MONUMENTS | war and peace

Almost every city in the world has at least one monument, placed in public spaces for remembrance of some deed or recognition of some form of greatness.

Spending time in public places of Berlin, it struck me just how many monuments relate to war, either marking wars won, or people lost.

In November 2017 there was a temporary monument taking a different look at war and reminding us of the courage of people living through the Syrian war as well as the reason for Syrian migration.

The installation, called “Monument,” is a creation of Syrian-German artist Manaf Halbouni, and it was shown as part of Maxim Gorki Theater’s “3. Berliner Herbstsalon”
(Third Berlin Autumn Salon), November 11-26, 2017.

Halbouni stated the sculpture should be the “starting point of discussions about how destruction, suffering and war can be overcome, and how reconciliation is possible.” (source: DW Akademie online) I like the idea of spending more time on thinking about creating peace than preparing for the potential of war.