Utah monolith update

David Surber and the monolith

After announcing the discovery of the mysterious object hidden deep in the Utah desert on Monday, Internet sleuths found the location of the monolith. David Surber of Utah, an Army infantry officer veteran according to the article, set off on a six hour journey Wednesday to get there. He arrived in the pre-dawn hours and after sunrise was joined by other adventurers, ignoring state guidance to not seek it out.

The BBC report also discusses some origin theories. It’s been there for at least four years!

While many have suggested – some sincerely, most in jest – that the monolith was planted by extra-terrestrial visitors, the prevailing theory is that it is an as-yet-unclaimed conceptual artwork.

Initially experts suggested it may have been an unknown work by the late John McCracken, who is known for his “plank” sculptures. His gallerist David Zwirner initially confirmed this, but the gallery later retracted that statement, saying they believed it was another artist paying homage instead. McCracken died in 2011.

Some online then narrowed in on another artist, Petecia Le Fawnhawk, who installs totemic sculptures in secret desert locations and, crucially, used to live and work in Utah.

But she told the online art magazine Artnet that while she “did have the thought to plant secret monuments in the desert”, she “cannot claim this one”. So the creator of the totem remains a mystery for now.

As we now have more people visiting and reporting in on the monolith’s construction, here’s the latest;

Video from the dozens – perhaps even hundreds of people – who have already visited the location suggest a professional job. Three large sheets of what appears to be stainless steel were riveted together, with the inside left hollow. Whoever put it there used heavy-duty tools to cut into the bedrock and embed the structure.

“One person alone could not have done it so there is a group of people who have some knowledge of it somewhere,” said Wendy Wischer of the University of Utah’s School of Fine Art. “Most artists want some recognition for what they are doing but this seems to include a level of humour and mystery as part of the intention.”

Stay tuned. There is nothing wrong with your computer. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are now controlling the transmission. We control the horizontal and the vertical. We can deluge you with a thousand channels or expand one single image to crystal clarity and beyond. We can shape your vision to anything our imagination can conceive. For the next hour we will control all that you see and hear. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the deepest inner mind to the outer limits.

It’s not his style, but I’m secretly hoping this is a Banksy. He’s proven he plays the long game. Back in 2018 he shredded a painting (shredder concealed in the frame) the moment it was sold at auction (for more than $1.25 million). The painting had been in private hands since 2006.

Category: Who knows