Amidst public debate concerning problematic monuments, we are in urgent need of a geographically broad and historically deep understanding of monuments and memorials. We will look at the complicated relationship between monuments, history, the public, and free speech; learn about their historical development since the French Revolution, the various endeavors by artists and activists to democratize public art, the rise of counter-monuments, living memorials, performance as a site of memory and resistance, as well as various practices of vandalism, parody, and subversion.

How does the Black Lives Matter Movement relate to activism against the statues of Columbus or confederate generals? Why did the bronze statue of a Korean girl lead to a diplomatic crisis with Japan? Why is public history important, and do we need physical signs in public space? Who has the power to put up objects of commemoration in public space and which alternatives are there? The course will emphasize historical grounding but also rigorous thinking about new forms of commemoration.

Participation, a manifesto (1-2 pages), a short research paper (2-4 pages), presentations during the excursions and about the research paper.

Please make sure to pay attention to the meeting days/times. The course will be presented at the kick-off of the Department of Site-Specific Art on Thursday, March 3rd, 2022 at 10 a.m. at Paulusplatz 5 in 1030 Vienna.  All questions regarding the course can be discussed there. There are two meetings on zoom in April, for which you will have to watch and read material in advance. 

 

DETAILED SCHEDULE

Location: Seminarraum Ortsbezogene Kunst, Paulusplatz, 1030 Wien

 

March 3, Kick-Off 10-12

March 4, In Person 10am-12:00pm Introduction / Einführung

Reading in Class: Robert Musil, On Monuments, 1927. The text is available in German and English. I will provide the text during class.

 

Thomas Macho, “Die Bedeutung von Denkmaldebatten,” 2020. https://www.kulturrat.de/themen/erinnerungskultur/denkmalkultur/die-bedeutung-von-denkmaldebatten/

 

March 4, In Person 1:00-3:00pm The International Debate / Die internationale Diskussion

Reading: Achille Mbembe, “Decolonizing Knowledge and the Question of the Archive”, (2015).

Recommended: Thomas Stubblefield, “Iconoclasm beyond Negation. Globalisation and Image Production in Mosul (Aggregate, December 2016).

 

March 5 In Person 10am-2pm Seminar and Excursion

Details tba

 

April 1, 2-4pm (on zoom) From Totalitarian Crisis to Counter-monument

There are several asynchronous parts of the class. Please finish the reading assignment before we meet on zoom.

 

Reading: Mechtild Widrich, “Introduction. What is a performative monument”, Performative Monuments. The Rematerialisation of Public Art (Manchester University Press, 2014), 1-9.

 

Sigfried Giedion, “The need for a new monumentality” [1944].

 

April 2, 2-4pm (on zoom) The Confederate Monument Debate

 

Please finish the reading assignment before class.

Dell Upton, Confederate Monuments and Civic Values in the Wake of Charlottesville, online https://www.sah.org/publications-and-research/sah-blog/sah-blog/2017/09/13/confederate-monuments-and-civic-values-in-the-wake-of-charlottesville

 

Caroline Goldstein, “Charlottesville’s Divisive Robert E. Lee Statue Will Be Melted Down to Create New Public Artwork,” Art Net, 2021

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/charlottesville-robert-e-lee-statue-melted-down-2045650/amp-page

 

Suggested Reading: Kirk Savage, “Slavery’s Memorial”, in Standing Soldiers, Kneeling Slaves. Race, War and Monument in 19thcentury America (Princeton University Press, 1997), 129-161.

 

May 13, In Person 2-5 Responsibility and Care

Reading: Rangsook Yoon, “Erecting the ‘Comfort Women’ Memorials: From Seoul to San Francisco”, dearte 2018.

6pm Public Roundtable with Nicole Six/Paul Petritsch, Elke Krasny, Mechtild Widrich, Vordere Zollamtsstraße 7

 

May 14 In Person 10-2 (with student presentations)

May 16 In Person 2-5 Excursion Nordwestbahnhof

Reading tbd.

May 18 In Person 2-5 Commemorating the Pandemic, Theories of Site and Place

Reading Britta Shoot, The Rare Challenge of Building a Pandemic Monument, The City Monitor, June 2020.