Project Monuments of the Future by Petra Milički and Anika Schwarzlose is a study of monumental places and objects in the light of increasing digitalization and networked communication. Project is a combination of theoretical research with a praxis based approach and an opportunity to establish collaborations with artists, theorists, researchers and scientists in different countries, such as Croatia, Netherlands and Germany.
Our environment is changing radically. Debate and expressions of nostalgia or violence have partly migrated into the digital realm, where they form a new memory culture. At the same time material substance of monumental objects is in the process of disappearing – by active destruction, weathering, decay or obsolescence – and is subsequently replaced by different digital representational techniques.
How exactly the recent expansion of digitalization and archiving techniques has affected our perception of monumental places and objects. How did it change their symbolic value? How will it affect the way we commemorate and process historic events?
Petra Milički and Anika Schwarzlose will present a work in progress: a web platform which collects sculptures that have been removed from public space for different reasons. This collection will be used as source material to build a virtual sculpture garden. A digital refuge and exhibit for once public objects –with the aim to investigate the relationship of material substance and digital representation. What happens when historic events are memorized with monumental objects? What is the effect of those objects becoming transformed to digital representations, and what gets lost in translation?
On display will be as well: ‘Monuments of a Yugo-sized Global Village’ a video by Petra Milicki, and ‘The Law of Good Gestalt’ a short film by Anika Schwarzlose and Brian D. Mckenna.
Project is supported by: City of Zagreb and Creative Industries Fund NL
Petra Milički (www.petramilicki.com) is a media designer-artist based in Zagreb. She aquired her education in visual communication (School of Design, Zagreb) and media design (Piet Zwart Institute, Rotterdam). In her practice she is interested in the interpretation of collectively produced found material, as well as the construction of media spaces that facilitate such production. Currently she is curious about different phenomena of memory culture and politics developing in the new media ecology. She works as a freelance media/graphic
designer, mostly for cultural initiatives and institutions, and is a part of the D Day Festival’s organising team.
Anika Schwarzlose (www.anikaschwarzlose.com) was born Berlin, Germany. She received a BFA from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam and a MFA from the Konsthögskolan i Malmö, Sweden. Her work is exhibited internationally in spaces such as FOAM / Amsterdam, Fotomuseum Winterthur, Institute for Art and Thought / Berlin, Bemis Art Center / Omaha, Nebraska, W139 / Amsterdam, Gallery Format / Malmö, De Brakke Grond / Amsterdam, V Art Center / Shanghai and Gallery Almanaque / Mexico City. She has given presentations and has taught workshops in places like the Rockbundmuseum, Shanghai / the ICA, London / the PR project, Moscow and The University of Lethbridge, Canada. She lives and works in Amsterdam.
