Monument is one of several shorts that were commissioned by curator, Sharon Switzer, for Pride Toronto in 2009. Pride Toronto offered up the theme, “Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop”. For us, these words called to mind Walter Benjamin’s famous quote concerning history and progress. That led us to consider Russian Futurism and Tatlin’s tower along with social realism in some of its more pernicious forms.
Monument was our first foray into end to end HD production and was among our last works shot on tape (thank you, progress). As part of Switzer’s program, it showed briefly on a big screen on Church Street in Toronto and it played on a loop at Trinity Square Video. An even shorter version of this short also played in Toronto (TTC) subway stations, minus the full-frontal nudity.