The urbanization and digitalization of the world are influencing an increasing number of social spheres, including the art world. In the field of public art, the virtual sphere is often neglected,...Show moreThe urbanization and digitalization of the world are influencing an increasing number of social spheres, including the art world. In the field of public art, the virtual sphere is often neglected, however, this gap can be bridged by applying the approaches of social media analyses of cities. This paper will examine a temporary mural of Aaron at Włodkowica street in Wrocław (Poland) by first analyzing it as a public artwork in a public physical space, and then further by researching the online public reception of it. By focusing on the medium of Instagram, it will be argued that, although a theoretical analysis of the mural suggests that it does not fulfill the roles of public art, it is nevertheless positively received by the researched online audience. The paper states that this is a case because of the Instagrammable aesthetic of the mural, which appeals to the online audiences, and when approached online, the artwork loses its problematic physical context.Show less
Recent past and historical events including the times of the USSR and its doings are a sensitive topic. The creation of Grutas Park containing the monuments of Soviet communist party leaders in...Show moreRecent past and historical events including the times of the USSR and its doings are a sensitive topic. The creation of Grutas Park containing the monuments of Soviet communist party leaders in Lithuania in early 2000s brought attention to the treatment of the traumatizing past and the construction of memories. The thesis concentrates on the analysis of the statues and the photographs Stalin’s World made by Martin Parr. The documentary photographer used the monuments as valuable elements of his version of the history account. By looking at three types of history (official, generational, and surreal) and combining them with two case studies (the park with its statues and photographs) it becomes possible to see how collective and individual memory, nostalgia, and processes of remembering work together offering a schema to process and reflect on the traumatizing Soviet past not only for Lithuanians but for anyone with the troubled historical past.Show less
Destroy My Face (2020) by Erik Kessels was part of BredaPhoto festival in 2020 but the artwork was removed after a week of display. Online criticism had risen on multiple social media platforms...Show moreDestroy My Face (2020) by Erik Kessels was part of BredaPhoto festival in 2020 but the artwork was removed after a week of display. Online criticism had risen on multiple social media platforms stating that the work incited violence towards women. The activist group ‘We Are Not a Playground’ also published an open letter demanding that the work be taken down. These events were framed as an example of ‘cancel culture’: an online phenomenon where people are publicly shamed and silenced for crossing societal norms. In this thesis I investigate the events surrounding Destroy My Face in relation to destruction, censorship and ‘cancel culture.’ I argue that ‘cancel culture’ can function as a tool for resistance to the dominant narratives in society, especially for marginalized groups. However, it can fall into the trap of creating a mere spectacle to be consumed by the public instead of raising critiques.Show less
This thesis will explore the contemporary works by Indonesian artist Zico Albaiquni and their relation to Dutch-Indonesian kinship. Albaiquni incorporates elements from the idyllic colonial Mooi...Show moreThis thesis will explore the contemporary works by Indonesian artist Zico Albaiquni and their relation to Dutch-Indonesian kinship. Albaiquni incorporates elements from the idyllic colonial Mooi-Indië painting style that was introduced by the Dutch. Besides this, he cites artworks that are part of both the Dutch as well as the Indonesian art history. By combining these motifs with new, more contemporary elements like gallery settings in a collage-technique, Albaiquni continues the one-sided idealized memory of Indonesia while simultaneously condemning its constructed nature. Next to the visual references to colonial imagery, Albaiquni also refers to Dutch and Indonesian art history in his titles. His work offers a new way of dealing with the problematic colonial past which highlights the story from the perspective of the previously colonized instead of the earlier orientalist view through which the West portrayed the East.Show less
What to do when confronted with fractured memories? This is a question that arises when thinking about the remnants of the internal conflict in Peru that took place between the years 1980 and 2000....Show moreWhat to do when confronted with fractured memories? This is a question that arises when thinking about the remnants of the internal conflict in Peru that took place between the years 1980 and 2000. The aftermath of this conflict has left the country aching for ways to represent and make sense of the events that allowed for the deaths of over 30.000 people to go unaccounted and unacknowledged until the official reports made by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission were published in 2003. The mistreatment and indifference towards the lives of the people affected by this conflict has led artists such as Maya Watanabe to look for artistic ways to deal with the remnants of the tragedy. Through her video, Liminal, the Peruvian artist strives to make sense of the traumatic memory of the victims by filming the exhumation of the clandestine mass graves where their bodies were tossed. Hence, in this thesis the implications of representing such traumatic events and the role that the medium of film has on such representation will be analysed.Show less
A holy place, a war monument, a tourist site, and a museum. All these words define a structure that stands today in the center of Moscow: The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. Built as a...Show moreA holy place, a war monument, a tourist site, and a museum. All these words define a structure that stands today in the center of Moscow: The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. Built as a reconstruction of an 18th-century cathedral destroyed during the Soviet regime, the building became a site of heated discussions on the topics of politics, memory, and history in post-communist Russia. While many see it as a static national monument, its agency is left out of these discussions. Drawing on the theories of memory developed by Edward Casey and Katharine Hodgkin with Susannah Radstone, the multiple facets of the cathedral are discussed. By examining the role of the public, the operation of memory, and the digital space, the dichotomy between the “restorative” and the “reflective” forms of nostalgia articulated by Svetlana Boym is challenged. The ubiquitousness of the cathedral is then highlighted and its discourse complicated. Through investigating the cathedral’s current position within the socio-political situation of Russia, the thesis will conclude with a discussion on the role of monuments within the urban landscape and in forming an individual as well as national identity.Show less
This research aims to explain why specific statues in the Netherlands have become the focal point of discussions regarding societal problems. Although these memories are always present in the...Show moreThis research aims to explain why specific statues in the Netherlands have become the focal point of discussions regarding societal problems. Although these memories are always present in the public space, they only periodically provoke the existing Dutch historical narrative. The Jan Pieterszoon Coen statue and the Nederland-Indië monument are used as devices around which debates about social injustice are held. By analysing this function, this thesis makes an argument for keeping these colonial statues in place. The author contends that, in Dutch cultural remembrance, statues and monuments of colonial history reveal pasts that do not match the main historical narrative by applying and reformulating some fundamental concepts of the book Emerging Memories written by Paul Bijl. These statues and monuments continue to emerge and submerge while retaining their provocative presence. In two-fold these sites of remembrance aggravate communities whilst there is also room for new monuments. There is an ambiguity wherein the symbolism of memorial heritage is pursued by two groups, one for its celebration of colonial and national heroes and the other for the remembrance of colonial victims and their descendants. Without these colonial heritage sites, provocative memories are lost, and communities are not pushed to change the existing narrative.Show less
