Rescripting contested monuments amid shifting regionings of concern: the case of the President M.T. Steyn statue

Abstract

The way monuments hold sway seem stable and predictable, yet their ‘meanings’ migrate and their traditionally accepted roles shift. In South Africa there are monuments that commemorate achievements once considered laudable, that have become symbols of oppressive systems. The challenge facing the current generation is to make sense of these monuments in a way that will dignify the lived situation of all stakeholders. One such contested monument is the statue of President M.T. Steyn that used to stand in front of the Main Building of the University of the Free State. The statue divided the campus community. It provoked some students to violent unrest, while others saw it as an important heritage marker. How could the seemingly irreconcilable conflict between these stakeholders be resolved while adhering to heritage laws and without alienating a significant portion of the student body? The complex process that followed relied on creative leaps to provoke public participation and stimulate new forms of appreciation amid shifting regions of concern. One important facet of this process was the construction of a reflective triangular prism installation which provoked new visual, experiential and spatial relationships with the monument, including the visual removal of the statue from the ‘axis of power’, the celebration of oblique views, and opportunities to face the statue in a distorted mirror. This article will critically reflect on the poetic process of strange-making that was followed in the relocation of the President M.T. Steyn statue in order to illustrate how traditional conflict resolution strategies can be reinterpreted in terms of German philosopher, Martin Heidegger’s notion of inceptual thinking. The resulting approach opens new possibilities for creatively rescripting contested monuments; a way of thinking which engages the inceptual regionings impacting the way people live as beings of emplaced care.