In early 2021, Next City partnered with the High Line to convene a two-part webinar series, also called “The Future of Monumentality.” In it, notable designers, artists, architects, policymakers and activists deconstructed the imperial violence and white supremacist repression at the heart of Western expressions of monumentality, and reimagined the form, function and role of commemoration as we move toward a more inclusive future. (You can also view these recordings in full in our archive, with a pay-what-you-wish donation.) We are not the first era to grapple with these issues — post-Nazi Germany and post-Soviet Eastern Europe faced a similar reckoning in the previous century. These questions remain timely and urgent. At Next City, we imagine cities as places liberated from systems and cultures of oppression. But public space can never fully be free as long as elected officials glorify and support reminders of the genocide and land theft that underpin the “Amer
January 27, 2021
Join Next City for the first of two virtual conversations in our series, “The Future of Monumentality,” as we examine the past, present, and future of public monuments from the unique intersection of art, design, and urbanism. The speaker series, moderated by New York Times critic Salamishah Tillet, is co-presented in partnership with the High Line.
In 2020 communities around the world 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. Among 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. And as the disturbing insurrection in Washington, D.C., has shown, white supremacists continue to wield and deface monuments