Every Monument Will Fall
Dan Hicks
Saturday
12.09.2026
18:00–19:00
Atelier 2
Atelier 2
Atelier 2
Atelier 2
What happens when monuments become sites of conflict rather than consensus? Across the world, statues are being removed, contested, defended, and reimagined. These debates are not simply about objects in public space, but about the histories, power structures, and futures they embody.
In his keynote speech, archaeologist, curator, and author Dan Hicks draws on the central arguments of his acclaimed book Every Monument Will Fall to examine the politics of monuments in the twenty-first century.
Challenging the idea that monuments are neutral witnesses to history, Hicks argues that they are active instruments in the production of public memory, shaping whose histories are commemorated, whose violence is normalised, and whose voices remain excluded.
Moving beyond the question of whether monuments should stand or fall, the keynote explores how societies might rethink remembrance itself. What forms of public memory become possible when monuments are understood not as permanent symbols, but as contested cultural technologies? And how can artistic, civic, and curatorial practices open new ways of engaging with difficult histories?
Bringing together archaeology, museum studies, memory politics, and contemporary cultural debates, Dan Hicks offers a compelling perspective on the urgent question of how we remember in times of political conflict and historical transformation.