Since we last spoke about monuments
14 September - 9 November 2008
Location: Hogewal 1-9
Opening: Saturday 13 September, 5 pm
with introductory talk: Azra Aksamija, Mihnea Mircan, Tom Nicholson, Gon Zifroni / Metahaven 4 pm
Azra Aksamija (AT), Matthew Buckingham (US), Sam Durant (US), Office KGDVS (B), Hans van Houwelingen (NL), Irwin (SLO), Alon Levin (NL), Metahaven (NL), Ciprian Muresan (RO), Tom Nicholson (AU), Jonas Staal & Vincent van Gerven Oei (NL), Mona Vatamanu & Florin Tudor (RO).
Curator: Mihnea Mircan (RO).
They are revered and vandalized, communitarian emblems or collective
Freudian slips, instruments for populism or weapons for political
protest, deliberate distortions of history or elaborate demonstrations
of our forgetfulness. The exhibition ‘Since we last spoke about monuments'
engages the construction, destruction or reconstruction of monuments as
ways of making sense of our recent past and ideological unrest. It
exposes the monumental to complicated histories and lingering
conflicts, to imagination and dissent. It asks, obliquely, whether the
metaphors of political imbalance most cities display in their central
squares could be replaced by nonuments (Gordon Matta-Clark) that stem from new forms of communality and marginality.
Download here the exhibition texts written by Mihnea Mircan and some of the artists (pdf file)
Guided tours by Mihnea Mircan
Sundays 14, 21 september and 5 October, 3 pm
Saturday 8 November at 12 noon
Sam Durant: 'Is destruction creative? A discussion of the Defaced Monuments project'.
Wednesday 1 October, 8 pm
Link to website Sam Durant Defaced Monuments
Mihnea Mircan (RO) curated the exhibition ‘Sublime Objects' and
the 'Under Destruction' series of interventions at the National Museum
of Contemporary Art (MNAC) in Bucharest, Romania. He was the curator of
'Low-Budget Monuments', the Romanian Pavilion at the 52nd Venice
Biennial (2007). He contributes regularly to international
publications. Thru December 2008 he is curator-in-residence at
Kosmopolis Den Haag.
The exhibition ‘Since we last spoke about monuments' is part of
the theme program ‘nu monument', which investigates the (im)possibility
of a contemporary monument, as well as the position of art in this
matter. Can art really give meaning to ‘publicity' in a fluid and
fragmented society?
Acknowledgement: Mondriaan Stichting, Amerikaanse Ambassade Den Haag. Partner: Kosmopolis Den Haag
Photos opening reception of the exhibition
Photos installation of the exhibition
Press
Metropolis M, (interview with Mihnea Mircan), October/November 2008
Go to Web dossier 'nu monument'
Link to Press Release
Website Kosmopolis
Links
Azra Aksamija
Matthew Buckingham
Sam Durant
Office KGDVS
Hans van Houwelingen
Irwin
Alon Levin
Metahaven
Ciprian Muresan
Tom Nicholson
Jonas Staal & Vincent van Gerven Oei
Mona Vatamanu & Florin Tudor
- 14 Sep '08 - 09 Nov '08
- Hogewal 1-9, The Hague
- Entrance: free
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photo: Rob Kollaard
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photo: Rob Kollaard