In 2018, American Monument initiated an extensive Freedom of Information Act request process that continues today. Legal documents including use-of-force reports, prosecutor reports, witness testimonies, 911 calls; as well as audio from body, dash cam, and bystander videos have been collected on a growing list of cases. Close readings of these documents reveal a consistent and disturbing problem: police use of white dominant cultural constructions and stereotypes of “Blackness,” mined from pop culture, to justify fatal violence.
The centerpiece of American Monument, Archive I, is an interactive sound sculpture. Encountering a grid of silently spinning black and white turntables on pedestals, visitors may choose to play an acetate record of audio materials, setting the apparatus and sound in motion. Each turntable represents one police murder.
Supporting the main sculpture is Archive II, which displays documents associated with each case represented in Archive I. Visitors are invited to sit and look through the documents, adding notes if desired. The tables in the Archive II space also host a series of think tanks and class visits. Outside the building is a reflection space: a garden, a wind chime, a plaque.
22/2019 is the first full iteration of American Monument, launched at the Beall Center for Art and Technology at UCI on October 4, 2019 and installed until the pandemic closed it in March 2020. Artist lauren woods and her collaborator Kimberli Meyer have been Black Box researchers in residence at the Beall, and partnered with leading thinkers across disciplines at UCI. Collaborations with the School of Law and the departments of African American Studies, Social Ecology, Art History, and Art produced think thanks during Fall 2019 quarter and for the Think Tank Marathon in 2020. Participants led active thinking sessions on topics such as sound and the law, the fourth amendment, linguistics in relation to racial bias in law enforcement, and community activist response strategies.
22/2019 embodies the engagement of the Beall Center with American Monument. That commitment continues, with the Beall’s hosting of this website and research platform.
