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MONUMENTS

Confederate Soldiers & Sailors Monument, Baltimore, Maryland splashed with red paint following the Unite the Right rally, August 13, 2017. The monument was removed on August 16, 2017. Credit: Picture Architect/Alamy

MONUMENTS

Co-organized and co-presented by MOCA and The Brick, MONUMENTS marks the recent wave of monument removals as a historic moment. The exhibition reflects on the histories and legacies of post-Civil War America as they continue to resonate today, bringing together a selection of decommissioned monuments, many of which are Confederate, with contemporary artworks borrowed and newly created for the occasion. Removed from their original outdoor public context, the monuments in the exhibition will be shown in their varying states of transformation, from unmarred to heavily vandalized.

Co-curated by Hamza Walker, Director of The Brick; Bennett Simpson, Senior Curator at MOCA; and Kara Walker, artist; with Hannah Burstein, Curatorial Associate at The Brick; and Paula Kroll, Curatorial Assistant at MOCA, MONUMENTS considers the ways public monuments have shaped national identity, historical memory, and current events.   

Following the racially motivated mass shooting at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC (2015) and the deadly 'Unite the Right' rally organized by white nationalists in Charlottesville, VA (2017), alongside Bree Newsome’s powerful removal of the Confederate flag at the South Carolina Statehouse (2015), the United States witnessed the decommissioning of nearly 200 monuments. These removals prompted a national debate that remains ongoing. MONUMENTS aims to historicize these discussions in our current moment and provide a space for crucial discourse and active engagements about challenging topics.  

MONUMENTS features newly commissioned artworks by contemporary artists Bethany Collins, Abigail Deville, Karon Davis, Stan Douglas, Kahlil Robert Irving, Cauleen Smith, Kevin Jerome Everson, Walter Price, Monument Lab, Davóne Tines and Julie Dash, and Kara Walker. Additional artworks by Leonardo Drew, Torkwase Dyson, Nona Faustine, Jon Henry, Hugh Mangum, Martin Puryear, Andres Serrano, and Hank Willis Thomas, are borrowed from private collectors and institutions. 

The exhibition presents decommissioned monuments borrowed from the City of Baltimore, Maryland; the City of New Orleans, Louisiana; the City of Montgomery, Alabama; The Jefferson School for African American Heritage, Charlottesville, Virginia; the Black History Museum & Cultural Center of Virginia, Richmond; the Valentine, Richmond, Virginia; and The Daniels Family Charitable Foundation, Raleigh, North Carolina. By juxtaposing these objects with contemporary works, the exhibition expands the context in which they are understood and highlights the gaps and omissions in popular narratives of American history.  

MONUMENTS will be accompanied by a scholarly publication and a robust slate of public and educational programming.

MONUMENTS is co-organized by The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and The Brick, Los Angeles, based on an exhibition concept by The Brick Director Hamza Walker. The exhibition is co-curated by Hamza Walker, Kara Walker, artist, and Bennett Simpson, MOCA Senior Curator, with Hannah Burstein, The Brick Curatorial Associate, and Paula Kroll, MOCA Curatorial Assistant.

Presenting support is provided by

Lead support is provided by and

Major support is provided by The Margaret Morgan and Wesley Phoa Fund, Alicia Miñana and Robert Lovelace, the Teiger Foundation, the Terra Foundation for American Art, Jacqueline Humphries and Greene Naftali, New York, Karen Hillenburg, Josh Williams, the Lambent Foundation, Patrick Collins and Olivia Barrett, Tim Disney, Cliff Einstein, Karyn Kohl, Zach Lasry, Carolyn Clark Powers, Jamie and Robert Soros, Jeffrey and Catharine Soros, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

Significant support is provided by VIA Art Fund.

Generous support is provided by an anonymous donor, Sarah Arison, Allison and Larry Berg, the Bohen Foundation, Betsy Greenberg, Carol Greene, Agnes Gund, and Berry Stein.

Additional support is provided by Charlie Pohlad and Jack Carter, Deborah Irmas, the MOCA Projects Council, Edward W. Rose III Family Fund at The Dallas Foundation, and V. Joy Simmons, MD.

Seed funding was provided through the Emily Hall Tremaine Exhibition Award.

Exhibitions at MOCA are supported by the MOCA Fund for Exhibitions with major funding provided by Tatiana Botton, The Goodman Family Foundation, and Alicia Miñana and Robert Lovelace. Generous funding is provided by Michael and Zelene Fowler, The Earl and Shirley Greif Foundation, Pamela and Jarl Mohn, Jonathan Segal, the Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family Foundation, and Pamela West.

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