MONUMENTality

Monumentality evokes an aura of greatness, a sense of power and gravity that demands public recognition. As markers of history and repositories of collective memory, monuments can project multiple and sometimes contradictory meanings. 

Scale and size have figured prominently in human efforts to mark cosmic and geological time, from patterns etched on land in ancient rituals to earthworks created in the 1970s. Across centuries and cultures, power is envisioned through the planning of cities and their monuments, both real and imagined. While monuments are often meant to legitimate ideological regimes or promote the myth of cultural superiority, the documentation and mediation of such structures provides fertile ground for contemporary artists to challenge the status quo.

Monuments might outlast their original purpose, meet their demise through violent conflict or artistic intervention, or simply become forgotten in the fabric of everyday life. This exhibition investigates various paradigms of monumentality, prompting viewers to consider why certain monuments endure and others fall.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website

Image: Maison du Nain, Uxmal, Yucatan (Pyramid of the Magician), Claude-Joseph-Désiré Charnay, 1858–1860. From the photograph album Ruines américaines, 1858–1860. The Getty Research Institute, 2014.R.13