The Invisible and the “Matter” of Memory: A New Materialist Approach to Countermonumental Aesthetics

Abstract

Taking a new materialist perspective, the article looks at the artistic installation entitled 2146 Stones Against Racism (created in 1993 by Jochen Gerz in Saarbrücken, Germany) as an example of countermonumental project dedicated to the commemoration of the Shoah. The argumentation sheds light on how, by operating in material-semiotic ways and employing aesthetics of the invisible, the memorial triggers reflection on the complex processes of memory work in post-traumatic societies.

Keywords

• countermonument
• germany
• holocaust
• new materialism
• trauma