Unstable Monuments. Nation, States, Spaces, and Conflicts in Public Sculpture, 1811-1947

Between 1811 and 1947, two opposing yet simultaneous forces reshaped the global political landscape. On the one hand, centrifugal movements of imperial fragmentation unfolded in Latin America and Asia; on the other, centripetal movements of national unification emerged in Belgium, Italy, and Germany. Sculptural monuments played a pivotal role in these transitions, serving as tools of state-building, identity formation, and contested memory. Far from being neutral, they became sites of both cohesion and conflict—symbols intended to unify nascent nations or uphold crumbling empires while often exposing deep ideological, regional, or ethnic tensions.

This session invites scholars to examine the complex functions of public sculpture— busts, statues, equestrian figures, allegorical groups—in nations undergoing processes of unification, fragmentation, or colonisation between 1811 (the independence of Venezuela and Paraguay) and 1947 (the independence of India). In addition to capital cities, we encourage contributions focused on regional centres, small towns, and marginal or (post)colonial settings. How did monuments negotiate the tensions between local pride and overarching national narratives? What happened when the unity they symbolised proved fragile or illusory?

Rather than considering monuments as fixed repositories of memory, this session draws on recent scholarship in iconoclasm, visual politics, and memory studies (e.g. Alex von Tunzelmann, Fallen Idols, 2020; David Freedberg, Iconoclasm, 2021; Erin Thompson, Smashing Statues, 2022; Dan Hicks, Every Monument Will Fall 2025) to reflect on how monuments have been reinterpreted, displaced, defaced, or destroyed. What can the history of their construction, endurance, or removal tell us about shifting ideas of nationhood, resistance, and justice?

We welcome interdisciplinary and transnational perspectives. Contributions may address monument relocation and transformation, iconoclastic acts, competing commemorative agendas, unrealised sculptural programmes, regional artistic vocabularies, and tensions between official and counter-monumental forms.

The format for this half-day session will be papers of 20 minutes each, followed by a Q&A (20 mins) moderated by the session convenor.

Submit your Paper via this form. Please download, complete and send it directly to the Session Convenor(s) below by Sunday 2 November 2025:

Alberto Pirro, Bibliotheca Hertziana, Max Planck Institute for Art History – Department Michalsky (Rome), Alberto.Pirro@biblhertz.it