Monuments on Paper

‘Monuments on Paper’ is a group exhibition that brings together works re-envisioning understandings of the monumental through varied mediums on paper. Subverting traditional conceptions of monuments, the exhibition presents artists Bel Falleiros, Jamie Fitzpatrick, Josie Ko, Abigail Reynolds, Scott King, Sahil Naik, Sam Porritt and Thomas Schütte, whose practices have engaged critically and experimentally with the notion of art in public space from differing global contexts.

Historically, monuments and public sculptures have existed as personifications of valour, grandeur and status. Integrated into town planning to occupy a domineering position in the built environment, monuments have often manifested as figures on plinths or motifs and symbols associated with masculinity and nationhood. For example, distinguished statesmen or national heroes. Shared across cultures, these larger-than-life permanent sculptures epitomise a political desire for social aspiration and authority or historic commemoration and seek to embed dominant ideologies in public space.

The works in ‘Monuments on Paper’ probe these notions of the monumental - offering disruptive questioning, artistic experimentation, or innovative ideas. During a period of intense international debate around colonial histories and the place of monuments that commemorate them, the exhibition presents works produced over the past 30 years in different global contexts that both challenge and re-envision the possibilities for large-scale artworks in the public realm. ‘Monuments on Paper’ asks questions such as: Which ideologies do monuments traditionally uphold? Whose histories do they commemorate and whose do they deny? Which structures of power are they embedded in? What role should monuments occupy in today’s society?

Moreover, by working through speculative ideas of the monumental on paper, the artworks in this exhibition bring into fruition confrontational and seemingly impossible monuments in ways that other mediums inhibit. The works in this exhibition are testimonials and future possibilities that avoid the restrictions of policy makers and funders. They open the opportunity for interrogation and place their viewer in an ever-shifting position between subordination and empowerment.

Presented in VITRINE Basel — which offers a 360 degree ‘in-the-round’ viewing experience from the surrounding public square 24/7 — the show exhibits the works in a way that is both in the public realm and critically independent from it. The exhibition is accessible to both artworld and non-artworld audiences, housed within a custom designed gallery with transparent architecture, which itself has a monumental quality and occupies a central position within the surrounding public thoroughfare. This situation expands upon ideas presented in the show about independence and public, as well as the connection between art in the public sphere and its local community.