Freeze

A short and faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaast briefing by Euna, Federico, Kendal, 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 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 establish a position about an issue? + how can we make others aware of the shit that this 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 care 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 the statue!)

• Hacking the statue

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

What about the statue's sustainability / natural resistance to protest actions through its material :

Because of its position and materiality, the statue can appear untouchable The statue made of bronze or stone could almost be seen as if it was made to resist to protest actions, as it is a robust material that is not flexible in it's editing capabilities. example of Indro Montanelli in Milan //

• Change its arrogance (position?)!

What makes this statue arrogant (material, position, behaviour, etc?) for now, unreachable height, places importance in levels and hierarchy. The material also, too solid (seems like a part of the architecture), adding to the intense importance of the figure.

• Make it ugly!

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

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

Making something communicative

Since we want to modify symbols and not history, what is our position? educating the people, how to let people discover the history?

Mobile application for tourist (a map that shows not only the nice things) -> a bit of a timid approach? but with an application, we can give further info.

problem of the performative event

How can we give a "lesson" if we're not always present? The statue is stable and rigid, it will exist long after we do.

Proposals

Use Google Maps as a platform to reveal more accurate historical contexts of statues. (Still not a very bold idea)

What about creating tension with the positioning of the statue? An in-between of remaining in its current untouchable position and the alternative of 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 protest. The precarity of opinion.

holy shit Saddam is making a fuckin backflip

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

An accompanying informative supplement (through a speculative poll??) or not? Free or interpretative, or oriented towards a more personal opinion about history linked onto the footnote of the statue.

To-Do List

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

diocan