Monumentality evokes an aura of greatness, a sense of power and gravity that demands public recognition. As markers of history and repositories of collective memory, monuments can project multiple and sometimes contradictory meanings.

Scale and size have figured prominently in human efforts to mark cosmic and geological time, from patterns etched on land in ancient rituals to earthworks created in the 1970s. Across centuries and cultures, power is envisioned through the planning of cities and their monuments, both real and imagined. While monuments are often meant to legitimate ideological regimes or promote the myth of cultural superiority, the documentation and mediation of such structures provides fertile ground for contemporary artists to challenge the status quo.

This exhibition investigates various paradigms of monumentality, how they are generated through systems of belief and structures of power, and why certain monuments endure and others fall.