Counter-monuments: Resistance and recollection work

Abstract

The essay presents a reflection upon the "antimonuments" phenomena that emerged in the end of the 20th century as a way to deal with authority violence through art, as in the case of Nazism and the Latin American dictatorships. The text begins with an explanation of the mnemotechnic, which means the old "art of memory" that had Simonides of Ceos as its mythic father. Then, the text goes on presenting the contemporary "art of memory" under the sign of "antimonuments". The work also shows and discusses the works of Jochen Gerz, Horst Hoheisel, Andreas Knitz, Marcelo Brodsky and Fulvia Molina, among other artists.

Keywords:
antimonuments; art of memory; mnemotechnics; Simonides of Ceos; art and violence