MONUMENTOMANIA
how memorials
make war possible
RU
my name is vitya vilisov, and this is my project MONUMENTOMANIA. I do journalism and artistic research, including performative lectures and documentary/research projects. for the past two years I have been researching war — writing articles & essays, making the NEW TYPES OF WEAPONS documentary on the critical theory of new wars, the immersive project HOW LONG IS THE WAR on the impact of war on time and identity, and the performance IL GRANDE DOLORE / great grief about mourning and grieving during war. this is my fourth major project about war.

war is possible in a society to which it seems acceptable or natural. war monuments — statues, memorials and architectural ensembles, even churches — erected by the state to commemorate military figures and events play a huge role in desensitizing to war or open militarization. in Russia today, there are more than 4,500 monuments protected as cultural heritage; about 2,500 of them are dedicated to World War II; dozens, if not hundreds, of new monuments to the military people and wars have appeared in the last ten years.

as dominant features of public spaces, monuments are paradoxically invisible: they are habitualized; their impact on culture and militarization is therefore underestimated. but monuments shape and direct collective memory, influencing collective identity and in many ways determining the values of societies. today, government monumental policies around the world glorify war, portraying it as an inevitable and natural part of life; instead of commemorating the victims and depicting the grief of war, monuments glorify organized violence.

drawing on books and texts [bibliography here] by researchers from architecture, sociology, phenomenology, anthropology, and other fields, I made a project on how monuments shape places of memory and tell people how and what to remember, what example to follow; how power derives legitimacy from monuments and the cult of glory; how monuments influence our emotions and values; how monumentality has compromised itself in the 20th century and what is replacing it; and whether monuments can do the work of memory for us.
MONUMENTOMANIA: trailer
MONUMENTOMANIA exist in two formats: movie & immersive experience; these are two different works based on the same text.

the second is a performative experience in a 3D space, built in Unreal Engine. it consists of 20 scenes across 5 different locations and was originally available in the browser for group sessions; now it is distributed as a standalone app for Mac and Windows. you find yourself inside the project — you can move around, jump, climb monuments, and immerse yourself more deeply in this visual exploration of monumental structures. it’s like an offline performance — only on your screen.

if you’ve already seen my project HOW LONG IS WAR, you’re familiar with the format. If not, check out the trailer for SIV or the in-game trailer for MONUMENTOMANIA.

this project has a very dense text, so I would recommend exploring the immersive version first, and then tightening the material with the movie. both formats last an hour and consist of the following parts:
project premiere: 9.05.2025
screenings: 13.05, 23.06, 10.08, 17.11, 25.5.25

📼 video-version:

— Czech premiere at TEFF festival | 10.10.24
— online release: 28.12.24
— ArtDocFest 2025 world premiere

🎟 immersive version: now available as an app
please leave the correct email — you'll receive the letter with a link to experience immediately after payment; if something went wrong or you want to pay in another way — ping me on telegram or insta; please be aware that experience contains speech in Russian with Russian and English subtitles
just download the app
what you do seems important, especially the indie-research of wars, especially now, so I want to support your chances of continuing doing it
thank you for reading this; I've put a huge effort into this project and would love if you could share it. if you'd like to follow my work further, here's my inst, and telegram channel.

✊ vilisov '24
Made on
Tilda