The controversies sparked today by monuments, sculptures and artistic interventions in public space crystallize the tensions running through our societies around questions of gender, sexuality and memory. Who is represented, how, and by whom? Who remains absent from commemorative narratives? Which bodies and identities are made visible or, conversely, rendered invisible? Which sexualities are suppressed? And how can public policies be rethought in light of these issues?

This study day is part of the study conducted for the City and Canton of Geneva on artworks in Geneva’s public space from a gender perspective, and draws on the research project Le Plafond de bronze (The Bronze Ceiling), supported by the Maurice Chalumeau Center for Sexuality Studies (CMCSS).

Bringing together artists, researchers, professionals and civil society actors, the day is structured around three themes: controversies surrounding public commissions; the relationships between gender, memory and representation; and the citizen mobilizations and participatory practices that are renewing the ways in which public space is inhabited and shaped today. Drawing on Swiss and international case studies, the talks will bring field experience, academic research and artistic practice into dialogue in order to examine how collective memory is produced and the conditions under which public space can — or cannot — become a common space.

Image: Lili Reynaud Dewar, Jenny, 2025, Besançon. © Jean-Charles Sexe