Public Controversy and Commemorative Failure: Tel-Aviv's Monument to the Holocaust and National Revival

Drawing on the academic literature on public art conflicts and public memory controversies, the article examines the controversy over the design for Tel-Aviv's Monument to the Holocaust and National Revival , and its failure to perform its commemorative function. It argues that underlying the controversial character of the design and the failure of the monument to perform its commemorative function was a public art conflict: the abstract design selected for the monument elicited public opposition as unfitting to represent the monument's commemorative theme.