Micro-Monuments Workshop: Pillars, Columns, Cornerstones: Verticalism in Arts and Philosophy


WSG

Workshop Conducted by Artemis Herber
Sunday, April 24, 2016 from 11am–4pm

Workshop Participation: Free and open to the public; reservation required.
RSVP by April 20th, 2016 to events@chs.harvard.edu
For directions and visitor information, visit the CHS website. Parking available on-site.
The Center for Hellenic Studies is pleased to invite you to the Micro-Monuments Workshop, presented by Washington Sculptors Group in conjunction with the International Sculptures Day 2016.
Throughout time and history humankind has created structures that reach into the vertical realm of societies. Recent excavations of prehistoric circle gravesites in Saxony-Anhalt, known as the “German Woodhenge” from the Neolithic period, were originally built from huge tree stems in circle formations.
Within a similar time frame, the giant rocks of Stonehenge were lifted into upright standing formations to be defined as monumental, sacred structures. Architecture in ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome can be characterized by vertical elevations of columns, pillars, obelisks, and architecture that relate to power, cults and beliefs. Today we still find references in architecture, art, and even events that represent monumental ideas that can be interpreted in many ways.
Philosopher Peter Sloterdijk, for example, refers to concepts of immune systems that societies developed since the beginning of humankind. Greek sculptors and architects translate the human scale into architecture, while in the 19th century this scale is extended into monumentalized historical quotations. What references do we find in our every day life? Monumental art today is seen in public places such as the vast concrete developments of shopping malls, amusement parks, and sports arenas. How are current monuments to be interpreted and understood in the context of history and every day life, and conveyed into small-scale work with every day materials? What kind of context do artists create once they craft small-scale sculptures the size of their hands? What statement can artists express through juxtapositions of large and small-scales?
The workshop offers hands-on activities with discarded, found or ready-made objects, exploring principles of vertical structures as architectural elements throughout history as well as today. Participants will be invited to respond to quotes from philosophers, architects, or anthropologists in order to create their own personal physical small–scale sculptures on site at the Center for Hellenic Studies.
Schedule, April 24, 11 – 4 pm:
Introduction Hand- out
Hands-on-activity
Presentation – Resume
Bring brown lunch bags!
Participants:
Bring small found objects of consumption or every day life (buttons, lids, cotton balls, cables, wires, chips, filings, screws, clips, rubber bands, toothpicks, sugar blocks, hair clips, office supplies, and more.)
Bring hand tools and all sorts of glue, fasteners, tape and assembly tools for your own use or to share with the group. Keep in mind that we will work on a small scale, i.e. the size of a hand.
The workshop is free, but please, consider a small donation of $ 5 -10 as a reimbursement for Artemis Herber’s material costs provided for the workshop.
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Image: Chicago Architecture Biennial, 2015, “The State of the Art of Architecture” “Architecture is Everywhere” by Sou Fujimoto Architects, Tokyo, Japan. Photo by Artemis Herber