Anti-monumentalism

Anti-monumentalism (or counter-monumentalism) is a tendency in contemporary art that intentionally challenges every aspect (form, subject, meaning, etc.) of traditional public monuments. It has been defined as art designed "not to uphold but negate sacred values". Anti-monumentalism claims to deny the presence of any imposing, authoritative social force in public spaces.

It developed in Germany as an opposition to monumentalism whereby authorities (usually the state or dictator) establish monuments in public spaces to symbolize themselves or their ideology, and influence the historical narrative of the place. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial (1982), or Jochen Gerz's 2146 Stones (1993) can be considered examples of anti-monumentalism.