Just Another Monument
Research class by Ilaria Lupo
'Just Another Monument' is a workshop on research and critical planning on the semantics of the public sphere through Expanded Public Space Practices.
Since the 1970s, also thanks to artistic practices which extended the field of Institutional Critique to the public sphere, the notion of monument has expanded and opened up to multiple territories of investigation. By the means of diversions, appropriations, repositioning or desecration, the artists critically put into question the unilateral relationship with the collective and the official narratives monuments are aimed at. Drawing upon the antagonistic/agonistic dimensions, deconstructing the parameters of the consensus, these practices proposed reconfigurations of meaning and relations.
The research class aims to reflect on the identity/ies of the monument and on the range of social and political implications it gets to embody over time in its own context. The students will elaborate proposals on possible projects – realistic, fictional or even absurd ones – addressing existing, hidden, dissolved, accidental or future monuments. The students are encouraged to explore multiple interpretations and perspectives - even diverging ones - which cohabit the collective perceptions of a monument.
Based on a general presentation and discussion around a number of artistic approaches, the students will be required to individuate a monument (existing or potential) around which elaborate a project proposal. The students can choose to work individually or in small groups. The research class is structured in progressive phases from the site/s choice until the final project presentation. The project presentation can be created in any medium (printing, film, photography, drawing, maquette, dossier etc). The actual feasibility of the project on the ground is not mandatory. The workshop welcomes even unrealistic proposals, as far as they prove conceptual coherence with the given frame. What is relevant are the quality of the research process, the group exchanges and the engagement with the theme's challenges.
Later on, in case an open call for De Sokkel project will be launched by the Academy, sessions of follow-up of project proposals can take place during the academic year.
Ilaria Lupo
Ilaria Lupo is a visual artist from Italy, who has been based in the Levantine (Palestine/Lebanon) from 2006 to 2018. She develops a public space practice through participative projects, with a research focused on issues of political ecology and environmental justice. Her projects have been supported by several organisations in the Middle East and in Europe, such as Ashkal Alwan, The Beirut Art Center, The Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities, 98 weeks, APEAL, T.A.P. Temporary Art Platform, Al Riwaq Art Space, Heinrich Boell Foundation, Institut Français Du Liban, Zoukak Theatre, Al-Mahatta Gallery, The Middelheim Museum, AIR Antwerpen, FARE/Open Care, Archiviazioni, ZK/U Zentrum fur Kunst un Urbanistik Berlin.
Ilaria Lupo is a PhD researcher at the Academy.
Ilaria.lupo@ap.be
(image: Alfredo Jaar, 'Aestethics of Resistance', credits A. Osio)
>> This research class is part of the Research Week during the annual research festival ARTICULATE.
