The Keithley Symposium

“Monuments are statements of power and presence in public.” —Dr. Paul Farber, Director of Monument Lab 

The Keithley Symposium is a biennial event, co-hosted by the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) and Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) through their joint program in art history, that brings together artists, scholars, thought leaders, and community members to explore the role of visual arts in contemporary society. For the 2021 symposium, we are collaborating with Monument Lab, an internationally recognized public art and history studio that cultivates and facilitates critical conversations around the past, present, and future of monuments. Our goal is to produce a collaborative, research-based, and community-informed forum focused on the relationship between Cleveland’s residents and its monuments.  

The 2021 Keithley Symposium, “Monumental Conversations: City Stories,” is guided by two questions: what is the story of Cleveland, and where does it live? It brings together artists, residents, and scholars to channel and explore—both playfully and purposefully—Cleveland’s deep and shifting stories of place, in ways that tackle what can be seen and what’s under the surface. The 2021 symposium is part of a longer collaborative project with Monument Lab, culminating in another event at the end of 2022.

The leaders of this project are Professor Elizabeth Bolman, chair of CWRU’s Department of Art History and Art, Key Jo Lee, director of academic affairs and associate curator of special projects at the CMA, and Charles Kang, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at the CMA and CWRU.   

Free; in-person attendee ticket required.