Monument Emitter [film] by Ruiqi Zhang

“When they trumpeted the meliorative power of beauty, they were stating the belief in its capacity to shape human thought and behavior” (William H. Wilson, 1989). This quotation is from the book The City Beautiful Movement, which introduced an urban planning movement in the United States from the 1890s to the 1920s. Richmond is one of the earliest cities to adopt a proposal to build a broad avenue with monuments in the City Beautiful manner.

‘Monument Emitter’ recreates some representative monument bases in 3D software and serves as a prompt to review the entrenched narratives related to monuments and the sanitized community consciousness. As the animation evolves, the empty base models are converted into lawn sprinklers, emitting water droplets that expand the scope of these revered objects. The animation is designed as a desktop screensaver that offers a meditative space to reconsider the historical heritage as catalysts for prompting social justice discourse and engagement.