Jenny Holzer
:
Peace Memorial On Hauptplatz in Erlauf
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Jenny Holzer's piece commemorates the first meeting of the allied forces in Austria on 8 May 1945. It consists of three parts: a stele with a beam that travels a long way, reminiscent of an anti-aircraft spotlight, an engraved paving slab and the planting of flower beds.
The project is currently not in operation due to technical problems.
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Jenny Holzer's piece is the second part of the Erlauf Peace Memorial erected to commemorate the meeting of the Allied meeting here fifty years before, on 8 May 1954, with a Russian and an American contribution. Jenny Holzer's memorial consists of three parts: engraved plaques, a pillar with a beam of light and a flower bed, the planting of which was done in collaboration with Maria Auböck. White and grey shrubs and flowers are arranged in a circle around the post. The beam of light comes from an anti-aircraft spotlight, which is switched on every evening.
As in many of her artworks, the New York artist also employs language as a medium in her project for Erlauf, where there are brief concise messages consisting of only a few words, like mottos or sayings. In their presentation as engraved plaques they are reminiscent of memorial plaques even if they basically express a radically anti-war position, rejecting all forms of hero-worship by uneuphemistically calling Horror by its name.
(Susanne Neuburger)
Planting: Maria Auböck
The project is documented in the art archive of the museum ERLAUF ERINNERT .
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