monumentalise is a project that developed out of the collaboration of Tal Alperstein and Julia Turbahn in the project en/COUNTERs which enabled an artistic exchange between Israeli and German artists. 

 

The project monumentalise investigates the act of commemoration in relation to monuments in public spaces. The research focuses on the relationship between the body and the monument, so to say the embodiment and ephemeral performance of the commemorative act. This is in contrast to the lasting monument aiming to overcome time, to connect past, present and future.

 

By rebuilding a memorial’s shape with bodies we develop a choreographic score as a temporal act of commemoration. This act can be ‘performed’ anytime, does not have special localisation but requires a physical effort and concentration to constitute an ephemeral commemorating community.

 

This physical act leaves an imprint on individuals and allows the commemorative act to form a 'collective body memory'. The ephemerality of the performative act does not have to be seen as a disadvantage but as a possibility to generate attention, create a visibility as well as an individual bodily experience for the participants. Through its materiality a movement and flexibility is inherent to the monuments based on the 'monument-scores' as opposed to a fixity of many monuments in public spaces.

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Visit our website: www.monumentalise.de

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To read more about the idea behind the project read the article 'Monument that move us' published in the online art snd culture magazine maarav.