Museum scholar to discuss memorials

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“Shalechet (Fallen Leaves)” is an art installation by Menashe Kadishman.

Photo: Courtesy of the Jewish Museum Berlin

(THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – April 13, 2009) An education specialist at the J. Paul Getty Museum will discuss the recent flurry of memorials and the controversies surrounding them in Germany and the United States at 5 p.m. Monday, May 4, at California Lutheran University.

Peter Tokofsky, Ph.D., will present “Art and Memorials: The Aesthetics of Remembering” in Nygreen Hall, Room 3.

Starting with Maya Lin’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial, 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 organizes a keynote lecture series and other programs for academic audiences and the general public at the Getty. He is also an adjunct professor of Germanic languages at UCLA and director of the university’s summer travel study program to Germany and Austria. 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.

CLU’s Art Department is presenting the free event with the help of a grant from the President's Diversity Council.

Nygreen Hall is located on Memorial Parkway in Thousand Oaks. For more information, call (805) 493-3564.