Take Away Monument

An inflatable monument ten metres tall, as fragile as it is monumental, on which you can leave your own message for the future.

Take Away Monument is an inflatable, hyperrealistic monument in the shape of a classical column ten metres high, topped with a fragile soap bubble. It is a bold reinterpretation of what a monument can be today: monumental and fleeting at once. 

The work is mobile, quick to assemble and dismantle, and so serves as a metaphor for the certainties and ideals that today seem to vanish like snow in the sun - democracy, climate awareness and human rights, all of which now appear to be under threat. On two sides of the monument, visitors can add their own message or reflection via plaques. The other sides carry fixed plaques. 

Unlike traditional monuments that tell a single story, Take Away Monument invites multiple voices and reflection: what do we want to remember or forget from the past and the present, and what do we hope for the future?

This work can be seen on 31 October and 1 November in Begijnhofpark, as part of the opening weekend of the exhibition After Nature. Beauty and Decay, from Savery tot Today.