Pink Voortrekker Monument: Cool Capital 2014

TRANSFORM SYMBOLS AND ICONS TO RECONCILE

The Voortrekker Monument was designed as an iconic landmark of Pretoria and constructed in the Art Deco style in 1938-1949. It commemorates the Great Trek of Dutch pioneers in 1838, and has remained a contested symbol of the Afrikaner nationality.
The building’s striking location as landmark gave it the potential to be easily transformed into something different with the use of light.
In September of 2014 during the Cool Capital months, the monument was temporarily lit up in pink every night - reconciling old symbolisms and transforming them to become meaningful in a post-Apartheid South Africa.