Beyond the chain link fence: DuSable Park and the contemporary memorial

Abstract

Within an increasingly fragmented contemporary condition, personal memory begins to challenge the dominant narratives of collective memory. In recent decades, an antithetical reaction to the static state of traditional memorials has led to an emergent typology conceptually seeking tension, debate, and impermanence. The study of this newer memorial typology engages a gap in scholarly literature that is identified between the external, pragmatic reality of a physical memorial and the internal, ethereal quality of personal memory. The capacity to evoke <italic>memory-work</italic> is explored through the evaluation of four case studies including two seminal <italic>countermemorials</italic>: the <italic>Monument Against Fascism</italic> and a projection memorial by Norbert Radermacher. A comparative examination further considers <italic>3 Acres on the Lake: the DuSable Park Proposal Project</italic>, a four-year long public art project sited, though without the potential to ever be constructed, on a marginalized, undeveloped parcel in honor of Chicago's first non-native settler. The projects are compared within the framework of four criteria which ask: was the purpose of the project to invoke <italic>memory-work</italic>, did the project engage with memory stakeholders, is the project a <italic>countermemorial</italic>, and did the project result in <italic>memory-work</italic>? It is determined that <italic>3 Acres on the Lake</italic> reflects emergent trends in memorialization.