The exhibition MO(NU)MENTS was devoted to ephemeral festive architecture, that is, to temporary structures that were built in a city only for the brief moment of a festival. What makes these structures special is that, while they were supposed to look as monumental as possible, they were actually only there for a very brief moment. They included viewing platforms, triumphal arches, theater stages and seating stands, and were made of wood, papier-mâché or canvas. They were very different in their decoration depending on the occasion and were designed and built specifically for the respective event.

 

For me, this temporary character was both the greatest attraction and the greatest challenge of this cabinet exhibition, because today nothing remains of these architectures, which were only pure illusionist architectures and were completely demolished after one or two weeks. However, the festival descriptions in which these objects were recorded for eternity have remained. The exhibition was created from the collection of festival descriptions that we have in the Liberna Collection. Of course, this was primarily incorporated into the triad of architecture exhibitions. I thought it was great that we were able to show very different facets of architecture in three very different approaches.

 

The exhibition topic is truly a marginal phenomenon in the history of art and architecture. I am very grateful that I was able to deal with such an unknown topic and to implement it in this exhibition. My personal conclusion is also closely related to this: sometimes you should take a closer look at such unusual fringe areas. And: hardly any of the visitors knew this type of architecture or were aware that it had existed at all.

 

The annual motto “Creating a Future Vision” is not directly visible at this exhibition, especially since the first thing you see is an image of lavish opulence. At second glance, however, it becomes clear that these architectures were not an end in themselves, but were built for a specific occasion. These could be coronations or state visits, weddings or birthdays. Such major events, for which these architectures were built, are always associated with change. Perhaps also with the desire for a new era.