Abstract:
This thesis is driven by an intention to engage with two problems: one theoretical and one practical, both tested and interwoven through a critical lens. The grounding for this design research reconsiders a revitalization of ‘critical architecture’ in relation to contemporary discourse, in particular examining new modalities of interdisciplinary spatial practices which have unfolded in order to seek a critical rationale to test in a practical framework. The practical framework of this design research is distinctly public, engaging with the monument typology as a form of cultural instrument. Specifically, dealing with ‘monument culture’, memory, a critique of existing models as well as a tension between material and immaterial in the production of restless and interrogative objects and spaces.
The pursuit of memory is evident in the way real and mythic pasts are represented, remembered, or forgotten, marking contemporary politics and global culture. This pursuit of memory embodied in the monument typology serves as a connection, remembrance and commemoration to forgotten pasts which contribute proactive engagement and projected better futures. A critical aspect of this culture of memory is the struggle for a justice and remembrance of traumatic events. The monument typology, which is largely the focus of this paper, in being a product of the interdisciplinary, may be aligned with Jane Rendell’s description of Public art as a practice. A practice which is situated between art and design. A negotiation between the two will set the trajectory of exploration for this paper in being both critical but also spatial.
The factory of nomadic monuments proposes objects which do not commemorate a specific time, person or transformational event; but shifts away from traditional figurative monument typologies to an abstraction generative of individual perceptions and feeling of a universal and timeless scale, in attempts to unearth specific truths and myths buried in the history of potentially critical sites. A particular site of interest which is interrogated is situated within the landscape of the Marshall Islands.