Down With Monuments? On the Making and Unmaking of Public Memory

October 23, 2017

Relevant historical objects or relics of the past?

Recent confrontations over memorials have highlighted the true nature of monuments as acts of power. Proposals to take down, modify, or replace these statues confirm that monuments are as much about the present as they are about the past. But what is the best way to address these historical objects? Should out-of-date or potentially offensive monuments always be removed? Or are there ways that monuments can persist in their location but be contextualized by didactic exposition or artistic intervention so that they resonate with the present?

During this period when we are reconsidering how we make and unmake commemorative objects, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) and the University of Chicago hosted a roundtable discussion to investigate how public life is tangled up with the histories of public art.

Speakers:
Lucia Allais
Romi Crawford
Patrick R. Crowley
Christine Mehring
W. J. T. Mitchell
Kirk Savage
Mechtild Widrich

The views and opinions expressed in this event are the panelists' own and do not necessarily reflect those of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.