Unstable Borders: Lara Favaretto’s Momentary Monument – The Wall (2009)

In 2009, part of Lara Favaretto's installation, Momentary Monument–The Wall, collapsed due to structural problems. The accident was the culmination of a mass media campaign against her controversial site-specific work in Trento (Italy): a barricade of sandbags surrounding the statue of Dante, created by the sculptor Cesare Zocchi in 1896 (a symbol of “Italianity” for this border area, the statue had been commissioned by some pro-Italian intellectuals when the region was still under the Austro-Hungarian Empire). By mimicking the barriers used to protect monuments from bombs during the wars, Favaretto's installation aimed to spread a sense of alertness among passersby, revealing the contradictions of identity when conceived as self-contained. Beyond its explicit critique of monumentality, The Wall was interpreted by the mass media as a gigantic expression of a now globalized art, pitting it against the needs of the local community, just after the economic crisis of 2007-8.