Pilsētvides un pieminekļu uztvere: iespēju un semantikas plānu mainīgums
Perception of Monuments and the City Environment: Changeability of Trends and Semantic Aspects

Summary/Abstract: We know that while creating powerful images, the builders of ancient temples and sanctuaries also believed in their beneficial effect and potential to secure a channel of interaction between people and the divine energies of nature and the universe. Unfortunately, over the centuries monumental sculpture, in turning to the much more pragmatic tasks of serving various ideologies, lost both this transcendental orientation and the belief in the immortality of skilfully executed sculptures. Ideological contradictions, often related to the wanton destruction of monuments, have witnessed a hectic escalation in a milieu haunted by political and social collisions. Monarchic, despotic and totalitarian regimes of the 20th century have degraded the repertoire of monumental sculpture into a set of pathetic gestures, demonstrative bill-board style and banal clichés. More sensitive viewers took a dislike to the didactic, obtrusive, official tone of such monuments. However, it cannot be denied that at least the partial democratisation of public relations and commission practice enabled the erection of monuments not just to statesmen but also to creators of cultural values and contributors to some humane undertaking. Although these might feature repeated the standard busts and figures, attitudes towards the commemoration of popular cultural figures could be responsive and even warm-hearted. The true reputation of the cultural representatives, their output being rooted in the collective consciousness of the nation, adds to the perception in these cases. A typical example is the granite monument to the Latvian writer Rūdofs Blaumanis by Teodors Zaļkalns set up in the Riga canal parkland in 1929. From foreign examples one could name, for instance, the bronze monument to the world-famous Irish writer James Joyce, represented as a seemingly simple image in a distracted posture standing by the street in Dublin; there is also the Swedish poet Carl Michael Bellman’s monument in Stockholm and several other intimately treated representatives of the creative professions in various cities all over the world. Successful examples in this context are the figural monuments to two legendary Latvian artists – Kārlis Padegs and Voldemārs Irbe – in Riga, created by the sculptor Andris Vārpa and architect Arno Heinrihsons as a result of a private initiative in the late 1990s. They are located by the street and the stream of pedestrians; associative links to particular events in these artists’ lives enrich the perception of the works. In the creative expressions related to modern sculpture, a dominant attitude towards monument commissions for most of the 20th century was that only the artist’s creative will could ensure the presence of artistic value. In the context of contemporary art, alternative proposals of monument perception related to ironic attitudes and various actions emerged in the 1990s.

• Details
• Contents