The Past and Possible Future of Countermonument
Date uploaded: March 14, 2012
The Past and Possible Future of Countermonument
Jonathan Vickery, Centre for Cultural Policy Studies, University of Warwick, UK
Published by ixia
Introduction:
This article looks at the frameworks of thought and practice of ‘countermonument’. Outside the context of the German holocaust memorial and related discourses, there is little published research on the development of countermonument practices, useful for contemporary artists working in the public realm. This article identifies some crucial distinctions between the contemporary civic monument and countermonument practice. With reference to the antimonument practices of Jochen Gerz, it then attempts to construct one potential framework for future countermonument strategy.
About the Author:
Dr Jonathan Vickery is Associate Professor and an MA Program Director in the Centre for Cultural Policy Studies, University of Warwick, UK. He has been a Henry Moore post-doctoral fellow; a director of The Aesthesis Project and executive editorial board member of Aesthesis: International Journal of Art and Aesthetics in Management and Organizational Life; and reviews editor and regular contributor to Art & Architecture Journal and their weblog. He has published academic and art criticism on public art, urban regeneration, art and cultural theory, and is now working on two projects assessing the role of art in the public sphere.