burying the monument

Team

Name: Lino Gasparitsch 

Nationality: German

Institution / Company:  easy-center.eu

Name: Bettina Willnauer

Nationality: Austrian

Institution / Company: easy-center.eu

– HONORABLE MENTION of 2020 Monument Competition

Many monuments this year came onto the radar, for being monuments of the past, that represent ideas or ideals that are not supportable nowadays. Included are monuments of slave traders, conquerors, or rapists. Mostly this visibility came from the Black Live Matters movement earlier this year. Some statues where removed, many are still standing. While entering a jungle of democratic procedure the statues that should be torn down, often stay unchanged during the long administration process. The design therefore should be a structure that is easy to apply and in a temporary medium. We suggest a monument that swallows the monuments of the past, by literally being a cover up. The new monument, consequently, becomes a sign of overcoming outdated believe systems and ring in a coming paradigm change. 

Following this concept, “burying the monument” consists out of three parts. The main part, a huge heap of earth, that is pilled up upon an existing monument. A roof that reminds one of an excavation site, and protects the earth from being too exposed to the elements. And four walls that frame the old monument in an x-shaped composition. On these, one can read the cruelties, the monument once stood for.

#Political use of public space #Demonstrations & Revolution #Integration of diverse social groups #Discrimination & inequalities #Sense of belonging & Placemaking