While Robert Musil’s century-old adage that “there is nothing in this world as invisible as a monument” still rings true in some ways, many monuments today feel more visible than ever. “Statues of Cecil Rhodes and Robert E. Lee have collapsed under the pressures of public protest,” writes curator Nanase Shirokawa, “exposing monuments for what they really are: flashpoints where histories are negotiated and mythologies are formed.” In the new book “Monumental: How a New Generation of Artists Is Shaping the Memorial Landscape” (MIT Press, 2025), art historian Cat Dawson (ct_dwsn) identifies the roots of contemporary artists’ confrontation of monumentality by locating its watershed moment. “Rather than construct an imagined past as a universal tradition, as with conventional monuments,” Shirokawa continues in her review of “Monumental,” “Dawson writes that these contemporary artists understand ambivalence and impermanence as key conditions of resistance.” To read the full review, visit...