WHAT REMAINS? ANTI-MONUMENTS OF THE GERZES AND MEDIA FRAMEWORKS OF MEMORY. YEARS LATER: A DIAGNOSIS
Keywords:
anti-monuments, Jochen Gerz and Esther Shalev-Gerz, cultural memory, memory medium, commemorationAbstract
This article offers a critical analysis of the canonic and most radical examples of so-called anti-monuments including executions by Esther Shalev-Gerz and Jochen Gerz. The Gerzes’ projects are completely compatible with James E. Young’s postulate stating that discourse should take precedence over objects. Over two decades after their development, the question concerning the actual success of these otherwise correct postulates seems warranted. Referring to the concept of mediatised memory proposed by Aleida Assmann and shifting the gravity from an analysis of the artists’ formal and ideological assumptions towards the pragmatism and practice of the reception, I conclude the communication fiasco of the Gerzes’“invisible anti-monument”. I also argue that despite their invisibility and ostensibly revolutionary format, these monuments have ultimately remained astonishingly traditional in nature.
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