GRAMSCI MONUMENT

2012

HOME PROGRAM LOCATION THE PROJECT THE MAP ABOUT GRAMSCI CONSTRUCTION DISMANTLING PRESS-KIT
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
"Every
human being
is an
Intellectual."
Antonio Gramsci


AMBASSADOR’S NOTE 27

“What is the story with the roses,” a visitor asked, speaking of the flowers in the exhibition space near the images of Gramsci’s grave. I explained that the rose is part of the monument and that we change it daily. However, I also admitted that the effort is not without contradiction and pointed to the second bucket of roses that lives in the Newspaper office. The culture of capitalism is unable to accommodate the modesty of desiring a single rose. If you want to buy a rose within walking distance from the monument, you need to buy an entire dozen. In sum, as we have been domesticated to buy excess, the theatrics of a “good bargain” leaves us with extra roses each week. Indeed, the gesture of counting the days with a fresh rose, paradoxically, speaks to the nature of the gift, the expenditure of time and effort required. What is a gift if not a rose? The artist Moyra Davey, who visited Gramsci’s grave when she was in Rome, shared with me a copy of a photograph she took during her walk through the Protestant/A-Catholic cemetery. The image shows a rosebush in bloom.



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