Monument(s) of the Moment

The three new works in Monuments of the Moment continue the Collision Monument series. The objects have the same conceptual basis in that they are compositions marking events significant for consumer culture. The proposal boards for these works have been replaced with rendered views of the proposed monuments installed at each of their respective sites. The rendered views do not have the same extensive explanatory function as the proposal boards of the first three works in the series.

The works titled VAL, Edina, and Hearthless respectively mark the following events: The formulation of the Nine American Lifestyles (VAL being the Stanford Research Institute acronym for Values and Lifestyles) which begat lifestyle advertising; The first indoor mall designed by Victor Gruen at Edina Minnesota; And, the offer of a free television in lieu of the standard issue fireplace with each new home in Levittown, Pennsylvania.

The Collision Monument series was developed after I had discovered a series of charts in a reference book : Architectural Graphic Standards. The charts are used in sun-shade studies; Through graphic means the charts allow one to establish the altitude and azimuth of the sun for any moment of the year. Knowing that, at the equator at midday, a perpendicular stick has no shadow because it is aligned parallel to the sun’s rays I realized that anywhere at any time an object so aligned would have no shadow; I visualized this as a collision: The object into its shadow; producing a marker of a unique moment within a year.

When combining a time marker with the idea of a surveyor’s monument or even personal markers or monuments such as plaques or graveyard monuments with the mundane objects of consumer culture, a system of commemorating marketing advances and at the same time marking the site of loss became possible.

Innovations or discoveries such as the use of light in the retail environment, the formula for the length of mall ways, the use of large scale photography in point of purchase display were commemorated in the first of the Collision Monuments.

Each of the Collision Monument works are comprised of a sculptural piece, two presentation boards and an accompanying text. The format mimics a typical required response to a ‘Request for Proposals’ (RFP) for architectural and public art competitions: A model, a technical specification board; The second board would have rendered views of the proposed work in situ.

The series Collision Monuments are preceded by a number of works that are also meditations on consumer culture; One series, a gallery exhibition and two temporary outdoor public artworks come immediately to mind.