27/03/2020 – 06/04/2020
erg/Craig Havens
Zoya Feltesse – Eline Aroch – Léo Grégoire – Lucile Laforgue – Pauline Rheims – Jade Rouanet
with Françoise Tahon
Online Symposium, Exhibition & Publication
Hosted by Faculté de Arts, Ecole de Recherche Graphique, Brussels (ERG)
In times of great upheaval we seek new ways of understanding ourselves and our world. European artists faced such a challenge in commemorating the inheritance of the horrors of World War II and, in the 1980’s and 1990’s, a generation of young German artists forever changed the practice of monument-making by constructing the first Countermonuments.
For this online action each artist considered Countermonumental Strategies for making artworks that address the challenges of historically difficult times and then explored how they might apply those strategies to thier own artwork today. Craig Havens and Francoise Tahon facilitated this online action and discussion via video chat with collective meetings and individual consultations. The results of this group action are here presented in this online exhibition and made available in a printed publication edition via traditional postal service.
To view each artist's work please click on the images below and their project will open in a new browser tab.
Black Holes #1, Laforgue & Rheims, 2020.
Lucile Laforgue – Pauline Rheims / Black Holes
Travel Toopography (Detail), Feltesse, 2020.
Zoya Feltesse / Imaginary Travel
Les mots sont calmes, Aroch, 2020.
Eline Aroch / Espace du corps écriture et expérience
God Save The Queen (Detail), Rouanet, 2020.
Jade Rouanet / God Save The Queen
Follie Stamp, Grégoire, 2020.
Léo Grégoire / MISCELLANEOUS FOLIES
About Countermonumental Strategies
Craig Havens (US/DE) explores the history of Countermonuments and their strategies in his artwork and research. Traditional monumental strategies are historically concerned with claiming a ground that cannot be challenged while seeking to maintain assumptions of singularity, centralization, legacy and perpetuity. Countermonumental strategies, however, are concerned with expanding the function of traditional forms and thus employ multiplicities, peripheries, temporality and impermanence.