Transcript Monument as a Form of Collective Memory and Public Knowledge

Monument as a Form of Collective
Memory and Public Knowledge
author: Marija Kulišić, PhD student
Department for Arts and Restoration,
University of Dubrovnik, Croatia
INFuture2009:
“Digital Resources and Knowledge Sharing”
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences 4-6 November 2009.
Collective memory
‣ established
through communication
‣ proves belonging to the group participating in identity construction
‣ tends to crystallize itself in space and time through past reconstruction being a part
of present and future
M.Halbwachs
Public knowledge
‣ type of open access knowledge
‣ new type of knowledge that has not existed at all times, but was institutionalized through
history, mainly coinciding with the expansion of printing;
book appearance and their role
‣ dominant knowledge in the public information space
‣ based on new relations to knowledge
Monuments
‣ understanding monuments
and historic monuments, i.e.
cultural monuments
‣ any artifact erected by community of individuals to commemorate or to remind future
generations of individuals, events, sacrifices, practices or beliefs, and therefore monuments
have a direct influence on memory function
‣ the past that is invoked and called forth is not just any past: it is localized and selected to
a critical end, to the degree that is capable of directly contributing to the maintenance and
preservation of the identity of an ethnic, religious, national, tribal, or familial community
F. Choay
MONUMENTS - and their history
Quatremère de Quincy (1755-1849)
‣ a sign that evokes events, objects and individuals, and
the word itself is applicable to many works of art, from
the smallest medal to the largest edifice, expressing
luxury and brilliance
J. Assmann (1938- )
‣ Monuments in ancient Egypt, i.e. their temples,
present built-up memory and also a medium for the
state to manifest itself and the eternal order.
J. Ruskin (1819-1900)
‣ two powerful conquerors of human
forgetting: Poetry and Architecture
‣ stresses memory as the sixth pillar of
architecture in his book The Seven Lamps
of Architecture
‣ Egyptians established monumental discourse, which
is discourse of merit (the word ma'at, also meaning
justice, truth and order), eternity and political
affiliation.
Modern memory is above all
archival and it relies entirely on
the materiality of the trace, the
immediacy of the recording, the
visibility of the image.
P.Nora
Monument is defined as an
INDOC object, i.e. a document
which makes the monument the
medium and the message at the
same time.
From the Information Sciences view
I.Maroević
point archives consist of INDOC
objects.
INDOC objects:
‣ resist entropy and forgetting
‣ their function is to memorize, preserve,
transmit and save given content or
potential message over time.
Monument as a Form of
Communication Object
‣ INDOC objects used in the communication process are
communication objects, which makes a monument a form of
communication object as well
‣ monuments are classified as ambiental, i.e. spacious and
plastic objects that are, according to their characteristics of
communicational form, lasting, unreplicative and analog
‣ communication objects within the communication process are
defined as messages
Monuments are in fact lasting,
unreplicative and analog
ambiental messages, actually
forms of collective memory.
M.Tuđman
Memory lives and it is maintained
in communication, since we only
remember what we communicate
and what we can locate within the
social frameworks of memory.
M.Halbwachs
Public knowledge
‣ a type of open access knowledge
‣ dominant knowledge in the public information space
‣ space that is dominated by public and mass media that control and
supervise public knowledge
‣ result of knowledge valorization through communication process
‣ accepted by scientific and social communities by consensus.
Social knowledge - includes tradition,
historical and cultural heritage of all
nations, but also civilisation inheritance
that society collects, stores and exchanges
with other cultures and communities.
M.Tuđman
Monuments
‣ “live” in public space, so we have to take into account its context that
indicates spatial and social components
‣ components of public space organisation
Public and mass media control dominant public
knowledge
‣ integral part of public knowledge, i.e. integral part of social order, since
- i.e. collective
there is a consensus (majority approval) regarding public knowledge
memory
and destiny of
monuments
same as in ancient Egypt, where
monumental discourse was not only
a communication medium, but also a
medium in which the state
manifested itself and the eternal
order
COLLECTIVE MEMORY
MEDIA
All forms of Collective
Memory, e.g. texts, rituals,
songs, monuments, etc. =
Communication Objects
as carriers of
all forms of
memory
Time compression
Reality
MONUMENTS
PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE
(Public) Space compression
control and supervision
Hyperreality
COLLECTIVE MEMORY
All forms of Collective
Memory, e.g. texts, rituals,
songs, monuments, etc. =
Communication Objects
communication
process
MEDIA
as carriers of
all forms of
memory
Time compression
Reality
MONUMENTS
PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE
(Public) Space compression
control and supervision
Hyperreality
the meaning and the social
role of cultural monuments
change depending on the
context that is in our time
defined by public and
mass media
cultural monuments as
communication objects and a
form of collective memory and
public knowledge reconstruct
the past, creating reality of the
present and the future
the difference in the
relationship that certain
monuments have with
the past, the memory and
the knowledge condition
the way they are
protected and preserved
(F.Choay)
thank you!