The explorative research network The Everyday Life of Urban Monuments studies the interrelationship between monuments, cities and everyday practices. We are interested in the ideologies and functions envisioned in the monumentalization of cities as well as the reception and uses of individual monuments and monument assemblies by the general public over time. We are preoccupied with developing methodologies for tracing how the bodies of citizens and
monuments interact and continuously cross-fertilize urban spaces with new meaning. And curious about the historical and geographical variations of this interaction. Typologies and biographies of monuments and the ignition, care and participatory practices in the preservation and reinvention of the monumental heritage of cities are other important fields of interest. In this kickoff seminar we address some of the basic questions at stake: What is the
work of monuments? How are monuments experienced and what role do they play in the production and suspension of everyday life in the city? What is the temporality of urban monuments? And how are we able to trace monument-citizen interactions?