Communication Plaza

The Avantgarde-Movement was an art movement that crossed boundaries: crossing boundaries became also feature in El Lissitzky’s life and work. He made connections between countries and cultures, between the disciplines of art and design, and between the East and the West.

El Lissitzky’s aim was not to reform something that already exists, but to bring something else into existence. In one of his writings he demanded to put more attention to the magnificent spectacle of our streets … ` All energies must be organised into a unity, crystallized, and put on show. In this way a work is produced. It may be called a work of art. We are constructing a stage on a square, which is open and accessible. That is the machinery of the show. This stage offers the bodies in play all possibility of movement. Therefore its individual parts must be capable of being shifted, revolved, extended, and so on. It must be possible to change over from one elevation to another quickly.’ (John Milner: El Lissitzky, Design; 2009; p. 23)

This design for a monument tries to bring together (landscape-)architectural and artistic aspects with the possibility for perpetual change and an exchange between people and artists in different parts of the world.

Accommodated in a lively inner city plaza/pedestrian area, this monument creates a modifiable communication plaza. A large LED screen in the angled wall connects visitors to other art locations in the world (museums, other monuments, city squares) and enables communication and creating new art together with other people/artists in those areas.

Movable elements (words, elementary forms) allow the visitors of the monument to create their own work of art and by doing so communicate with others. The users of the monument can push movable seating cubes along a grid of tracks, so that the character, the optical appearance and the use of the monument can be altered. It can be used as a stage for street theatre, as a plaza, as a meeting point, and as a modern kind of “museum” that brings art to the viewer.

A look-out-tower enables a change of the point of view and the observation of the “spectacle” from above. The planting bed with a mix of red grass and reddish perennials, which flower during different times through the year, adds a seasonal aspect to the monument and brings perpetual change and movement to area.