Over the past year, communities around the world have protested the institutional racism of police violence toward Black, Latinx, and Indigenous people—the same people who have experienced disproportionately devastating health effects and economic hardship during the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the most powerful symbols engaged by these protests has been the removal and defacing of monuments, as well as their use as focal points and backdrops for rallies, speeches, performances, and collections of protest signs.
As communities face renewed high-profile debates on the role of monuments in public spaces, we must once again examine the civic, aesthetic, and historical contexts these influential objects inhabit. Against this backdrop, The Future of Monumentality Speaker Series will engage artists, historians, government leaders, and placemakers around issues of power, engagement, and representation. In the first panel, speakers will address monumentality itself; in the second, speakers will offer examples of alternatives to monuments as currently understood in the mainstream.
Amid the many conversations around monuments taking place over the past months and years, and as a new administration takes office, we continue to center the public reckoning around racism in the United States and across the globe.
A bundled ticket to both events is available now for $20. Pay-what-you-wish registration is open and available by clicking the individual event links below. Donations made to support this event are split between Next City and the High Line.
Day 1: Wednesday, January 27
What Is Monumentality?
Day 2: Thursday, January 28
Alternatives to Monumentality