Double Feature: Counter-Practices of World City Monumentality in the Age of the Anthropocene

Abstract

This article examines the representational strategies of the world city in the age of the Anthropocene by concentrating the discussion on the notion of monumentality. By introducing the concept of ‘world city monumentality’, which can be defined as the projected anticipatory representation of the city’s desired global future embodied in the skyscraper, we attempt at illuminating on how monumentality is contested by its counter-practices, as significant artistic forms of experiential engagement in public space. To do so, we trace a critique of a specific world city monument, the Azrieli Center in Tel Aviv, Israel, by presenting our site-specific fictive intervention titled “Double Feature” (2021) as a case study.

Keywords

• world city
• monumentality
• counter-practice
• anthropocene
• tel aviv