Sam Durant: Is destruction creative?
A discussion of the Defaced Monuments project
The registration of the full lecture on dvd can be viewed in the library Stroom Den Haag.
Wednesday 1 October 2008
Start: 8 pm
Location: Hogewal 1-9, The Hague
Language: English
In the oeuvre of the American artist Sam Durant the monument is a recurring theme. In the exhibition 'Since we last spoke about monuments' he presents material from his Defaced Monuments
project. This database consists of an expanding digital archive of
statues, sculptures, memorials, markers and monuments that have been
intentionally or unintentionally altered, damaged or destroyed as a
political statement or during a political protest. Sam Durant's ongoing
project gathers traces of a global history of violence, a recurring
scenario of conflict between monuments, ideological majorities and
minorities - groups evacuated from the version of history proffered by
monuments, individuals whose existence and rights those monuments do
not acknowledge.
Website Sam Durant Defaced Monuments
Sam Durant (1961) usually focuses on historical, social and
political topics, and has a highly critical view of the government of
the USA. Recently he participated in the exhibition ‘Memorial to the
Iraq War' (2007,
ICA, London) with his 'Proposal for Iraq War Memorial, Symbolic
Transposition of effects of war in Iraq to the U.S. and England'. In
2005 he presented his
'Proposal for White and Indian Dead Monuments Transposition, Washington
D.C.' in the Paula Cooper Gallery in New York.
More about Since we last spoke about monuments.
Acknowledgement: Mondriaan Foundation, American Embassy The HAgue. Partner: Kosmopolis Den Haag.
- Wednesday 01 Oct '08 8 pm
- Hogewal 1-9, The Hague
- Entrance: free
