Estonia

Monuments represent power; explicitly and simply, but not universally. In Estonia the classical notion of a monument appears as a foreign intruder. Its presence is marginal, its tradition nonexistent and its form tormented by an apparent cultural displacement. The statue on the square never claimed the central position we know from Western Europe. This semantic void directs attention to other, less exceptional architectures. Sometimes a set of stairs marks a common agency, sometimes a pavement becomes symbolic. Instead of meanings inscribed in marble and bronze, implicit charge can be revealed. If weaker then more relevant, for what is only implicit cannot be openly questioned. Weak Monument explores the diffused line between the political form of the monument and the architectures of the everyday. Where does the monument stop and the pavement begin? Estonian pavilion at the Biennale Architettura invites the visitors to expand their understanding of where and how architecture can be recognised as political.