Professional Practice
The Future of Monumentality
Date: 1/27/2021 - 1/28/2021
Description:
Join the High Line and Next City January 27-28 for two virtual conversations that examine the past, present, and future of public monuments from the unique intersection of art, design, and urbanism.
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.
The Future of Monumentality features two conversations that bring together 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.