The Monument Against Fascism was gradually lowered. PHOTO: © ATELIER SHALEV-GERZ_RETOUCHED

Essays Concepts for contemporary monuments,

What concepts can we apply to understand the current wave of new monuments? In this article I suggest labeling them post-monuments, related to the commissioning body’s implied interest in what is commemorated, on the one hand, and the possibility of making amends, on the other. The concept builds on the one suggested by James Young in the early 1990’s “counter-monuments” regarding the German memorial culture of the time. I address how post-monuments can be seen as a future-oriented rectification, repair, and response.

Published in the printed edition of Baltic Worlds BW 2023:4, p 54-58
Published on balticworlds.com on December 11, 2023

abstract

What concepts can we apply to understand the current wave of new monuments? In this article I suggest labeling them post-monuments, related to the commissioning body’s implied interest in what is commemorated, on the one hand, and the possibility of making amends, on the other. The concept builds on the one suggested by James Young in the early 1990’s “counter-monuments” regarding the German memorial culture of the time.  I address how post-monuments can be seen as a future-oriented rectification, repair, and response.

Keywords: Monuments, memory, post-monuments, counter-monuments, repair.

Read the full article as pdf (download above).

The article is part of a theme in the printed journal 2023:4, “Monuments, new arts and news narratives” with guest editor Cecilia Sjöholm>>.

Rebecka Katz Thor