War Memorials are often forgotten statues, right in the center of town, but still out of our sight. They do not tell you enough to understand them, neither are you interested in putting effort into getting to know and learn from them. We investigate how the web could be used to create a war memorial that is more alive, captivating and empathizing. With the Common Fate Memorial we have been looking for an answer to how we can mourn, commemorate and heal on virtual ground.
History is often seen as a story, and it is supposed to be told a certain way. This because there is so much power in history, that it has to be contained in some way. Usually history is full off importance and graveness, and should always be treated respectfully. The problem is that with this approach history, which should be analyzed over and over and never be left aside, often freezes in its form. And becomes a story.
So what should be done is to challenge that way of treating history. Instead of following the laws we as designers should try to be experimental and see where we land. We should give memory new costume, so that it won’t freeze. Pull it away from its grey stone thrones, its dusty rituals and history books and its hypocrisy law of “sticking to objective truths”.
We decided to counteract the graveness and be experimental. By letting our users tell their own stories in our monument made out of rain, we make its content honest but we also challenge the way of treating history: We don’t tell the viewers a story of history but let them tell us their story. We democratize the memorial creating. We try out experimental navigation and unexpected ways of interaction to inspire reflection, contemplation, commemoration and reconciliation. And we question the way history is told by designing perspective machines.
Designers: Sara Stiber & Andreas Karlsson
