Landowski, Issiakhem and I
Sat, Sept 10, 2016, 7 pm

09/09/2016

Lecture Performance by Amina Menia (Algiers) about the Monument to the Dead
(in English)

Studio1 / Kunstquartier Bethanien

Amina Menia follows the history of the Monument to the Dead by the French sculptor Paul Landowski, commissioned by the French authorities for commemorating the deaths of both French and Arab soldiers in the First World War in 1928.

Fifty years later, on the occasion of the All-Africa Games in 1978, the authorities of Algeria appointed the Algerian artist M’hamed Issiakhem to “hide this offending sculpture.” He thus constructed a ‘sarcophagus’ for this monument, this colonial debris.

Amina Menia draws attention to the interlocked memories, underlining their discreet realities and unseen details, and creating links where dots were left.