Brendan Fernandes, New Monuments | Chicago, 2024. General John Alexander Logan Monument, Grant Park, Chicago, IL. Presented by Black Cube Nomadic Art Museum in association with the Chicago Park District, as part of EXPO CHICAGO’s IN/SITU Outside program. Architectural Intervention by AIM Architecture. Courtesy the artist and Black Cube Nomadic Art Museum. Photo: Matthew Reeves Photography.
Brendan Fernandes, New Monuments | Chicago, 2024. General John Alexander Logan Monument, Grant Park, Chicago, IL. Presented by Black Cube Nomadic Art Museum in association with the Chicago Park District, as part of EXPO CHICAGO’s IN/SITU Outside program. Architectural Intervention by AIM Architecture. Courtesy the artist and Black Cube Nomadic Art Museum. Photo: Matthew Reeves Photography.
Brendan Fernandes, New Monuments | Chicago, 2024. General John Alexander Logan Monument, Grant Park, Chicago, IL. Presented by Black Cube Nomadic Art Museum in association with the Chicago Park District, as part of EXPO CHICAGO’s IN/SITU Outside program. Architectural Intervention by AIM Architecture. Dancers include Katlin Michael Bourgeois, Kara Hunsinger, Brian Martinez, Michelle Reid, Ashley Rivette, and Lieana Sherry. Courtesy the artist and Black Cube Nomadic Art Museum. Photo: Matthew Reeves Photography.
Evening performance at Brendan Fernandes, New Monuments | Chicago, 2024. General John Alexander Logan Monument, Grant Park, Chicago, IL. Presented by Black Cube Nomadic Art Museum in association with the Chicago Park District, as part of EXPO CHICAGO’s IN/SITU Outside program. Architectural Intervention by AIM Architecture. Dancers include Katlin Michael Bourgeois, Kara Hunsinger, Brian Martinez, Michelle Reid, Ashley Rivette, and Lieana Sherry. Courtesy the artist and Black Cube Nomadic Art Museum. Photo: Matthew Reeves Photography.
Evening performance at Brendan Fernandes, New Monuments | Chicago, 2024. General John Alexander Logan Monument, Grant Park, Chicago, IL. Presented by Black Cube Nomadic Art Museum in association with the Chicago Park District, as part of EXPO CHICAGO’s IN/SITU Outside program. Architectural Intervention by AIM Architecture. Dancers include Katlin Michael Bourgeois, Kara Hunsinger, Brian Martinez, Michelle Reid, Ashley Rivette, and Lieana Sherry. Courtesy the artist and Black Cube Nomadic Art Museum. Photo: Matthew Reeves Photography.
Community prompt tags in the Black Cube shipping container at Brendan Fernandes, New Monuments | Chicago, 2024. General John Alexander Logan Monument, Grant Park, Chicago, IL. Presented by Black Cube Nomadic Art Museum in association with the Chicago Park District, as part of EXPO CHICAGO’s IN/SITU Outside program. Architectural Intervention by AIM Architecture. Courtesy the artist and Black Cube Nomadic Art Museum. Photo: Matthew Reeves Photography.
Visitor looking at the community prompt tags in the Black Cube shipping container, at Brendan Fernandes, New Monuments | Chicago, 2024. General John Alexander Logan Monument, Grant Park, Chicago, IL. Presented by Black Cube Nomadic Art Museum in association with the Chicago Park District, as part of EXPO CHICAGO’s IN/SITU Outside program. Architectural Intervention by AIM Architecture. Courtesy the artist and Black Cube Nomadic Art Museum. Photo: Matthew Reeves Photography.
Visitors looking at the community prompt tags in the Black Cube shipping container, at Brendan Fernandes, New Monuments | Chicago, 2024. General John Alexander Logan Monument, Grant Park, Chicago, IL. Presented by Black Cube Nomadic Art Museum in association with the Chicago Park District, as part of EXPO CHICAGO’s IN/SITU Outside program. Architectural Intervention by AIM Architecture. Courtesy the artist and Black Cube Nomadic Art Museum. Photo: Matthew Reeves Photography.
Envisioned as the first in a series of interventions that engage monuments in the United States and beyond, Brendan Fernandes’ New Monuments | Chicago (April 10–13, 2024) was a temporary, site-specific installation at the General John Alexander Logan Monument in Chicago’s Grant Park.
Presented by Black Cube Nomadic Art Museum in association with the Chicago Park District, New Monuments | Chicago comprised a large-scale sculptural installation designed in collaboration with AIM Architecture; a durational evening performance; and an interactive community prompt through which Fernandes posed a question to passersby: “How can we become the monument?”
This last component—the community prompt—is the focus of this page, which archives the public’s responses to Fernandes’ inquiry.
Answers were collected both virtually and in-person via drop boxes located throughout the city, in a bid to assemble a diverse array of perspectives. Respondents wrote and/or drew their ideas on silver, foil-stamped ribbon tags. These tags were additively displayed in Black Cube’s on-site shipping container throughout the duration of the installation, and now live on below.
We invite you to read what people had to say, and to reflect for yourself. We know that monuments and their role in public space have been, still are, and will continue to be at the heart of discussions heated, complex, and tangled. We welcome and appreciate your curiosity.