Stones of Stenness
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Stones of Stenness • Neolithic henge monument c.3100 BCE • Stone circle enclosed by bank and ditch • Tallest stone approximately 5.6m in height • Diameter of approximately 44m • Part of a larger complex of Neolithic monuments that include the Ring of Brodgar and Maeshowe chambered tomb Monuments and self Archaeologists have theorised that monumental structures are imbued with a sense of the people who built them (Knapp 2009, 47). However we, as archaeologists, can only speculate about the meaning of a monumental structure within our own ‘cultural and historical context’ (Knapp 2009,48). We will attempt to recreate the process of constructing a monument as a community and project our experiences as a group, and individually onto our construction. Our ‘monument’ will be a several standing stones from the Stones of Stenness, constructed from wooden frames. The wooden frames will have banners within them onto which we will ‘project ourselves’. This will achieved by arranging text, graphics, photographs that are representative of our experience onto the canvas that will fill the frame. What will this involve? Designing wooden frames Creating a scale model as a practice run Developing a theme for each ‘stone’ Considering the individual and group process of constructing a monument and how this can be displayed on the canvas within the frames Collecting images and text for the canvas Arranging these in a visually effective manner Printing/transferring these to the canvas Constructing and erecting the ‘stones’ Recording feedback from the public Running Fence Christo & Jeanne-Claude Sonoma-Marin, California 1976 The Parthenon Callicrates & Ictinus Athens, Greece 438 BCE Thinking BIG Your Name Here Brown University, 2013 Göbekli Tepe Around 3 to 3.5 meters tall Writing Stonehenge Sol Lewitt Ben Durham--Faces made out of text. Monumentality in the making The Olympieion at Athens “(…) Olympion half-finished, but astonishing in its architectural design – it would have been an excellent building if it had been completed” Herakleides (ps. Dikaiarchos) On the Cities of Greece 1.1 "This work is not only universally esteemed, but is accounted one of the rarest specimens of magnificence.” Vitruvius, On Architecture (VII.Pref.15). I BC 515 BC “This is Athens, the former city of Theseus”| “This is the city of Hadrian and not of the Theseus”. Inscriptions carved on Hadrian’s arch. II AD .