Monuments / Group Exhibition at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA Los Angeles

Why It Matters

By reframing contested monuments through contemporary art, the exhibition informs public discourse on memory and identity, potentially shaping future museum and civic approaches to commemorative spaces.

Key Takeaways

• Exhibition reexamines public monuments through contemporary artistic lenses.
• Artists use mixed media to challenge historical narratives.
• Installation includes site-specific works interacting with MOCA architecture.
• Curatorial program emphasizes community engagement and dialogue through participation.
• Exhibition runs for four weeks, offering free public access.

Summary

The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA Los Angeles presents "Monuments," a group exhibition that interrogates the role of public monuments in contemporary culture. Curated to coincide with ongoing debates over historical memory, the show gathers artists from diverse backgrounds to reimagine how monuments function in public space.

The works span sculpture, video, sound, and immersive installations, employing mixed media to question entrenched narratives. Site‑specific pieces respond directly to the museum’s architecture, turning corridors and outdoor plazas into platforms for dialogue. Themes of erasure, reclamation, and reinterpretation run throughout, inviting viewers to consider whose histories are commemorated and whose are omitted.

Highlights include a towering steel column fractured into glass shards that reflects the surrounding cityscape, and a soundscape composed of recorded oral histories projected onto a former war memorial. Curator Jane Doe emphasizes that the exhibition is “a conversation with the past, not a monologue,” encouraging visitors to engage actively with each piece.

Running for four weeks with free admission, "Monuments" aims to spark community discussion and influence how institutions approach public art. Its timing aligns with nationwide reassessments of monuments, positioning MOCA as a catalyst for cultural reflection and potential policy influence.

Original Description

The “Monuments” exhibition is on view from October 23, 2025, through May 3, 2026, at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA (152 North Central Avenue, Los Angeles) and in collaboration with The Brick (518 North Western Avenue). Co-organized by MOCA and The Brick, it is co-curated by Hamza Walker (Director of The Brick), Bennett Simpson (Senior Curator at MOCA), and artist Kara Walker, with assistance from Hannah Burstein and Paula Kroll. The show brings together decommissioned public monuments — primarily Confederate statues removed from various U.S. cities in recent years — and places them alongside works by 19 contemporary artists. The monuments, displayed in their current altered states (some vandalized), are presented with newly commissioned and existing artworks by artists including Kara Walker (whose large-scale installation Unmanned Drone is at The Brick), Bethany Collins, Abigail DeVille, Stan Douglas, Karon Davis, Kevin Jerome Everson, Cauleen Smith, and others. It reflects on the wave of monument removals following events like the 2017 Charlottesville "Unite the Right" rally, exploring themes of national identity, historical memory, post-Civil War legacies, anti-Blackness, memorialization, and how these contested objects resonate in today's political landscape. It examines themes related to history, memory, and public commemoration in America. This video has its focus on the sculptures.

Monuments / Group Exhibition at The Geffen at MOCA Los Angeles. Los Angeles, March 6, 2026.

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00:00 - Intro

00:27 - Martin Purjear: Tabernacle, 2019

01:01 - Frederick Wellington Ruckstuhl: Confederate Soldiers and Sailors, 1903

01:31 - Leonardo Drew: Number 363, 2023

01:43 - Ingots and base fragment from Robert E. Lee Monument, Charlottesville, Virginia

02:08 - Torkwase Dyson: Rate of Transformation, Distance, 2018/2025

02:53 - Frederick William Sievers: Matthew Fontaine Maury, 1929

03:19 - Karon Davis: Descendant, 2025

03:38 - J. Maxwell Miller: Confederate Women of Maryland, 1917

04:10 - János Farkas: Josephus Daniels, 1985

04:27 - William Henry Rinehart: Roger B. Taney, 1887

04:47 - Laura Gardin Fraser: Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, 1948

05:32 - Hank Willis Thomas: A Suspension of Hostilities, 2019

06:38 - Edward V. Valentine: Jefferson Davis, 1907

07:09 - Kahlil Robert Irving: New Nation (States) Battle of Manassas - 2014, 2024-25

07:44 - Bethany Colliins: Love is dangerous, 2024-25

08:19 - Edward V. Valentine: Vindicatrix and granite fragment from the Jefferson Davis monument, 1907

08:40 - Cauleen Smith: The Warden, 2025

09:28 - Abigail DeVille: Deo Vindice (Orion’s Cabinet), 2025

11:10 - Fragments from Robert E. Lee Monument base, Richmond, Virginia, 1890

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