Current debates about memorial culture in urban space call for new educational formats that encourage young people to engage with their immediate surroundings.
In this context the Goethe-Institut Washington created the ‘Monumental Bag.’ This large orange bag contains instructions and tools that can be used to question monuments in public spaces and add new perspectives.
Digital download or physical order: “Monuments of the Future?” card set
Monuments are always under scrutiny: While Confederate monuments in the USA are being removed from public spaces – sometimes by force – activists in Germany are campaigning for the renaming of streets currently dedicated to personalities who were involved in colonial oppression, for example.
New monuments, on the other hand, are to be erected to commemorate people and communities whose social achievements have received little recognition to date. Commemorative culture touches on both political representation and daily life. What is remembered and what remains invisible is a matter of public interest.
If you're interested in commemorative work and would like to run a workshop on monuments or memory culture, borrow the card set “Monuments of the Future?” It offers thought-provoking prompts, encourages discussion, and provides inspiring examples of actions and creative practices.
View of two cards from the ‘Explore’ section of the card set. Click the navigation arrow or swipe to see more examples.
The card set comprises a total of 45 cards, categorized as “Discuss”, “Explore”, and “Imagine”.
You may request to borrow a set of physical cards from the Goethe-Institut Washington, or download the card set as a printable PDF file:
Marlene Oeken and Martha Schwindling are product and exhibition designers who met during their interdisciplinary studies at Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design (HfG). Based in Berlin, they collaborate mainly on exhibition projects, in which they take curatorial and conceptual positions in addition to creative direction.
Their shared interest for exploring the hidden politics in design led to their investigation of our daily encounters with monuments. By compiling “Monumental Questions” and putting them to use in the mediation kit ‘Monumental Bag’ aim is to foster dialogues among experts and non-experts from all fields and places.
