Freeze

A short and faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaast briefing by User:Euna, User:Federico, User:Kendal, User:Martin

Processing

Ok why this dude

Rhodes was an imperialist, businessman and politician who played a dominant role in South Africa in the late 19th Century, driving the annexation of vast swathes of land. He is also said to be "one of the people who helped prepare the way for apartheid by working to alter laws on voting and land ownership".
"I contend that we are the first race in the world and that the more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race"

Probably this is already enough.

Issue: what about history vs symbol

• Cancel Culture?
• Editing history?
• Hiding and beautifying our past?
• If we hide all our mistakes, how do we take responsibility and learn?
• And how far does this go?
• Whole cities have been constructed by people who have done questionable actions, so when do we stop removing things? What do we even end up with if everything is taken down?

Adding layers on history! What should be more powerful? Do we delete or deconstruct it?

Does a statue exist as a way of glorifying someone, or/and to act as a piece of historical information?

Modifying or Removing or letting it remain as it already is?

Anyway, even if we destroy a statue, we are not deleting history as we erase an HD.
Symbols could be destroyed and modified.
Statues are often symbols of oligarchic power, imperialism, colonialism and/or hegemony, they are monuments to genius.
If we destroy a statue, we are modifying a symbol adding layers to the history.

A monument to the world by P.Manzoni

There are also good statues, to generalize means refuse to inhabit complexity.

When does information become culture?
When does information become sculpture?

Projecting

How can we states a position about that issue? + how can we aware the people of what the shit that guy did?

• IF(we) destroy the statue, liberals and fascists will come to bother us;
• ELSE IF [before](we) must try to explain to everybody what that guy did and why a lot of people cares about that issue.
  • just say "you do not understand because you are stupid" is very classist.
• ELSE IF no-platforming.

"Adding a footnote to a statue?"

Detournment/hijacking

(change the status of statue!)

hacking the statue

The elements that supports the statue have also a lot of symbolic weight the fuckin hat

Statue's sustainibilty / natural resistance to protest actions :

Because of its position and materiality, the statue can seems quiet untouchable The statue made of bronze or stone could almost be seen as if it was made to resist to protest actions. example of Indro Montanelli in Milan //

change its arrogance (position?)! What make this statue arrogant (material, position, behaviour, etc?) for now, too untouchable height material also, too solid (seems like a part of the architecture)

make it ugly! https://www.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2013/08/14/2013081404568.html it's alreadu ugly the statue! how can we share with people what this guy did?

-> inside (historical) ugliness or phisical? not dynamic but "fixed", static, it's always there

Making something communicative

Since we want to modify symbols and not history,

our position? educating the people, let people to discover the history?

application for tourist (not only the nice things) -> a bit timid approach? but with application, we can give further info

problem of the performative event

how can we give a "lesson" not standing there always

Proposals

Use gmap as a platform for public access to historical context of statues (terrible english sentence) Still not very bold idea

What about creating a tension with the position of the statue? Just in between of being in a normal untouchable position and being completely removed: Suspending the statue at a 45° angle, as if it is falling or at least edging. A symbol of the debate/tug of war between positions of support and against. The precarity of opinion.

holy shit Saddam is making a fuckin backflip

Ivy or/and flowers or/and plants covering the facade behing the statue itself

An accompanying informational (through a speculative poll??) or not? Free or interpretative, or oriented towards a more personal opinion about history (we think about our position)

link on footnote of statue

ToDo List

1. Eat the rich.
2. Drink the middle class

diocan