Thomas Hirschhorn's Performative Monuments: Between Exploitation of Community and Colonization of Public Space

Abstract

This paper, confronting the conflicting considerations about the monuments of Thomas Hirschhorn, tries to point out the ethical and political problems that arise during their conception and execution. Taking into account the theoretical controversies created at the intersection of thinking about performative monuments, site-specific art and community-based art, the paper offers a reading of Hirschhorn's monuments, based on the concept of class-oriented art. The research corpus consists of two monuments, the Bataille Monument and the Gramsci Monument. Using the method of description, theoretical analysis and principles of evaluation of socially engaged artistic practices of critic Reinald Laddage, the paper suggests ethically problematic formal and conceptual aspects of Hirschhorn's monuments. These aspects ultimately point to the thesis that the conception of monuments is based on the class and economic determinants of the communities in whose living space they are realized, and that monuments in themselves are a product of the neoliberal art market. By introducing the concept of class-oriented art, this work emphasizes the moral responsibility that the artist has when he realizes his work in or with the community.