MONUMENTS: The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA and The Brick

Bethany Collins included in MONUMENTS at The Geffen Contemporary at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and The Brick, Los Angeles, CA.

The institution's press release follows:

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, Assistant Curator 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, Karon Davis, Abigail DeVille, Stan Douglas, Kevin Jerome Everson, Kahlil Robert Irving, Monument Lab, Walter Price, Cauleen Smith, 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 Montgomery, Alabama; Jefferson School African American Heritage Center, 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 (MOCA) and The Brick. MONUMENTS is co-curated by Hamza Walker, Director, The Brick; artist Kara Walker; and Bennett Simpson, Senior Curator, MOCA; with Hannah Burstein, Curatorial Associate, The Brick; and Paula Kroll, Assistant Curator, MOCA.