This module interrogates art historian Paul Farber’s claim that ‘Monuments operate as statements of power and presence in public space.’ More than inert public sculptures, monuments are active tools for generating the historical record, affirming collective identities and consolidating power. As public debate rages over the future of Britain’s monumental landscape, this module evaluates the principal strategies currently being considered, including contextualising problematic examples, commissioning new monuments and monument removals. At sites across the city – including Hyde Park Corner, Trafalgar Square and the Greenwich peninsular – we will explore the significance of monuments as places of mourning, narrators of Empire and markers of systemic injustice. Visits to Tate Modern and the Museum of London, and the work of contemporary artists (including John Akomfrah, Larry Achiampong, Lubaina Himid and Thomas J. Price), will help us explore whether monuments impede rather than incite memory and investigate whose experiences they marginalise. Finally, we will envisage possibilities for monuments of the future, from sound installations to augmented reality.