For Tha Diggaz

War memorial intervention


'For tha Diggaz' is an intervention on the South Australian National War Memorial on North Terrace, which grew out a collaboration during a 5 day workshop with GRL (Graffitti Research Labs). It very simply tweaks an extant city system - a city monument and its lighting infrastructure, with the basic tools of some red lighting gel, and trusty old gaffer tape. At night time, the War memorial is lit with brilliant white light from within the monument. This light transforms the sculpture, giving it an almost ethereal pure white glow, metaphorically cleansing the nation for the suffering and sacrifice it has required of its soldier/citizens. A plaque at the memorial site openly proclaims its purpose to be to "perpetuate the courage, loyalty and sacrifice of those who served in the Great War". Turning the monument red by sticking coloured gel over the internal flood lights, was intended to highlight the bloodshed and shear hell of war, and to raise questions about the roll of violence in nation building.

The digger mythology has long fascinated me, particularly its continued strength and centrality to myths of Australianness, despite being so far removed from the experience of contemporary Australia. Interestingly, when discussing ideas for projects during the workshop, the suggestion of doing something to the war memorial drew quite a strong negative response from a few of particpants. The thought was that it would cause a public outrage and perhaps reflect badly on the workshop as a whole - dont fuck with the Digger myth, you'll piss off the public was the message! The War Memorial is out of bounds. This perceived sacredness of the war memorial, and that it was not a legitimate target for a public art intervention, from some amongst a group of young artists who where actively engaging with the public sphere with their own practice, i found quite suprising. It demonstrated the continued perverse power of the mythology and was the catalyst for deciding that this was definitely a project worth following through on.

Thanks to a couple of fluoro workvests, the installation of the red lighting gel during a busy Adelaide lunchtime, went entirely unnoticed and unremarked upon, despite the arrival on site of a couple of Adelaide City council workers. The installation apparently lasted for about 5 months, including through the ANZAC day memorial services, apparently unnoticed by city powers. It was a fairly gentle and subtle incursion into public space - perhaps too subtle to make much of an impact. It went up during the Adelaide Fringe and International Arts festivals, at a time when there where a number of other light installations on public buildings along North Terracely, which probably gave it the impression of having some authorised legitimacy. At the end of the day it was a harmless and nondestructive intervention, and it actually looked quite beautiful.

As a postscript to the whole affair, the South Australian RSL (Returned and Services League) have announced they are running a 'Red for Rememberance day' campaign for the 90th anniversary of the end of WW1. They are encouraging individuals, businesses, councils and governments to light up landmarks, buildings and homes with red light between 4th - 11th November. Contact your local RSL for details.


Red for Rememberance - http://www.clubsonline.com.au/news/index.cfm?fuseaction=display_main&News...

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• australian
• war
• memorial
• antiwar
• diggers
• redlight
• public_art
• art
• film
• street_art
• funny
• adelaide
• GRL
• masterclass
• ANAT
• Carlclew
• Graffitti_Research_Labs
• nationalism
• digger_mythology
• nation_building
• Australianness
• Aussie

[cjdnl]

your a fuckwitt lowest scum fuck on earth