Donald Barany - Case Study

Monuments

  

Introduction:

The internet fosters a virtual world which is evolving with an awakening social consciousness.    It is fueled by images, videos, sound clips, music, and tweets.  This virtual world allows people to share ideas, thoughts, and feelings around the world instantly.  This shift in consciousness requires a new type of monument that can provide a meaningful and relevant experience.

¿ How do you create a meaningful monument and experience for a global society that values change over permanence, and no longer requires locale place to give meaning?

Outline:

I will discuss the changing reality of a globalizing world and the impact that has on locale identity and understanding.  Then, I will explain the impact the changing construct of reality has on the relevance and meaning of monuments.  Next, I will discuss the new role of monuments in a global society.

Thought:

Through the virtual world of the internet, we associate ourselves with larger global networks and groups.   These global groups are in constant motion, shifting, expanding, and contracting in response to changing associations between internet users, (see Diagram 1).

We are increasingly living our lives through our computer screen (Colbert, 2012).   Larger portions of our life are conducted in virtual space where speed and access are more important than physical location.  Physical environment and their locale meanings are lost in this global environment.   Reality is perceived through a continuously changing flow of images (Virilio, 1998).   This shift disconnects society from a stable locale environment and reconnects it to a constantly changing global experience.

This shifting reality has ramifications to concepts of remembrance and cultural heritage.  This is manifest in society’s monuments.  Traditionally, monuments are created to remember events tied to place and time.  They are created for a social group that has a relationship to an event.    As time passes, a disconnect forms between the people of a place and the monument.  When this happens, remembrance is neutralized.  The monument becomes an artifact and its meaning changes, (see Diagram 2).

 

As society becomes less connected to place, static monuments will continue to lose their relevance.   Global society values change over permanence and no longer requires locale place to give meaning.  Maya Lin begins to address these ideas in her last monument:  What is Missing?   Maya Lin describes the monument as existing in many places at once, connected together by the internet allowing information from the various sites to be monitored and shared (Lin, 2000).  This creates a global understanding of the world by showing the impact man has on the environment through access to virtual memories in the form of image clips and stories of extinct and threatened species and environments.

   

The virtual monument created is in constant change.  It is not static; the work “exists in multiple forms and in multiple sites simultaneously” (Project Info, 2012).   The virtual monument connects a globally accessible event to the spectator through social media and the internet.  The virtual monument allows for members of society to experience the event as a global group and actively participate in the communal act of remembering what is lost and what we stand to lose, (see Diagram 3).

Conclusion:

Society is becoming more accustomed to the expanding access to information, places, and people.  As a result, society is becoming less dependent on locale place and identity; cultural boundaries are dematerializing.  Virtual monuments are a way to connect global society to meaningful and relevant experiences in the form of collective memories.

References:

Bibliography

Project Info. (2012). Retrieved November 20, 2012, from What Is Missing?: www.whatismissing.net

Colbert, Z. (2012, November). Digital Good Time - Real Vs. Virtual and the Mitosis of Existence. Matter, Autumn Winter, pp. 54-59.

Lin, M. (2000). Boundaries. New York: Simon & Schster.

Virilio, P. (1998). Architecture in the Age of its Virtual Disappearance. (J. Beckmann, Ed.) NY: Princeton Architecture Press.

Annotative Bibliography