WRITTEN PROPOSAL
on Wednesday, December 10, 2008 at 3:17 PM.
WRITTEN PROPOSAL
Synopsis
Monuments not in use. Empty spaces of negative form monuments refer to historical breaks and losses. The responsibility of remembering should fall on the visitor and if the visitor doesn't have that there is no monument. Memories can be extinguished, places renamed, books altered, and new songs and symbols established. Monuments can go up but they can also be taken back down. How do you create a monument for things that should not be forgotten without gloryfing the Holocaust/Communism/War/etc?
Background
I was very intrigued by the monument video shown in class on contemporary monuments in Germany. I think the “disappearance” of monuments is great way to illustrate how while monuments do commemorate historical connections they are nothing without the public and individual responsibility to remember.
I really liked the alternative monuments. Horst Hoheisel's monument for “Aschrott's Fountain” where you could barely see the actual monument construction because it was upside down in the ground and the visitor was the monument. and Jochen Gerz/Esther Shalev-Gerz's “Disappearing Monument”.
Obsolete monuments such as the Joseph Stalin monument that was in Prague for 7 years that was torn down with the failure of communism.
Project Description
what the monument looks like
A bench made out of organic materials such as a wooden log that will decay over time. If someone happens pick it up and turn it into paper that's fine too.
what it is made of
Natural organic materials that will deteriorate over time such as grass, leaves, wood, etc. To differentiate it from being more than just a fallen log the backs of old chairs can be recycled by attaching them into the bench to give additional comfort.
where it is located and why you have chosen this particular location
The choice of a location was a bit of a difficult one but the inspiration to do a bench came from one of the Holocaust signs in the Bavarian Quarter that made it illegal for Jews to sit on any other benches but their specially designated benches.
what it looks like, how people view it or interact with it within the space you have chosen
I did not choose to create a huge monument because I wanted to keep with the low-scale idea that it doesn't matter how bi monuments are. People will be able to interact with it by sitting on the bench, if they hate it they could take an axe to it and chop it into pieces, if the Nazis somehow suddenly rise to power again they can burn it down to fertilizer for the park, it can become something useful, people can and will probably forget it about it year later (whether 10 or 10,000) when it is gone.
how it challenges 'traditional' monuments
It challenges 'traditional' monuments by not really being a monument. Whether or not it is in use does not really matter in the end when nature and time take it back. It is the idea that there was a monument there at one point in time, people might remember or they might remember that there was a monument there but not why or what it was for or they might remember it in different ways.
Benefits – who is the audience and what do people gain from your proposed monument? Why is it important?
The audience is everyone! Everyone has their own thoughts and remembers the Holocaust (and in general) differently and those are monumental. It is important because people can commemorate in their own way and thoughts even when the monument is gone, thus serving the purpose of the piece. Some people may not appreciate the monument as much because it's not a huge sculpture and is easily overlooked.
Bibliography
Faculty of Creative Arts, School of Art and Design. "DIMINUMENTS: Memories of Obsolete Monuments in Prague An installation by Lisa Moren." University of Wollongong . 10 Dec 2008 < http://www.uow.edu.au/crearts/sad/long/UOW034147.html >.
""Monument... counter-monument" Argyropoulos Epameinondas." 10 Dec 2008 < http://courses.arch.ntua.gr/120299.html >.
Young, James E.. "Germany's vanishing Holocaust monuments." B-Net. 10 Dec 2008 < http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0411/is_n4_v43/ai_16481905/pg_2 >.
"Counter-Monuments - Criticising Traditional Monuments." Goethe-Institut. 10 Dec 2008 < http://www.goethe.de/kue/arc/dos/dos/zdk/en204638.htm >.
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Synopsis
Monuments not in use. Empty spaces of negative form monuments refer to historical breaks and losses. The responsibility of remembering should fall on the visitor and if the visitor doesn't have that there is no monument. Memories can be extinguished, places renamed, books altered, and new songs and symbols established. Monuments can go up but they can also be taken back down. How do you create a monument for things that should not be forgotten without gloryfing the Holocaust/Communism/War/etc?
Background
I was very intrigued by the monument video shown in class on contemporary monuments in Germany. I think the “disappearance” of monuments is great way to illustrate how while monuments do commemorate historical connections they are nothing without the public and individual responsibility to remember.
I really liked the alternative monuments. Horst Hoheisel's monument for “Aschrott's Fountain” where you could barely see the actual monument construction because it was upside down in the ground and the visitor was the monument. and Jochen Gerz/Esther Shalev-Gerz's “Disappearing Monument”.
Obsolete monuments such as the Joseph Stalin monument that was in Prague for 7 years that was torn down with the failure of communism.
Project Description
what the monument looks like
A bench made out of organic materials such as a wooden log that will decay over time. If someone happens pick it up and turn it into paper that's fine too.
what it is made of
Natural organic materials that will deteriorate over time such as grass, leaves, wood, etc. To differentiate it from being more than just a fallen log the backs of old chairs can be recycled by attaching them into the bench to give additional comfort.
where it is located and why you have chosen this particular location
The choice of a location was a bit of a difficult one but the inspiration to do a bench came from one of the Holocaust signs in the Bavarian Quarter that made it illegal for Jews to sit on any other benches but their specially designated benches.
what it looks like, how people view it or interact with it within the space you have chosen
I did not choose to create a huge monument because I wanted to keep with the low-scale idea that it doesn't matter how bi monuments are. People will be able to interact with it by sitting on the bench, if they hate it they could take an axe to it and chop it into pieces, if the Nazis somehow suddenly rise to power again they can burn it down to fertilizer for the park, it can become something useful, people can and will probably forget it about it year later (whether 10 or 10,000) when it is gone.
how it challenges 'traditional' monuments
It challenges 'traditional' monuments by not really being a monument. Whether or not it is in use does not really matter in the end when nature and time take it back. It is the idea that there was a monument there at one point in time, people might remember or they might remember that there was a monument there but not why or what it was for or they might remember it in different ways.
Benefits – who is the audience and what do people gain from your proposed monument? Why is it important?
The audience is everyone! Everyone has their own thoughts and remembers the Holocaust (and in general) differently and those are monumental. It is important because people can commemorate in their own way and thoughts even when the monument is gone, thus serving the purpose of the piece. Some people may not appreciate the monument as much because it's not a huge sculpture and is easily overlooked.
Bibliography
Faculty of Creative Arts, School of Art and Design. "DIMINUMENTS: Memories of Obsolete Monuments in Prague An installation by Lisa Moren." University of Wollongong . 10 Dec 2008 < http://www.uow.edu.au/crearts/sad/long/UOW034147.html >.
""Monument... counter-monument" Argyropoulos Epameinondas." 10 Dec 2008 < http://courses.arch.ntua.gr/120299.html >.
Young, James E.. "Germany's vanishing Holocaust monuments." B-Net. 10 Dec 2008 < http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0411/is_n4_v43/ai_16481905/pg_2 >.
"Counter-Monuments - Criticising Traditional Monuments." Goethe-Institut. 10 Dec 2008 < http://www.goethe.de/kue/arc/dos/dos/zdk/en204638.htm >.
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