Hear from architect and academic Nyoah Rosmarin in a one-hour lecture about functional monuments at Incinerator Gallery followed by a viewing of Maribyrnong Park Bowls Club – both functional monuments that serve civic purpose and are emblematic of an era.

“Monuments are weird things” says Rosmarin, “we recognise the monumentality of a pyramid due to its scale, form, and historical significance. At the same time, we place plaques in rocks to mark an event of meaning, or to embed something said in matter. In both cases, monuments translate intangible memory into physical presence. This presentation focuses on building-monuments or “functional monuments” to directly explore this negotiation between use and meaning.

Building-monuments are varied and prolific. Some are more building than monument, while others swing the other way. In many cases, they are antithetical to typical readings of monumentality. Their reliance on function blurs the priorities. Taken in totality, these buildings reframe monumentality in Australia as something subtle and diverse-a monument does not necessarily equate to a monumental building.”

Presenter Bio

Nyoah Rosmarin is an architect who practices across building, research and teaching. He studied architecture in Brisbane, Sydney, and Milan, and has worked in award-winning offices such as Candalepas Associates, Lovell Chen, and parvenu architectural. Notably he co-authored Regional Bureaucracy (Perimeter Editions) and co-founded Paradise Journal. Most recently, his writing has been published by Memo Review and Garage Press, and he is currently teaching at Monash University.