In today's climate of division, how can urban landscapes reflect unity? How can they remind us of what we have in common? In a city like Washington, D.C. that welcomes millions of visitors from all corners of the globe every year mainly for its many memorials, what would a memorial that invites reflection on issues that concern humanity at large look like? What would it be about? What is the best location for it? This thesis, based on the above questions, explores the memorialization of the resilience of human nature using site, water, different materials, and past and future events. The memorial will be located on Hains point, which is already a designated site for future memorials by the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC). / This project investigates how to design a memorial with a universal theme that every visitor can relate to. The Memorial aims at providing a space that units, uplifts and invites to reflect on the Resilience of Human Nature in the face of tragedies around the world. It is a reminder that as humans we are more similar than we are different, a reminder that is needed today.

This essay examines how the critical reception of French nouveaux réaliste-artist Raymond Hains 1961 exhibition La France déchirée has been articulated at two historically separate occasions. In her 2010 book Nouveau Réalisme, 1960’s France and the Neo-avant-garde, art historian Jill Carrick examines the fundamental impact the founder of nouveau réalisme – French art critic and theorist Pierre Restany – has had on the movement’s historical reception. According to Carrick Restanys writing established an interpretive framework that remained more or less intact for several decades. In addition to a closer analysis of the movement’s critical reception during the 1960s’, Carrick provides a set of new, alternative readings of a number of nouveaux réaliste artworks, which all originates from a position outside of Restanys interpretive framework. However, at no occasion does Carrick show in what way, or to what extent, her theories about the movements reception history applies to artist Raymond Hains or his practise of décollage. Nor has the historical reception of La France déchirée been examined. The overall purpose of this essay is to examine whether or not the nature of the critical reception of Raymond Hains 1961 exhibition La France déchirée can be said to fit into the image of the historical reception of nouveau réalisme provided by Carrick. This is done through an analysis of Restanys theorisation of nouveau réalism as provided in the movement’s manifestos. Thereafter follows an examination of in which way and to what extent the critical reception of La France déchirée at two historically separate moments relates to this theorisation. The critical reception of these two moments in time is also compared to each other. An analysis of the exhibitions historical reception showed that Carrick’s theory of the movement’s reception history could not entirely account for the different aspects of La France déchirées critical reception. By introducing the exhibitions political context into the examination of its historical reception, a new and valuable perspective became clear. Unlike other nouveax réaliste-artworks, La France déchirée had a distinct political character, which situated its historical reception not only within a cultural context, but more importantly within a political one.

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