Spomenik #6 (Kozara)
Photograph
2007 (photographed), 2014 (printed)
2007 (photographed), 2014 (printed)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Jan Kempenaers is a Belgian photographer based in Antwerp and affiliated with the School of Fine Arts Ghent, where he earned a PhD in film and photography in 2012. His work is mainly concerned with landscape and new interpretations of the picturesque.
From 2007 to 2009 Kempenaers toured the Balkans photographing Spomeniks, monuments built in the former Yugoslavia in the 1960s and ’70s on the sites of World War II battles and concentration camps. Under Tito’s dictatorship, schoolchildren visited these abstract, concrete structures, which dot Balkan hilltops, contrasting sharply with the natural beauty of their surroundings. Today, many of them are abandoned. Some have been vandalised or spray-painted in outpourings of anger against the former regime; others have just been left to the elements, though their sturdy construction keeps them intact. Still others are maintained, but their significance remains contentious in the complex political lanscape of the former Yugoslavia. In Kempenaers’ photographs, the monuments appear otherworldly, as if dropped from outer space into a pristine landscape.
From 2007 to 2009 Kempenaers toured the Balkans photographing Spomeniks, monuments built in the former Yugoslavia in the 1960s and ’70s on the sites of World War II battles and concentration camps. Under Tito’s dictatorship, schoolchildren visited these abstract, concrete structures, which dot Balkan hilltops, contrasting sharply with the natural beauty of their surroundings. Today, many of them are abandoned. Some have been vandalised or spray-painted in outpourings of anger against the former regime; others have just been left to the elements, though their sturdy construction keeps them intact. Still others are maintained, but their significance remains contentious in the complex political lanscape of the former Yugoslavia. In Kempenaers’ photographs, the monuments appear otherworldly, as if dropped from outer space into a pristine landscape.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Titles |
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| Materials and techniques | photography |
| Brief description | Photograph by Jan Kempenaers, Spomenik #6 (Kozara), 2007, C-type print |
| Physical description | A colour photograph of a grey structure with a circular central column. The structure is located in a landscape surrounded by trees |
| Dimensions |
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| Production type | Limited edition |
| Gallery label | Photography Centre, 2018-20:
Jan Kempenaers (born 1968)
Spomenik #3 (Kosmaj), 2006
Spomenik #4 (Tjentiste), 2007
Spomenik #6 (Kozara), 2007
Kempenaers toured the Balkans photographing ‘Spomeniks’ – monuments built in former Yugoslavia in the 1960s and ’70s, on the sites of Second World War battles and concentration camps. Some have been vandalised in outpourings of anger against the former regime, while others are well maintained. In Kempenaers’ photographs, the monuments appear otherworldly, as if dropped from outer space into a pristine landscape.
C-type prints
Purchase funded by the V&A Photographs Acquisition Group
Museum nos. E.432 to 434-2015 |
| Credit line | Purchase funded by the Photographs Acquisition Group |
| Production | Edition 1 of 5 |
| Summary | Jan Kempenaers is a Belgian photographer based in Antwerp and affiliated with the School of Fine Arts Ghent, where he earned a PhD in film and photography in 2012. His work is mainly concerned with landscape and new interpretations of the picturesque. From 2007 to 2009 Kempenaers toured the Balkans photographing Spomeniks, monuments built in the former Yugoslavia in the 1960s and ’70s on the sites of World War II battles and concentration camps. Under Tito’s dictatorship, schoolchildren visited these abstract, concrete structures, which dot Balkan hilltops, contrasting sharply with the natural beauty of their surroundings. Today, many of them are abandoned. Some have been vandalised or spray-painted in outpourings of anger against the former regime; others have just been left to the elements, though their sturdy construction keeps them intact. Still others are maintained, but their significance remains contentious in the complex political lanscape of the former Yugoslavia. In Kempenaers’ photographs, the monuments appear otherworldly, as if dropped from outer space into a pristine landscape. |
| Associated objects |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | E.434-2015 |
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| Record created | May 7, 2015 |
| Record URL |
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