April 29, 2021 7:00pm 8:30pm
Monuments as Sites of Reckoning: the Built Environment as a Memorial, Chicago Monuments Project
City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events

How do we create powerful sites of reckoning and memorial? How can we think differently about what a monument or memorial can be and do? Could the built landscape be considered a monument? This discussion will explore relationships between sites, their contexts and the histories of communities they represent. Speakers will consider how temporal and formal landscapes can inform and transform a monument’s potential, how sites can commemorate events, ideas and themes beyond people, and how to combine representational and non-representational monuments and memorials to tell a shared story. Panelists include Chicago-based artist and architect Amanda Williams, Author of Negro Building: Black Americans in the World of Fairs and Museumsand Columbia University Professor of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Mabel Wilson and Chief Curatorial Advisor at Monument Lab, Ken Lum.