Monument as a F orm of C ollective M emory and P ublic K nowledge

1. 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.

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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-upmemory and also a medium for the state to manifest itself and the eternal order. • Egyptians established monumental discourse, which isdiscourse of merit(the word ma'at,also meaning justice, truth and order), eternity and political affiliation. • 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

6. 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. I.Maroević From the Information Sciences view 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.

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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 • integral part of public knowledge, i.e. integral part of social order, since there is a consensus (majority approval) regarding public knowledge Public and mass media - control dominant public knowledge - i.e. collective 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

10. Reality COLLECTIVE MEMORY cultural acceleration MEDIA as carriers of all forms of memory All forms of Collective Memory, e.g. texts, rituals, songs, monuments, etc. = Communication Objects Time compression MONUMENTS PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE control and supervision (Public) Space compression Hyperreality

11. Reality COLLECTIVE MEMORY cultural acceleration MEDIA communication process All forms of Collective Memory, e.g. texts, rituals, songs, monuments, etc. = Communication Objects as carriers of all forms of memory Time compression MONUMENTS PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE control and supervision (Public) Space compression Hyperreality

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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)

15. thank you!