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. Outside the gallery is a reflection space.
In September 2018, artist lauren woods was set to launch her transformation of the University Art Museum (UAM) at California State University, Long Beach into American Monument. Conceived as nomadic and continually expanding, the UAM was to serve as the debut site and long-term steward of the inter-media monument.
The work opened to the public with an artist talk, then promptly paused by the artist, in protest of her collaborator Kimberli Meyer’s removal from her post as director of the UAM just days earlier. The work remained on pause as students protested, Meyer appealed her dismissal, and woods and Meyer offered options for university parties to come to the table and find a way forward. Ultimately, American Monument closed on pause. The impact of that loss for students was significant and continues to resonate, evidenced for example in a 2019 student-organized symposium around equity and museums.
David Familian, Director of the Beall Center for Art and Technology at UCI was present for the launch and pause of 25/2018 at the UAM. Shortly thereafter, he approached woods and Meyer with an invitation to host American Monument at the Beall, which led to 22/2019.
