Itinerant Surfaces: Negotiating Monument and Sculpture Surfaces in Public Space

Beskrivelse

In 2021 a large group of polychrome plaster sculptures and reliefs were discovered crammed together behind a curtain wall in Copenhagen City Hall tower, covered in graffiti and a thick layer of dust. The sculptures were first created for an ephemeral triumphal arch in connection to a royal golden wedding celebration in 1892 but have since then featured in several different contexts and constellations, their surfaces and meaning changing in the process. This talk explores the site and surface(s) of public sculptures and monuments as agile phenomena that are continuously in negotiation between sanctioned and unsanctioned interventions (e.g. graffiti and restoration) as well as natural shifts (e.g. disintegration of materials, dust etc.). These shifts are generally of an ephemeral and elusive character, rendering the perception of the monuments to be seemingly static, unchanging. By applying an itinerant object and surface sensitive approach to the case from the city hall tower, this talk examines how such an approach can provide new insights into how meaning and function of monuments change over time.

Periode	10 feb. 2025
Begivenhedstitel	The Everyday Life of Urban Monuments: Ignition and Care
Begivenhedstype	Workshop
Placering	Bristol, StorbritannienVis på kort
Grad af anerkendelse	International