In a recent article published in the journal Constellations, DisTerrMem researchers Anna Cento Bull and David Clarke explore the role of monuments and memorials as symbols of ‘public memory’, and ask, as modern approaches to memorialization change and certain sites become places of public contestation, what alternatives exist for public commemorative art?

“Public monuments and memorials, which are erected in the urban environment in order to commemorate significant historical events and personalities, have been recognized by scholars as sites at which hegemonic understandings of the past are reinforced,” write Bull and Clarke in their April 2020 article. “Given the resources that must be mobilized to create them, both monetary and political, such forms of public commemorative art have been acknowledged as a means by which those with political power within a given society organize public space to convey (and thus teach the public) desired political lessons.”

This function of public commemorative art is most often associated with the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, in which emerging bourgeois democracies in capitalist nations sought to establish the dominance of their values. In contrast, the late twentieth century and early twenty-first century have been marked by “a shift toward memorial practices that seek to move away from avowedly heroic understandings of national identity, for example, by acknowledging the victims of historical crimes perpetrated in the name of the nation.” This has given rise to new forms of public commemorative art that seek to acknowledge previously marginalized groups, often focusing more on past suffering than on achievements or victories.

At the same time, “In a parallel development, activists have sought solutions to the presence of commemorative art in the urban landscape that celebrates values no longer deemed to be representative of the community”. This generally involves “the critical augmentation of an original memorial by artistic means,” but has also taken the form of removing existing forms of public commemorative art that express values antithetical to equality and diversity. In some cases this has led to public contestation and violent confrontation.

‘Here and Now’ installation by the Edward Colston statue in Bristol

A recent (2018) example of the former is a powerful art installation, ‘Here and Now’, which appeared underneath the statue of Edward Colston outside the Bristol (UK) arts venue, the Colston Hall. Colston was a notorious slaver and the installation was placed there on 18 October, anti-slavery day.

In their article, Bull and Clarke seek to analyze emerging alternatives for the management of such conflicts over public commemorative art that challenge both established forms of counter-memorial practice and calls for the removal of problematic public commemorative art. Their analysis is based on two key case studies: the South-Tyrolean city of Bolzano, centered around a fascist building and a fascist monument, which have been augmented with art installations and a new exhibition; and the response of a German art-activist collective, the Centre for Political Beauty, to verbal attacks by right-wing populists on Berlin’s Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe, commonly known as the Holocaust Memorial.

These case studies make for an instructive contrast: the former focuses on a fascist monument challenged by contemporary progressives, whereas the latter relates to a memorial commemorating the victims of fascism challenged by the contemporary populist right.

In examining these two case studies, the article engages with the notion of agonistic memory and explores “how a variety of actors (from artists and museum-makers to civil society activists) have developed interventions in which we can observe the emergence of moments that can be called ‘agonistic’ practice”.

Critically, Bull and Clark ask whether such artistic interventions can realistically promote the radical multiperspectivism or in-depth reflection that a truly agonistic approach would demand.

Research for the article was undertaken as part of the UNREST project funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.

Read the full article online at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1467-8675.12484

Anna Cento Bull (below left) is Professor of Italian History and Politics at the University of Bath, UK.
David Clarke (below right) is Professor of German Studies in Cardiff University’s School of Modern Languages & Visiting Professor in the University of Bath’s Department of Politics, Languages and International Studies.

Discover more at www.disterrmem.eu/university-of-bath

Agonistic interventions into public commemorative art: an innovative form of counter-memorial practice?