Discussions of Monumentality
Many RSET members attended these terrific discussions live on zoom. Happily, some have been recorded for re-viewing. Descriptive text below is largely drawn from the original event websites or announcements. Worth watching!
History, Place, and the Reckoning with Pioneer Monuments and Memorials
Feb 18, 2021
Pioneer statues and memorials –- always with different implications for different people – have recently become increasingly controversial across our country. For many viewers, they still
celebrate pioneers and the pioneer spirit central to the founding of the state; for others, they stand as provocative relics of a racist past. Recent protests over these prominent symbols reveal
a deepening divide in the debate over historical memory. Watch the recording of Ellen Eisenberg, David Lewis, and April Slabosheski
discuss disputes over the role played by such statues and memorials in our public spaces. [recorded]
Lots of discussion of Oregon's monuments!
Monuments and the Wounds of History
CANDICE HOPKINS
Tuesday, February 16, 2021, 7 - 8:30pm
A foot severed from the bronze monument of a conquistador. The spillage from this rupture opened up long festering colonial histories. These histories reared their heads again in 2017 when the
foot suddenly reappeared, two decades after the original act. Those who cut it off wanted to speak again about the importance of telling history in its entirety and to begin conversations about
reparations for those Indigenous peoples who were killed and mutilated by the conquistador Juan de Oñate. In this free, public online lecture as part of the Spring 2021 Intra-Disciplinary Seminar
series Candice Hopkins considers what do colonial monuments represent now, particularly once they are removed from their pedestals?
Candice Hopkins is a citizen of Carcross/Tagish First Nation and lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her writing and curatorial practice explore the intersections of history,
contemporary art and indigeneity.
[recording not yet available]
The IDS public lecture series, Cooper Union.
The Future of Monumentality
Next City and the High Line present two fascinating conversations in the series, “The Future of Monumentality." Speakers examine the past, present, and future of public monuments from the unique intersection of art, design, and urbanism. The Future of Monumentality examines the civic, aesthetic, and historical contexts these influential objects inhabit. Moderated by New York Times critic Salamishah Tillet. [sign in and watch for free]
January 27, 2021
Examines monumentality itself through the lens of art, architecture and public space. What does it mean to memorialize an event? A person? A movement? What is the relationship between the monument, the narrative it projects, and its audience? Who gets to tell the story? How are monuments wielded by a dominant culture to control and/or subjugate; and conversely, how are these forms leveraged to reclaim lost cultural history?
January 28, 2021
An artist, historian, public official, and placemaker reimagine the form, function and role of monuments as we move into the future. Among the broad topics our panel will engage are: how displacing and recontextualizing monuments in post-Soviet Eastern Europe changed the meaning and understanding of these works; how the “Paper Monuments” project in New Orleans centered the Black experience and surfaced untold histories; how interactive performance art creates a space to honor Indigenous ancestral wisdom and storytelling traditions; and more.
"The popular lore about why the symbol is displayed may not reflect the true history."
The Southern Poverty Law Center published a useful guide for how activists can take important steps toward building the kind of community where the values of equal justice and equal opportunity are shared by all.