HAPPY CEMETERY
What is Memory?
The memory of each person has it's own unique face; to reveal it one must look for a symbol that will expresses the essence of the life of that particular individual. If it was a joyful person, the memory should provoke laughter. Drying up tears we bring the dead back to earth, returning him life in a form of an interactive monument. The memory is a space reserved for happy moments of the past. The residence permit is issued only to the dead who were joyful people full of life.
Monuments-Antimonuments.
The monuments that I propose are ephemeral, fragile, ever-changing. They melt in the sun, fall apart at the first gust of wind, are full of holes, they are not designed to last. My funeral monuments are interactive: their existence depends on the vitality and creativity of the deceased person's friends and relatives, who must always renew them and redo them. I envision Happy Cemetery as a fun interactive playground that unleashes creativity. Sadness, suffering, loneliness and pain will vanish through the action of joyous theatrical performances, games invented on the spot, and spaces for reflection between the chirping of birds. A sensual smile of healthy, beautifully curled red lips should be humanity's answer to the toothless grin of death.
Here is how I envision graves of some friends, most of whom are still alive.
Monument to Jean
Jean is a very good man.
Owner of an antique shop, Jean takes his business lightly, his real occupation is to collect bizarre characters. Jean's shop is frequented by adventurers, magicians, exciting young artists, inventors, but also by illegal immigrants who hide their contraband merchindise in the drawers of antique cabinets. The monument to Jean would be a winter snowman with open arms to embrace everyone. When spring arrives, the snowman melts and only the puddle remains. But the stick with the sign "Jean" will bloom and turn into a tree in the middle of the pond where children are playing with the boats. They will be taught to build boats by a friend of Jean (therefore, open-air school!).Jean and Jean-snowman-tree in bloom in the middle of the puddle will be the center for various fun entertainment. In such a way even though dead, Jean will provoke laughter and merriment, as he did in life.
Monument to Henry
He is a gentle and curious boy who lives like a canary in the golden cage. In his little bird like heart lives desire to explore the world, but the golden bars of the cage are linked by his fear, making the rest of the world unacessible. Instead of fairy tales, Henry has heard that the world is full of hungry cats ready to swallow him, instead of spring water he drank the murky drink called "comfort" instead of sand castles he was given property, company , luxury car ... the memorial to Henry is the realization of his dream: the golden cage dangling empty on a tree, while his canary soul is jumping happily from one branch to another, getting acquainted with other birds who will hopefully teach him that life is also about flying.
Monument to myself.
What is an artist if not a mirror that reflects people's souls or the sky?The best tombstone for me is a mirror lying in the middle of the field with inscription of my name on it. Those who will come to see me, will see themselves and it will be like saying, "I am you and you are me".If nobody will come, the mirror will reflect thousands of sunrises, sunsets, starry sky. In such a way i will continue doing in death what i did in life.
Funeral Monument to Robin Hood.
His tomb is extremelly actual: he was a fun terrorist, and living in time of social upheaval we have much to learn from him. Robin Hood was a creative rebel, not only he took away money from the rich, but gave it away in a royal way (example: by knocking at people's houses and if someone offered him lunch, he left gold coins in the pot). Where is his body buried is unknown, but meanwhile you may erect a notice board with proposals how to do green terrorism, how people have fought for freedom in the past, and this will be his cheerful grave.Any person can post a notice and anyone can read it.
Monument to the beautiful Countess.
How could one bury the body of a young woman who did not accomplish anything in life except having had many love stories? Her life was devoted to pleasure, she was like a crazy butterfly fluttering around with joy. And when she disappeared, she left an army of lovers in tears. How to celebrate her body that has served as an inexhaustible source of pleasure for mankind?
On the hill where she is buried, over her body is placed a stick where instead of a flag is waving her lingerie. His lovers will have a concrete task: to change "the flag" and to show off their achivenemts under that "flag". Thus, the musician will be playing his violin under the flag- sexy panties, the poet will compose verses filling her bra with tears, the weightlifter will beat all the records under her luxurious stockings that will hover in the wind.
Funeral monument to the famous fashion designer
He already has a mausoleum, that's where his ancestors are buried. But it can be used as a dressing room for the models during fashion shows. Beauties will leave the mausoleum, sway their hips in front of the crowd, and then return back to the grave. The funeral monument in this case would be the fashion show, the most ephemeral and lightweight monument in the world, which glorifies the transitional miracle of female beauty.
The monument to my father.
His talent is like a mighty ancient galleon whose sails are written all over with imaginative scenarios. He wants todiscover the new Americas, the sails are swollen with wind, but the sea has dried up and he remained stuck in a small puddle. There will come a day when the glaciers will melt and all the earth will be covered by the waves, then ship will become the boat of Noah, it will save those who have been searching for deep knowledge, the students will read the book-sails, while swinging on rope ladders without fear of falling. In the middle of rough seas they will watch experimental films projected on the sails swolen with wind, accompanied by sparys of salt water.
Economic side.
Apparently the proposed cemetery is an unthinkable luxury, but taking into consideration various contributory factors, you will realize that in truth it is a very practical solution to the problem of the corpses that accumulate with frightening speed: if we continue in this way, soon the surface of the megagalattic cemeteries will exceed those of huge cities, leaving no space for the walking dead. In addition, my model will create many jobs for so many categories of people who today are chronically unemployed . In the cemetery of the future the family will need an artist-director, will require painters, sculptors, writers, actors, etc.. and all of them will be gladly paid by the families. But it will not be just a decorative job: artists of all media together with family and friends of the dead will try "revive" the soul of the deceased through various media. In addition, there will arise the need for the artistic director of the cemetery, whose task will be to reconcile the needs of the various participants, the same thing the writer does with his characters: no one should steal the show from another. Since the cemetery is no longer a grim and frightening place, but will become a park used in many ways (such as baby park, a meeting place of lovers and the elderly, as a theater in the open, with libraries and churches), many spaces currently used only 4-5% can be exploited differently (for homes for homeless and low income families that are badly needed , etc..). The most important thing is that the link between the relatives and the army of workers of the cemetery shall be clean: there is no room for exploitation, nor for pickpocketing during the day when widows and children are suffering, nor for the frustrations of modern artists misunderstood by everyone, nor for the crudeness of the present day monumental monstrous tombstones , who crush memories. A cemetery that "works" is the one that gives a lot of work to all.
Brunch Cemetery
You can not leave without place the souls of the damned. They too deserve a decent burial, even though our job is to take care of synny people. Space, even if marginal, has to be dedicated for them as well. Of course you can not bury them in the space devoted to life. Through the centuries of burial space has existed for the damned, so we will do so as well. The cemetery has many branches happy to accommodate the poor in spirit, placed in shadowy places. The branch will play a double role: 1.It will be a Purgatory called "Hope"; 2.It will recycle suffering and non productive sorrow , the most polluting and damaging for the environment material.
Monument to tvelve appostles.
They are the paths that lead to heaven. We shall place 12 stairs that rise from the earth to the sky ... and that lead nowhere (but by climbing them, we will see the land differently, the sky will be closer, if you're lucky you get covered by low flying clouds. Apart from the cemetery, you could propose this idea in some country full of unemployed devoid of natural or architectural beauty. Imagine: arrives a bus full of tourists, who climb the stairs quickly. They got to the last step and observe the landscape. Then, satisfied, get down again. Sure, you can not reach the sky with only a scale-apostle, but by changing the perspective changes the inner perspective. After understanding this, the tourists will be packed in the bus and go home happily.
