FROM ICONIC VACANCY TO SOCIAL IMAGINATION
FROM ICONIC VACANCY TO SOCIAL IMAGINATION

TOWARD JOCHENGERZ’S THE SQUARE OF THE EUROPEAN PROMISE IN BOCHUM

Summary/Abstract: From 1973 to 1975, Jochen Gerz referred to the Decalogue’s prohibition against idolatry in order to produce a subtle disillusion about the role of image. This iconic vacancy is at work in many of his pieces, especially in his counter-monuments in which the public himself produces the necessary imagination to visualize what is, eventually, meant to be the future of possible remembrance. In his secret marking of the cobblestones, taken out of the pavement of the central place of Saarbrucken, with the names of Jewish cemeteries in Germany by 1933, this iconic vacancy reminds us of this very first, Judaeo-Christian iconic interdiction that also strongly marked Lanzman’s film Shoah. The conference retraces some aspects of the construction of future remembrance in the work of Jochen Gerz. Marion Hohlfeldt is senior lecturer in art history at the Rennes 2 University. Having been working on art and public space for the last fifteen years, she is head of the research program entitled PACT (Pratiques Artistiques,Contextes et Territoires, with Denis Briand) and of MAPS MasterArt & Public Space (under construction). She was scientific director of the international conference entitled ‘Faire la Cité. Création et Gouvernancedes imaginaires urbain’ (2016), and participated in the European program entitled ‘Expeditions’, 2013–2014. Several articles, communications, and books on public art, public authorship and participation, amongst themJochen Gerz. Res publica—The Public Works 1968–1999, 1999, (with Andreas Hapkemeyer), Parasite(s) – Une stratégie de création, 2010, (with PascaleBorrel), and Mouvement, lumière, participation. Le GRAV 1960–1968, 2013(with Laurence Imbernon). She is currently preparing the first monographic book on Jochen Gerz œuvre. For further information: http://perso.univrennes2.fr/marion.hohlfeldt

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