and New York. He is interested in contemporary art’s engagement with spatial politics, history, negotiations of identity, and problems of representation. His work with artists has manifested as interdisciplinary projects in public space, programming initiatives, publications, and exhibitions. He is currently the Curator of Public Practice at Mural Arts Philadelphia and teaches in the School of Art, Design History and Theory at Parsons School of Design. 

Paul Prescod is a staff organizer at Labor Notes, an education and training center for labor union activists. He also is a contributing editor at Jacobin Magazine, where he writes about the labor movement.

Alex Strada is a New York City-based interdisciplinary artist whose socially engaged work examines civic systems and structures of power. Since 2022, she has served as the Public Artist in Residence with the New York City Department of Homeless Services and Department of Cultural Affairs. Recent exhibitions and commissions include Storefront for Art and Architecture, the Bronx Museum of Art, Queens Museum, and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

Latisha Thompson is a federal worker living in Philadelphia. She is also a rank-and-file member of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 1793, which represents workers at the Veterans Health and Cemetery Administrations (VA), and a member of the Federal Unionists Network (FUN) Steering Committee.

The Philadelphia Municipal Employee Choral Ensemble (MECE) is a self-organized group of city employees and retirees who work across ten different agencies serving Philadelphians every day. From their annual holiday performances at the Municipal Services Building to their invitation to perform at the Wawa Welcome America Festival their musical stylings emphasize joy and creativity that animates Philadelphia's public sector.