The MONUMENT TO THE BIRTH OF THE 20TH CENTURY is not a monument, but an art project initiated by Michael Blum in Linz, Austria. It intended to use the idea of a monument to address issues like the construction of history, the relevance of monuments and memorials and the role of memory in daily life, through the uncanny common school year of Wittgenstein and Hitler 100 years ago - and all speculations that might arise from it.
The project's documentation handles several levels of information and many discourses, their multiplicity and variety constituting its very value. The book brings together all material generated by the project – feed-back to the initial letter as well as available yet contradictory sources - and render it legible through an almost narrative guideline. In the end, the book itself, with all its focuses and themes triggered, takes the place of the monument itself.
It contains contributions by (a.o.) Arahmaiani, Brett Bloom, Erhard Busek, Yves Chaudouet, Jean-Francois Chevrier, Jacques Chirac, Noam Chomsky, Kimberley Cornish, Carola Dertnig, Thomas Duschlbauer, Stephen Feinstein, Robert Fleck, Karl Iro Goldblat, Erich Haider, Daniela Hammer-Tugendhat, Frank Hartmann, Thomas Hirschhorn, Detlef Hoffmann, Nabila Irshaid, Willibald Katzinger, Susan Kelly, Pierre Leguillon, Ken Lum, Thomas Michelon, Simon Morris, Sina Najafi, Marylene Negro, Gregor Neuerer, Jenny Perlin, Olivier Poivre d’Arvor, Wolfgang Preisinger, Franz Prieler, Elsa Prochazka, Josef Puehringer, Paul Rajakovics, Gerald Raunig, Julian Samuel, Christine Schoepf, Wolfgang Schuessel, Esther Shalev-Gerz, Erich Watzl, Lawrence Weiner, Lesley Young; as well as an essay by Stella Rollig and an interview of Michael Blum by Steven Nyanga.
15 x 19 cm, 224 p. B/W. ISBN 3-86588-047-9
Galerija Nova, Zagreb/HR, 2006 (curated by WHW)
Produced by O.K Centrum für Gegenwartskunst, Linz/A
Published by Revolver-Archiv für aktuelle Kunst, Frankfurt-am-Main/D
