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“Spomenik: The End of History”

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Fascinated by today’s hybrid landscape in which the differences between center and periphery, city and country, and culture and nature are no longer clearly defined, JAN KEMPENAERS has photographed monuments erected by the communist regime of former Yugoslavia.

Paying attention to their careful integration in the landscape, he demonstrates that landscapes are turned into sites of memory. Commemorating the common traumatic experiences during the Second World War and the partisan battles, these monuments were intended to provide the people of Yugoslavia with a common history and identity that would be productive in its future evolution. However, in the late twentieth century, these landscapes were torn by nationalist and ethnic violence and their monuments are now neglected. The idea of progress has been buried under the weight of history and the monuments, which were once machines of sightseeing and (photographic) image production, have become obsolete and invisible.” – by STEVEN JACOBS for Flemish Institute for visual, audiovisual and media art.

And good news: a book entitled “Spomenik / JAN KEMPENAERS” published by Roma PublicationS and distributed by Motto has been released this summer. More infos here.

It’s almost hard to believe these bizarre, massive structures are real!