Threats to cultural heritage are on the rise globally, due to factors ranging from war and intentional destruction to unfettered development and climate change. International cultural heritage institutions and their methods seem inadequate at best, and abetting threats to culture at worst. Join two of the most incisive voices in debates on cultural heritage today to explore the stakes for the protection of cultural heritage around the world.

Speakers: 

Lynn Meskell, Richard D. Green Professor of Anthropology in the School of Arts and Sciences, Professor in the Department of Historic Preservation, and curator in the Middle East and Asia sections at the Penn Museum

Title: “How and Why We Weaponize the Past”

Hrag Vartanian, art critic, curator, artist and lecturer. Vartanian is the Editor-in-chief and co-founder of Hyperallergic, an online forum and publication exploring the intersection of art and politics, recipient of the Susan C. Larsen Lifetime Achievement Award 2024.

Title: “Critics of Empire: Negative Space and Complicity”

Friday, February 21, 2025 from 4:00 – 6:00 p.m. at the Jan Shrem and Manetti Shrem Museum of Art.
A light reception will follow the talks and Q&A.

Organized and moderated by Heghnar Watenpaugh. Co-sponsored by the Department of Art and Art History and the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art.

The colloquium is made possible through an endowment established by Alan Templeton (B.A., art history and psychology, ‘82).

Media contact: Professor of Art History Heghnar Watenpaugh