A WORK IN PUBLIC SPACE BY THOMAS HIRSCHHORN, PRODUCED BY DIA ART FOUNDATION NEW YORK
LOCATED AT FOREST HOUSES, THE BRONX - NEW YORK CITY, SUMMER 2013
Arguably, the character of the encounters that I have been experiencing at the monument
is partly constructed by the subject of the monument itself. The other day while
touring the exhibition with a group of young adults who signed up for internships,
we ended up discussing Gramsci’s prison sentence. The conversation reached a full
stop when I used the word Fascism. The blank expression on their faces anticipated
the question from a young woman who asked that I explain the meaning of the word.
Leaving aside the difficulty of improvising a succinct definition to the belligerent
principles of this political ideology, the greater challenge was to admit that elements
of this totalitarian project continue to influence new forms of extreme nationalism
and xenophobia today.
