“Weak Monument” at EKA Gallery 22.02.–21.03.2019

The opening of the exhibition Weak Monument will take place on February 21st at 8PM. The opening is preceded by Välkloeng at 6PM, moderated by Laura Linsi and Roland Reemaa.

Weak Monument was the Estonian national pavilion at the 16th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. It was located in the deconsecrated church of Santa Maria Ausiliatrice. The exhibition at the EAA Gallery looks back at the site-specific spatial installation through photographer Hampus Berndtson’s photos and introduces the project through spatial fragments, models and the book Weak Monument: Architectures Beyond the Plinth.

 Weak Monument turns its focus from the traditional culture of monuments to space that is implicitly and concealedly political. Instead of explicit meanings inscribed in marble and bronze, what charges the public might lie elsewhere. How does space represent power? Imagine a spectrum between the triumphal column and revolutionary barricade and extend it – sometimes it is the underlying pavement which is the true representation of collective agency. Weak Monument is an oxymoron – a rhetorical device which can offer fresh perspectives on how to recognise the political in any built form.

In conjunction with the pavilion, the book Weak Monument – Architectures Beyond the Plinth edited by the curators Laura Linsi, Roland Reemaa and Tadeas Riha was published by Park Books (Zürich, 2018). The book includes essays by authors such as Tom Avermaete, Eik Hermann, Klaus Platzgummer and Margrethe Troensegaard, and presents a collection of weak monuments through paintings, personal photos and drawings as well as archive material from Estonian and European museums.