Mr. Kuma, Why Do I Keep Crashing Into You?
Writing and research
2022
Casalgrande is a small town in the suburbs of Reggio Emilia, Italy. Since 1960 the town’s prosperity has grown thanks to local industries in the ceramic sector, which became nowadays the main commercial resource. In 2010 Casalgrande Padana, the main factory, commissioned the realisation of a sculpture by Kengo Kuma which has been positioned at the centre of a roundabout in a principal street that connects two main towns of the area.
This sculpture’s relevance is high as a monument of the city, and appears to be one of the main results when searching “Casalgrande’s monument” in Google. However, it does not contain any messages or representations related to the town or citizens. Considering that, what characteristics should a monument have in order to be defined as such? More precisely, what is a monument?
Recording history and embodying the concept of eternity are factors that can be considered when defining the roles of monuments. On the 12th of December, 2015, at 2 am, a car crash damaged a portion of Kengo Kuma’s sculpture. If a monument's purpose is to document and record such incidents, should it have been left damaged to represent this fact? "Mr. Kuma, Why Do I Keep Crashing Into You?" is an essay that reflects on the roles and definitions of monuments and their connection with public art. The essay delves into this matter by analyzing the artwork CCCloud, created by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, which has been continuously and accidentally destroyed by car accidents over the years.
This sculpture’s relevance is high as a monument of the city, and appears to be one of the main results when searching “Casalgrande’s monument” in Google. However, it does not contain any messages or representations related to the town or citizens. Considering that, what characteristics should a monument have in order to be defined as such? More precisely, what is a monument?
Recording history and embodying the concept of eternity are factors that can be considered when defining the roles of monuments. On the 12th of December, 2015, at 2 am, a car crash damaged a portion of Kengo Kuma’s sculpture. If a monument's purpose is to document and record such incidents, should it have been left damaged to represent this fact? "Mr. Kuma, Why Do I Keep Crashing Into You?" is an essay that reflects on the roles and definitions of monuments and their connection with public art. The essay delves into this matter by analyzing the artwork CCCloud, created by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, which has been continuously and accidentally destroyed by car accidents over the years.
This essay is part of Ways of Making, a collective online and printed publication. If you have any questions or you are interested in reading the full text, please contact me.