The seven students of Maryland Institute College of Art’s (MICA) Exhibition Development Seminar (EDS) present BMonumental, a public art project and series of programs connecting three monument sites in Baltimore and challenging ideas of permanence in public space. The project will launch on Friday, May 7, with a public conversation from 5:30–7:00pm led by Paul Farber, Director of the Philadelphia-based public art initiative, Monument Lab. The show includes digital renderings from 3-D scanning specialist Taylor Houlihan of three very different statues: the former Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Bolton Hill; the former Columbus Monumentdowntown; and James Earl Reid’s Billie Holiday Monument on Pennsylvania Ave. Using these scanned sites as prompts, Baltimore artist Ọmọlará Williams McCallister (pronouns: O/love/beloved) presents a newly-commissioned video artwork, featuring vocals, movement, and a temporary site-specific garden installation. The exhibition and all related programming will be viewable on the BMonumental website at https://www.edsbmonumental.com/ and via Instagram: @b.monumental_.

Bmonumental challenges the exclusive historical dialogue around monuments and their traditional mode of aesthetics through public engagement and commissioned interventions, offering a model for public commemorations that can evolve with the societies in which they exist. In addition to visual art, public conversations, a poetry archive, and videos—including a new interview with artist James Earl Reid—the project features a hands-on art-making activity that can be done from home: Physical art kits, each including clay, modeling tools, and a 3-D printed model of a former Baltimore monument pedestal, will be delivered to our partners at Jubilee Arts for a live online workshop. Participants will imagine and create clay models for new monuments and place them on empty pedestal replicas—and use the #BMonumental hashtag to share their work on social media.