Abstract
The roles of a monument can be split into two categories — collective catharsis and the creation of public memory. The question lies in who decides what story gets told. As designers, we have a responsibility to respect and represent the stories of the people served by our work. Studio Brazen has been partnering with the National Public Housing Museum, a start-up museum and site of conscience located in Chicago to rethink what is worthy of being monumentalized. Home can mean many things to many people. It’s the place where you rest your head, the table where you eat family meals, it’s the place where we have difficult conversations and joyous celebrations. These memories are valuable and important. At Home is a projection-mapping installation, which acts as an ephemeral monument for the everyday lives and stories of public housing. The monument features the stories of current and former public housing residents. The installation will begin in Chicago at the future home of the National Public Housing Museum, but it is intended to travel all over the United States at sites of significance to those who live or have lived in public housing. Short three-sentence stories will continue to be collected and added to an online database. Submissions will be collected through the project website. Visitors to the website can see documentation of the projection installation(s) or can take a look at the collection of narratives as text. Through this project and presentation we are questioning, “What makes a monument?”
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
2021 Special Focus: Towards a (Design) New Deal
KEYWORDS
Monuments, Design of Public Memory, Responsible Design, Democratic Design, Ephemeral
