Currently Speaking: “Taking Monuments off their Pedestals” with Dr. Kelley Di Dio

The call to take down public monuments around the world in the past few years has resulted in deeper considerations of what purpose monuments have, what histories are conveyed, and who gets to choose what people and moments we commemorate. In this talk, Dr. Di Dio will consider why, when, and by whom American and European monuments of the past were made, what should be done with them, and will propose how those monuments may provide a framework for new approaches to public monuments moving forward.

Kelley Helmstutler Di Dio, Ph.D. is UVM’s Rush C. Hawkins Professor of Art History, Executive Director of the School of the Arts, and Associate Dean in the College of Arts and Sciences at UVM. She has published five books and dozens of articles and essays, and has lectured at universities and museums across Europe, the US, and Canada, including the National Gallery of Art, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Collége de France, and the Museo Nacional del Prado, and has won UVM’s Kroepsch-Maurice Award for Excellence in Teaching and the George Kidder Outstanding Faculty Award.

The Currently Speaking series hosts experts in various contemporary art genres and media to encourage casual discourse and meaningful interactions between our community, speakers, and the art they showcase.

All series events start at 5pm, last for an hour, and are free to the public with a suggested donation of $10. No reservation is required, and the gallery will be open beforehand for viewing the current exhibition, A Place of Memory. Refreshments will be served.