Haklai / How to Use a Monument

How to Use a Monument Performance as a Way of Reflecting on the Role of Monuments in Today’s Cities

Authors: Or Haklai, Designer & MA Cultural Studies Student, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Enrico Chinellato, Designer & Ph.D. Student, University of Bologna

Research stage: other: MA research thesis at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem - Cultural Studies Program (supervisor: Dr. Dani Schrire) and architectural project by QUIZEPO (winning entry for 'Future Monuments' architecture competition, Paris 2020)

Category: Extended abstract

Abstract

This research aims to question and rethink the role of monuments in cities today with a pragmatic approach based on the uses and needs of everyday life in the city. The research tools are phenomenology theory and analysis along with architectural and performative actions in order to experience and understand a place, its characters, and its own sensorial affects and feature, together with art, design-oriented and physical actions. The actions are composed by intervening at a specific site with the physical and spatial feature and a participatory and performative live event. The study focuses on an event that took place in Port of Saint-Denis victory gate in Paris, in February 2020. The research strives to extend the discussion, leading to a shift in the nowadays’ definition of a monument.

Keywords: monuments of the city, art-based civic engagement, urban phenomenology