Gough, P. (2008) Commemoration of war. In: Graham, B. and ...

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such as London are being liberally furnished with additional monuments – to women‟s contribution in the Second World War; to animals who died in wars - arches, memorial gateways, and other commemorative objets de memoire designed to stave off that „anxiety of erasure‟ felt by generations of combatants and their relatives for whom their war contribution is a fast fading. How will the „war on terror‟ be remembered? If the „war‟ is ever resolved, what commemorative forms might result? If closure is one day achieved what will be its inscription and markers? Will it find commemorative shape in three- dimensions. Pervasive warfare may be matched by pervasive technologies of commemoration. The public space that once housed the reverential monuments of the twentieth century has become fragmented, serialized and digitally accessible as a consequence of the rapid expansion of communications technologies and digital cultures. In an age when the local has exploded, it is now understood that „the Internet provides a medium in which public art can be created specifically for non-localized, interactive and lasting memorializations.‟ (Gerin 2002, 11) One example will illustrate this transformation: The Numbers and the Names is an on-line memorial to 9/11. It was created by Mac Dunlop and Neil Jenkins, with a visual prologue by Annie Lovejoy, as a component of an extensive collaborative art project. Eschewing the naming of names, the four- dimensional memorial consists of words drawn from Dunlop‟s poems 11.09.01; using an orbital engine created by Jenkins they float on a colourless screen in a steady rotation around a central void. The order in which they appear is generated according to an inverse reading of the viewer‟s IP address and those of previous visitors to the website. The visitor-participant can use the mouse to slow down or re-orient the orbiting words but they cannot stop or reverse the process. As a virtual monument The Numbers and the Names, both records and functions because of the history of mourners who have visited the site: it continues to exist only if visited by those who wish to participate, or as long as people continue to show any interest. Whereas many virtual memorial sites are in paul.gough@uwe.ac.uk 17
little more than on-line petitions, Dunlop‟s interactive site may indeed represent a paradigm shift in the nature of commemoration. Adhead, S.D. (1917), „Monumental Memorials and Town Planning‟, Journal of the Town Planning Institute, 3:5, 17-28. G.J.Ashworth, G.J. and Graham, B. (eds) (2005), Senses of Place: Senses of Time (London: Ashgate). Ayliffe R, Dubin M. and Gawthorp, J. (1991), Turkey: the Rough Guide (London, Harrap Columbus). Barnes, J. Cross Channel (London: Jonathan Cape, 1995). Bender,B. (1983), „Stonehenge: contested landscapes (medieval to present day)‟ in Barbara Bender et al. (ed.). Bender, B. (ed.) (1983) Landscape: politics and perspectives (Oxford: Berg). Bender, B. and Winer, M. (eds.) (2001), Contested landscapes: movement, exile and place (Oxford: Berg), 37-55 Blomfield, R. (1932) Memoirs of an architect (London: Macmillan). Borg, A. (1991), War Memorials (London: Leo Cooper). Burstow, R. (2001) Materialising Memory: Mementoes, Memorials and Modernism, catalogue essay for In Memorium, Walsall Art Gallery, 22 November 2000 – 21 January 2001, 8–12. Carman, J. and Carman, P. (2006) Bloody meadows: investigating landscapes of battle (Stroud: Sutton Publishing). paul.gough@uwe.ac.uk 18
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Gough, P. (2008) Commemoration of war. In: Graham, B. and ...

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