Peter Tokofsky, Art and Memorials: The Aesthetics of Remembering

In this public lecture, Peter Tokofsky, Ph.D., an education specialist at the J. Paul Getty Museum, will explore the recent flurry of memorials, and controversies surrounding them, in the United States and Germany. Taking Maya Lin’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial as a starting point, Tokofsky looks at ways artists have altered traditional forms of memorials to make them more effective catalysts for remembering. In Germany, memorials to victims of World War II and of a divided nation have proliferated. These take many forms and also raise questions about the roles and possibilities for memorials in that country and in our own.

Tokofsky is an adjunct professor of Germanic languages at UCLA and director of the university’s summer travel study program to Germany and Austria. At the Getty, he organizes programs, including a keynote lecture series, for the general public as well as for academic audiences. His research and publications focus on the history of folklore in Germany and on public displays and performances in the United States and Germany.

Light refreshments will be served. Admission is free. This event is made possible by a grant from the President's Diversity Council.