John Miller: Public Art and The Law of Unintended Consequences. Eingeladen von Elisa R. Linn im Rahmen von Public Afterlife auf dem Zentralfriedhof Friedrichsfelde

At the former site of Mies van der Rohe’s Revolution Monument—erected in 1926 and destroyed nine years later by the Nazi regime—curator and researcher Elisa R. Linn invites artist Ariane Müller to speak about her work*Monument for Schröderstrasse*(2005) and artist John Miller to present his lecture*Public Art and The Law of Unintended Consequences*.

Drawing on her research into counter-public spheres in the GDR and in the years following the fall of the Berlin Wall, Linn introduces the two artistic contributions with a reading from Sybille Bergemann’s*Das Denkmal*(1975–1986) and from*Das Gespenst verlässt Europa* (1990) by Heiner Müller and Sibylle Bergemann. In the ensuing discussions, Linn and the artists explore which political narratives continue to resonate through the presence and absence of a monument, and how art reshapes public space in this context.

As part ofNils Norman: Monument to a Monument to a Monument.

John Miller presents his lecture*Public Art and the Law of Unintended Consequences*, in which he explores public space not as a given but as a contested site. Starting from the unforeseen consequences that arise when works of art encounter everyday urban life, he examines how they develop a life of their own: they become monuments, subjects of public controversy, myths, or sites of collective memory, thereby assuming functions related to the culture of remembrance, symbolism, and history. Miller asks how their meanings and effects can transcend, distort, or even contradict the intentions of their creators. What remains of art in public space after its political, material, or symbolic disappearance? And how does it continue to have an impact through memory, loss, and historical change?

Event in English.

Free of charge; registration is requested atinfo(at)miesvanderrohehaus.de.

The meeting point is the installation*Monument to a Monument to a Monument*on the grounds of the former Revolution Monument, Friedrichsfelde Central Cemetery, Gudrunstr. 20, 10365 Berlin.