MEMORY-MAKING DURING WAR: A CULTURAL-PHILOSOPHICAL MODEL OF PUBLIC SPACE MEMORIALIZATION

Abstract

Thе article presents a cultural-philosophical conceptualization of memorialization as an open process of cultural meaning-making through which traumatic events acquire symbolic forms and gradually become incorporated into cultural memory. The relevance of the study arises from the need to reconsider conventional models of memorialization in the context of ongoing war, where experiencing traumatic events, documenting violence, and the formation of cultural memory occur simultaneously. To address this challenge, the article develops a cultural-philosophical model explaining the emergence of the memorial significance of public space and demonstrates its analytical potential through the Ukrainian case. The study draws upon Ernst Cassirer’s philosophy of symbolic forms, Frederick Bartlett’s reconstructive theory of memory, Aleida Assmann’s concept of cultural memory, Henri Lefebvre’s spatial theory, and Pierre Nora’s concept of lieux de mémoire. Integrating these theoretical perspectives makes it possible to understand memorialization not as the creation of completed commemorative forms but as a dynamic process in which material environments, social practices, and symbolic interpretations continuously interact. The resulting cultural-philosophical model distinguishes three interrelated dimensions of memorialization: material, practical, and discursive. Their interaction, unfolding under conditions of temporal openness, shapes the memorial significance of public space and creates the conditions for the emergence of a “site of memory in the making”. The model is illustrated through the case of Freedom Square in Kharkiv, how the material traces of Russian military aggression, civic commemorative practices, and public debates concerning the future of urban space collectively constitute an ongoing process of meaning-making before the historical event itself has reached completion. The article’s main contribution is a cultural-philosophical model that explains how memorial significance emerges under conditions of temporal openness, as well as introducing the concept of a “site of memory in the making” to interpret spaces whose memorial significance is formed while historical events are still unfolding. The article concludes that memorialization during ongoing war should be understood not merely as a practice of preserving the past but as a process through which future memory culture is actively constituted. Within this perspective, public space functions not simply as a site where historical events are represented but as an active environment in which society symbolically negotiates the meaning of war and its future remembrance.