“Memory and (Counter) Monuments”

"Estetyka i Krytyka" - "The Polish Journal of Aesthetics" 47 (4/2017)

Editors: Carla Milani Damião (Federal University of Goiás, Brazil) and Natalia Anna Michna (Jagiellonian University, Poland).

The inspiration for this issue stems from Walter Benjamin’s famous thesis: “There is no document of culture which is not at the same time a document of barbarism. And just as such a document is not free of barbarism, barbarism taints also the manner in which it was transmitted from one owner to another”. Once a monument is conceived by an artist and built, it should remain in its actual space and in the imaginary culture as a document for eternity, as a support for “heroic” values, according to specific political circumstances. A revolution can knock down the material as if it were destroying ideas and ideals, historic and cultural values. It is hardly the task of an artist “to brush history against the grain” when his task is an official State commission. However, an artist can incorporate some subliminal sign of dissent. Thinking of the colonial past of any country, for instance, and some art movements against the memory of the oppressive-colonizer - whose identity is displayed in many national monuments as a result of the union of arts and politics -, it is possible to see an explicit counter action on the verge of raging vandalism. There are those who adopt anti-monumental strategies which can run contrary to the principles of traditional monuments, or those who interfere with a specific existing monument and the values it represents. Prospective authors are encouraged to investigate such topics as: Counter-Monument, a monument transformed by art interventionism; the building of a monument as an act of political resistance; the destruction of ancient monuments as a political-ideological act in order to destroy the memory of a singular culture; erasing the memory of a certain "unpleasant" time; hidden signs of dissent in monuments commissioned by political (and/or religious) power; or any kind of transformation that memorials and monuments undergo in a manner that could bring the memory of past and present together, transforming their meaning,- through art -, for future generations. However, the thematic scope of the issue is not limited to these suggestions.

Submission deadline: 1st July, 2017.

Submit manuscript by "Submission" section at our website.

The issue “Memory and (Counter) Monuments” will be published in English.

Please contact us at estetykaikrytykauj@gmail.com if you have any questions regarding your submission.