In an effort to symbolise political repression Argentinian artist Marta Minujín has created a life sized replica of the Greek Parthenon with a twist – it’s made from 100,000 copies of books that have either been banned or still are in countries around the world.
Titled The Parthenon of Books the piece is located in Kassel, Germany and is part of the Documenta 14 art festival. Teaming up with students from the Kassel University the artist managed to identify over 170 different books that have been banned and used these titles along with plastic sheeting and steel to construct his monumental installation.
There is one book however that’s been left out on purpose, Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf.” Arguably Germany’s most controversial book it will not be featured on the Parthenon as Nazis were notorious for the censorship of books themselves – made even more poignant by the fact that Parthenon of Books now stands where they once burnt more than 2,000 books as part of a censorship campaign. Not yet complete the project is still on-going and you can stay up to date with its progress here.
