engleski

What is Monumental in Monuments? Some Examples of New Monumental Aesthetic in PostHomeland War Croatia

The first part of the text focuses on the understanding of the adjective „monumental“ as pertaining to a group of features that define structures that we conventionally perceive as and call monuments, i.e. public monuments realised in the medium of sculpture. The word monumental in this regard is very similar to the one of “monumenthood” and connotes a set of properties that have greatly influenced the dominant take on the concept of monuments (large in size, pronouncedly vertical, representing significant historical events, comprising highly commemorative [especially celebratory or mournful] imagery, and so on). This way of conceiving and thinking about monuments shaped our perception of them for centuries, and this is still the case today, especially when they function as a vehicle of ideological coding of public space. The second part of the text brings up some examples that show different interpretations of monumental (again, not as in “monumental sculpture” [referring to the size of the sculpture] but with regards to aforementioned qualities that have traditionally defined the idea of monument). These approaches, both in practice and theory, represent a kind of “monumental turn”, or a revolution in production of monuments in a sense that they resist or reinterpret the traditional notion of monumentality in the context of public monuments. Some of these include Maya Lin’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, United States ; Jochen Gerz’s The Place of the Invisible Memorial in Saarbrücken, Germany ; Wall of Pain in Zagreb, Croatia ; Monument to the Devastation of the Jewish Synagogue in Split, Croatia ; et cetera).

monuments ; monumental ; new monumental aesthetic ; post-homeland war croatia

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