Antimonumento +43
Anti-monument in Mexico City, Mexico / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An antimonumento was installed in front of the Superior Court of Justice of Mexico City, on the median strip of Paseo de la Reforma Avenue, in the Cuauhtémoc borough of Mexico City. The work included the installation of a red number 43 made of metal along with a plus symbol, in reference to the forty-three students kidnapped—and possibly killed—in Iguala, Guerrero, in 2014 after being arrested for allegedly committing criminal offenses, plus the six students and witnesses killed during that event, and to honor the more than 150,000 people killed since the start of the Mexican drug war and the 30,000 disappeared persons reported by 2015.[1] The anti-monument was installed by peaceful protesters during a demonstration on 26 April 2015 as a plea for justice and to prevent the case from being forgotten by the authorities and society. The sculpture became the first of its kind in Mexico and would inspire the installation of other guerrilla-like memorials throughout the city and in other states of the country.
19°26′07″N 99°09′0.2″W | |
Location | Mexico City, Mexico |
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Designer | Anonymous demonstrators |
Type | Antimonumento |
Material | Steel |
Height | Around 3 m (9.8 ft) |
Opening date | 26 April 2015 (2015-04-26) |
Dedicated to | The victims of the 2014 Iguala mass kidnapping |
The artwork was never given an official name and those who installed it referred to it simply as either Antimonumento or +43. After the subsequent installation of other unnamed anti-monuments, like the Antimonumento +65 and the Antimonumento +72, the Antimonumento +43 received its name after its physical characteristics. Demonstrators added the slogan of those seeking justice for the case ("Because they were taken alive, we want them back alive!") to the border of the sidewalk and subsequently installed a complement in front of both elements, a concrete turtle with forty-three rocks on its shell with little turtles painted with the names of each of the disappeared on them.[2]