As part of the Manchester International Festival (MIF), Argentine artist Marta Minujín set out to recreate London's iconic clock tower at half its original size. Relocated from London to Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester—the city that drove the Industrial Revolution during the 18th century—the replica is a 42-square-meter structure covered in 20,000 books related to British history. This cultural icon, representing the center of power in the United Kingdom, is symbolically laid on its side as a work of relational art where the public can enter, explore the installation, and, toward the end of the festival, take home the books that comprise it.
“People need this! We need new ideas and new places where people meet. Global symbols like Big Ben stand tall and never change – but the world is always changing” - Marta Minujín for the MIF.
The project is part of the "Fall of Universal Myths" series, which brings together various monumental, iconoclastic pieces. The series began in 1978 with "The Lying Down Obelisk" at the first Latin American Biennial of São Paulo. *Big Ben Lying Down* (2021) connects to other works by the artist, such as *The Parthenon of Forbidden Books*, installed in 1983 on Avenida 9 de Julio in Buenos Aires after the end of Argentina's civic-military dictatorship. Composed of books banned by the de facto military junta, at the end of the exhibition, cranes tilted the structure so that the public could take the books home.
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Marta Minujín Recreates Her "Parthenon of Books" in Germany with 100,000 Banned Titles
The artist's other notable works include the replica of the Obelisk made of sweet bread for the II Fair of Nations in Buenos Aires in 1979, the James Joyce Bread Tower (Dublin, 1980), Carlos Gardel on Fire (Medellín, 1981), and the Sea Lion made of Alfajores (Mar del Plata, 1994).
The 2021 edition of the Manchester International Festival features film and dance programming, alongside performances by Patti Smith and her quartet, and Arlo Parks, one of the latest breakthrough artists in British pop music. "Big Ben Lying Down with Political Books" is the new monumental artwork by Marta Minujín that opens up a debate on what we value today, placing art at the center of everyday life. It stands as a mass-participation artwork that invites the reinvention of national symbols on a shared path toward democracy and equality.
This article was written by Agustina Iñiguez. The translation is powered by AI.
