MOnuMENTS
by focAR group
by focAR group
MOnuMENTS project starts fromthe necessity of a reflexion on the deficitary relationship we have withhistory and recent memory, followinga representative piece for the relationship between the political discourse andurban weaving. Developing like a long-term project, MOnuMENTS maps the countryfollowing zones: Dobrudja, Banat, Wallachia, Oltenia,Moldavia, Transylvania,Maramures – gathering documentary evidence and archiving monuments of all typeson all country territory.
MOnuMENTS represents anindication of the way in which we see our own history and ourselves as people.An indication of ideological values belonging to a certain historic period to whichwe have referred. An indication of art and politics. Avatars they haveundergone throughout the time are a good barometer of political and socialchanges that have occurred in the space they populate.
Documentation started in2007, the first event occurred in 2009 on Constantza – Bucharest route and consisted in flowers laidin each monument and marking their regret by standing silently for a minute.The immediate purpose was to draw attention to those monuments forgotten orbeing in visible degradation.
The type of the artisticresearch proposed neither arrogate to itself exhaustition nor objectivity northe type of scientific analysis but proposes a meditation on relationship amongthe individual, community and history, a live encounter between “yesterday” and“today”, between mentalities and different values, between us of today andtaciturn witnesses of the past. It remarks the differences between the urbandevelopment and the rural one, between political/cultural gestures.Tangentially it touches as well themes like art in public space, urbanism, waysof communication, types of communication, totalitarianism, manipulationviolence.
In the relation MONUMENT– MOMENT the time factor is also important: for every monument there are atleast three significant moments, which we want to bring them into attention:
- the moment ofconstruction and the monument inauguration (date, location, author, technique,ordering authority, etc)
- the moment ofevocation (theme, representation, title, history, etc)
- The moment takingthe photograph (actual state, eventual changes, restoration, reconditioning,its actual significance).
We want to oppose objectivememory wiping to live memory, following in time the avatars – physicaldislocations or sense dislocations, reconstructions etc – undergone by thesenational symbols.
The selection of imagespresented in this exhibition is focused on heroes’ figures from differenthistorical periods. Most of them evoke the first or Second World War The oldestones from King Ferdinand time or King Carol time have underwent differentremarking-up-communism system did not demolish all the previous monuments, butit made changes-adding names taking out plagues, replacing some or vandalizingother.
The project of gatheringevidence and researching MOnuMENTS it also continued in London having the curators Lars Vilhelmsenand Karen Ay. During the period March-April 2010 they started up along with TheTravellers Box project a series of three performances adding a new dimension tothe project. Noticing comparatively the monuments of the two capitals Londonand Bucharest allowed reaching some interesting conclusions concerningdifferent ways of reporting to own history practised in the two spaces/respect/ lack of concern towards the national insignia of the past showing a sign ofthe relation appreciation commercialization – conflictual/indifference towards the past the differences are foundnot in the part of the representation but in the one of presentation the Londonones similar in subject and creation being comparatively perfectly turned togood account.
The Travellers Box works likeartistic discourse engaged by artists in which both the analyses and the properproduction play an important part. Lying at the basis of the project the motionof collaboration among artists different points of view starts from theirinteractions with the Box as well as relationships which are developed fromthese interactions and manifests in different forms.
For more details please visit:
http://focar.artforclick.com/2009/11/03/monuments/
http://focar.artforclick.com/2010/03/23/the-travellers-box-project-in-addition-to-with-monuments-project/
MOnuMENTS represents anindication of the way in which we see our own history and ourselves as people.An indication of ideological values belonging to a certain historic period to whichwe have referred. An indication of art and politics. Avatars they haveundergone throughout the time are a good barometer of political and socialchanges that have occurred in the space they populate.
Documentation started in2007, the first event occurred in 2009 on Constantza – Bucharest route and consisted in flowers laidin each monument and marking their regret by standing silently for a minute.The immediate purpose was to draw attention to those monuments forgotten orbeing in visible degradation.
The type of the artisticresearch proposed neither arrogate to itself exhaustition nor objectivity northe type of scientific analysis but proposes a meditation on relationship amongthe individual, community and history, a live encounter between “yesterday” and“today”, between mentalities and different values, between us of today andtaciturn witnesses of the past. It remarks the differences between the urbandevelopment and the rural one, between political/cultural gestures.Tangentially it touches as well themes like art in public space, urbanism, waysof communication, types of communication, totalitarianism, manipulationviolence.
In the relation MONUMENT– MOMENT the time factor is also important: for every monument there are atleast three significant moments, which we want to bring them into attention:
- the moment ofconstruction and the monument inauguration (date, location, author, technique,ordering authority, etc)
- the moment ofevocation (theme, representation, title, history, etc)
- The moment takingthe photograph (actual state, eventual changes, restoration, reconditioning,its actual significance).
We want to oppose objectivememory wiping to live memory, following in time the avatars – physicaldislocations or sense dislocations, reconstructions etc – undergone by thesenational symbols.
The selection of imagespresented in this exhibition is focused on heroes’ figures from differenthistorical periods. Most of them evoke the first or Second World War The oldestones from King Ferdinand time or King Carol time have underwent differentremarking-up-communism system did not demolish all the previous monuments, butit made changes-adding names taking out plagues, replacing some or vandalizingother.
The project of gatheringevidence and researching MOnuMENTS it also continued in London having the curators Lars Vilhelmsenand Karen Ay. During the period March-April 2010 they started up along with TheTravellers Box project a series of three performances adding a new dimension tothe project. Noticing comparatively the monuments of the two capitals Londonand Bucharest allowed reaching some interesting conclusions concerningdifferent ways of reporting to own history practised in the two spaces/respect/ lack of concern towards the national insignia of the past showing a sign ofthe relation appreciation commercialization – conflictual/indifference towards the past the differences are foundnot in the part of the representation but in the one of presentation the Londonones similar in subject and creation being comparatively perfectly turned togood account.
The Travellers Box works likeartistic discourse engaged by artists in which both the analyses and the properproduction play an important part. Lying at the basis of the project the motionof collaboration among artists different points of view starts from theirinteractions with the Box as well as relationships which are developed fromthese interactions and manifests in different forms.
For more details please visit:
http://focar.artforclick.com/2009/11/03/monuments/
http://focar.artforclick.com/2010/03/23/the-travellers-box-project-in-addition-to-with-monuments-project/
