Webinar : 19.08.2026, Contra Monumentality

Speaker: yomi folaranmiA deconstruction of the monument and the ideological work it performs in upholding the myths of statehood. Drawing on the anti-hubristic ruin-pleasure of Shelley's Ozymandias, the anti-monumental logic of Igbo mbari practice read against Derrida's metaphysics of presence, Badiou's theory of the event, and Riegl's foundational essay on the modern cult of monuments, this talk argues for impermanence over permanence. It argues for a monumental anarchy in place of monuments as