Monuments Toolkit Webinar

This month's theme addresses the challenges of reassessing figures that are pivotal in telling a nation's story. Nationalism is a powerful force that is celebrated and emanated in our public spaces. Nationalism is not inherently bad, but may stymie the reception of contemporary values. While the populace continues to develop, the individuals that we choose to immortalize may become problematic or obscure in this new social landscape.

We are joined by two professors, each representing a different corner of the world. Dr. Shu-mei Huang will be covering the national and political contention around the Chiang Kai-shek statues in Taiwan, while Dr. Emily Mark-Fitzgerald will be analyzing Ireland's unique cases of rejection and destruction such as the bombing of Nelson's Pillar. We hope that you will be able to discuss these complex monuments together with our panelists.

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This month's theme sets aside our initial thoughts on oppressive monuments to gauge the figure's relevancy and potential for redemption. Although their history cannot be changed, one may be quick to vouch for removal/destruction before understanding the full picture. Together in collaboration with The Alliance for the Restoration of Cultural Heritage (ARCH International), and the staff of Memento Park in Budapest, Hungary, our panelists will analyze the unique solutions applied to case studies around the world and the strengths of incorporating public law contemporary public spaces.

Following the destruction of the Soldiers' Monument in Santa Fe Plaza on Indigenous Peoples Day, Director Cheryl Benard drafted the first handbook on dealing with controversial monuments. By incorporating criminal law, decision-makers would gain a streamlined process of navigating contention while allowing for all stakeholders to voice their perspectives. This tactic can be applied to dilemmas around the world, while positioning communities to weigh in on the fate of a monument or problematic narrative.

Memento Park houses many Soviet-era figures throughout the occupied history of Hungary from the 1900s. However, due to their displacement from public space into bare fields and in proximity of one another, they have almost become comical. In a strange twist, the public has even begun to make memes of the surviving statues; making these symbols of oppression into tourist attractions and entertainment. Despite the initial pushback, Memento Park's unique solutions have naturally embraced recontextualization as different generations of visitors are introduced.

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This webinar highlights the work and methods of artists and designers who utilize public space as a canvas or installation site. Although identity and representation have grown in importance, we will ask “How well do our public spaces reflect the demographics and culture of our towns, cities, and lands? And what role does public art play in the reassessment of public spaces?” Often, interpreters or affiliated organizations are in a position to speak for the work of artists. This webinar pushes the activism of creators into the forefront, featuring guest speakers from the United States of America and Afghanistan.

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The Monuments Toolkit team will be hosting this month's theme on Recontextualizing Monuments of Oppression. Our program incorporates monument case studies where there is a significant gap in power that prevents the public and organizations from redefining their public spaces. Contemporary solutions like Co-location and Reinterpretation offer unique approaches to oppressive monuments. However, are they impactful in the erasure of the horrific and offensive legacies of problematic figures and iconography?

Our panelists will each tackle this challenge from their own perspectives. Erin Thompson will explore the intricacies of the Freedmen's Memorial as a product of slave labor, and the implications of the figures above. Ella Békési will analyze Memento Park in Budapest Hungary, as the monuments were relocated to spaces away from the public eye and out of their original context. In light of the current situation in Ukraine, has public opinion changed about the relocation of Soviet monuments to Memento Park?

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This is an informal luncheon or "coffee break" atmosphere that allows for discussions of community representation, key moments in the webinars/podcasts, and other oppressive monuments to flow and become more interactive between the Monuments Toolkit Team and our live audience. During this program, the Monuments Toolkit Team will be highlighted, as they reflect on new discoveries, unique perspectives, and their own personal taste on whom should be immortalized? As always, viewers will be able to participate and ask questions about the project, or any other aspects of what we have covered so far with a flexible Q&A option throughout the entire program. We hope to see you there and to close out the year with impactful discussions.

Additionally there are several moments when we refer to the "October Webinar" as the Comfort women theme. However, that was actually the webinar for August.

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@World Heritage USA (US Natl Comm ICOMOS)
Rodney Freeman has worked in academic, public, and government libraries for over ten years and has worked in multiple positions, from a library page to a library administrator. In addition, he has led several digital library projects and has been a strong advocate of diverse digital collections. Driven with passion, Rodney Freeman started Preservation LLC to help people preserve and convert their photos and documents into a digital format. Along with starting his company in 2018, Rodney developed a platform called The Black Male Archives, where the objective is to capture, curate, and promote positive stories about Black men to combat the negative images portrayed in the media.

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Deliasofia Zacarias is an artist, writer, and arts administrator whose work is rooted in accessibility, equity, community, and inclusivity. Based in Los Angeles, CA by way of Texas, she currently works at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art where she serves as Executive Administrator and Fellow in the Director's Office. She first joined LACMA as the Emerging Art Professional (LEAP) Fellow —part of the Diversifying Museum Leadership Initiative funded by the Walton Foundation and Ford Foundation. As a fellow, Deliasofia worked closely with museum leadership to better understand the role of an encyclopedic art and cultural institution and its relationship with local and global audiences. Promoted to Snap Research Fellow in 2019, she was instrumental in developing and implementing the LACMA x Snapchat: Monumental Perspectives multi-year initiative. Deliasofia is currently the Executive Administrator and Fellow in the Director's Office and serves on the board of the Arts Administrators of Color Network.

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​ @US/ICOMOS This month’s webinar covers the historically neglected “Comfort Women”, who were kidnapped into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Military during World War II. These memorials have been targeted and removed internationally, but the “Column of Strength” continues to stand in San Francisco. “Comfort women” memorials are not intended to insult or attribute current generations with the mistakes of the nation’s past. However, the stories they preserve have been denied recognition for years while the opposition remains steadfast. The Monuments Toolkit team is proud to collaborate with activists that seek justice for “comfort women” in both their respective regions and worldwide. Each will present their insights and experiences on cases that they have worked on personally. Joining us for this webinar are the following organizations: Lila Pilipina, The “Comfort Women” Action for Redress & Education (CARE, fka KAFC), and The “Comfort Women” Justice Coalition (CWJC).

Phyllis Kim will focus on the Glendale memorial and how it relates to protecting the legacy of “comfort women” and touch upon the ongoing struggle by the last surviving activist/victim Grandma Lee in Korea, to achieve justice before all victims pass away. Judith Mirkinson will focus on the San Francisco memorial and make a connection to the broader issue of the ongoing sexual violence against women in conflict, as well as historical denialism in the present moment and its relationship to women. Sharon Cabusao-Silva will discuss the meaning and the denialism behind the Filipino memorial, which was removed overnight by the government under the pressure from Japan, and the ongoing struggle against denialism that re-victimizes the survivors.

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This month's theme considers the possibility of public and private institutions to acquire and display oppressive monuments. The challenges faced in our public spaces are often discussed in the museum world. We should highlight their perspectives since museums directly influence the attitudes and taste of public aesthetics. If museums were to become stewards of oppressive monuments, what positions would they be able to take and are these controversial figures considered art? These are the questions that we wish to address.
The Monuments Toolkit team is proud to host this webinar in collaboration with The Valentine Museum and the LAXART Gallery. Our three guest speakers will each present their stance and expertise on the subject.

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This month’s theme covers Controversial Monuments in Spaces of Regional Conflict. Our two guest speakers, each representing a different corner of the world, will present their perspectives on complex sites and narratives in their communities. Monuments in Czechoslovak public spaces have been reassessed many times after the Velvet Revolution in 1989. As contemporary communities question the comemmoration of communist-era monuments like the Konev Monument, Czech and Slovak public spaces are witnessing numerous reformulations that are reshaping their legacy and identity. Statues of the authoritarian leader Chiang Kai-shek throughout Taiwan are being re-evaluated in the wake of the island nation's democratic transition. Schools, public institutions, and city centers have grappled with how to handle monuments to an individual instrumental to development, but who presided over a police state that committed widespread atrocities against the populace.

Learn more about the Monuments Toolkit here: https://worldheritageusa.org/monumentstoolkit/

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