Who decides what is publicly memorialized?   

What happens when our collective thinking about that person, event, or issue changes? How do we “undo” a past memorialization and decide what may come in its place? What happens when the physical existence of a place or event is lost? How can we make visible these hidden or unspoken histories?  

Through a series of talks, panel discussions, gallery conversations, and interactive experiences, learn how artists in Cleveland and elsewhere have transformed the monumental topography of the United States and share your own thoughts on what should be remembered in your community.  

Session 1: Monuments and Memory 

10:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m., Gartner Auditorium, The Cleveland Museum of Art 

10:00—Welcome, William M. Griswold, Director and President, The Cleveland Museum of Art 

10:05—Renée Ater, “Contemporary Monuments to the Slave Past” 

10:30—Panel 1: “Undoing and Remaking Collective Memory.” Renée Ater (moderator), Michelle Browder, and M. Carmen Lane  

11:30—Panel 2: “Cleveland: From Site to Community.” David Wilson (moderator), Mordecai Cargill, and Kat Burdine 

12:30—Introduction to “Monuments to Cleveland: Reimagined Futures,” Key Jo Lee 

Lunch Break

1:00–2:00 p.m. 

Session 2: Monuments to Cleveland: Reimagined Futures 

2:00–3:30 p.m., Ames Family Atrium 
CMA invited two Cleveland-based artists who participated in the 2021 Keithley Symposium roundtables to create model monuments to Cleveland. 

kasumi, Surfacing
Surfacing draws on the political and symbolic parallels between women and water.

Gwendolyn Garth, The Isms Eradicator
Cleveland has a history of innovation, including superheroes. The Isms Eradicator celebrates the liberating power of human strength. 

Come and talk to the artists about their installations. Join the conversation by sharing your ideas for monuments in Cleveland at the visitor response station! 

2:00 p.m. and 2:30 p.m., Ames Family Atrium
Gallery conversations on the theme of monument and memory led by students in the CMA/CWRU joint program in art history 

Cohosted by the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) and Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) through their joint program in art history, the Keithley Symposium is a biennial event that brings together artists, scholars, thought leaders, and community members to explore the role of visual arts in contemporary society.   

The Keithley Symposium is made possible through the generous support of Nancy F. and Joseph P. Keithley.