Living Monuments I

Aurelia Mihai's recent project - Living Monuments, questions, in the form of an intimate and immersive encounter, our treatment of our fellow human beings, by envisioning a new proposition for our collective societal ethos on the sites of uncompleted utopias. Situated between performance and film, Living Monuments reflects on the invisible connections between people and places, staging these ”monuments” in the urban environment.

The four-channel installation contains two parts -named “Acts” (Living Monuments I and II) by the artist, developed on the sites of two former public parks that were artificially built in two locations in Hamburg. The parks were built with the help of unemployed citizens at the time, and transposed the desire of the German administration from the beginning of the 20th century, to integrate into large cities places of recreation and closeness to nature by creating 'a public park for all social categories'. One of the sites filmed by the artist was to host a monument that was never completed. In the 1910s when the Altona Volkspark was constrcuted, the large green areas meant to offer relaxation to the masses — a new notion, as public spaces were still rare at the time, continued a series of utopian models set to elevate human life. However, just like many other utopian projects set in contrast with the violent course of history, it came to a hault, and was resumed after World War I.

Today, we find ourselves amidst a state of constant ideological, social and geopolitical conflict. Within this context, Mihai weaves the structure of a collective body, awakened in contrast to today’s grim global geopolitics in Europe and beyond. Living Monuments unfolds as a performance caught on camera, in which 15 people, different in origin, skin, colour, gender and age, come together as a single body. Each person holds in their right hand the head of their immediate neighbour, who in turn holds the head of their neighbour until the circle closes. The apparently simple scene repeats itself, growing in intensity while also remaining open to the interpretation of the viewer. Working with a diverse group of performers, many of them first or second generation immigrants in Germany, Mihai reflects on a history in transition, underlying the idea of a social and political balance that depends on the other to be maintained.

Imagining another possible future, Living Monumente also problematizes aspects of the transformations exerted on nature, inviting the viewer into the process as a witness and participant. Nature takes on a central role by means of a sound installation, staging “concertos” with plants and non-human life forms.