Monument of Equality X Gender 17+

A public monument in augmented reality by the Danish artist collective Hesselholdt & Mejlvang. 

The artists are interested in monuments and how they can take shape in our time, where the genre is the subject of great debate. How can we rethink the monument to be a more inclusive anti-patriarchal figure and how can the monument be relevant today? Monument of Equality is an optimistic perspective on the state of the monument. It exists as an augmented reality sculpture, a site-specific intervention in the digital space.

Passers-by will be able to experience the work in the virtual space through their mobile phones. The artwork exists in another reality, where everything is possible, a utopian free space. It is an alternative narrative that believes in the political potential of imagination. Monument of Equality aims at creating awareness of the fact that the city of Aarhus has a museum dedicated to equality, gender and women. The monument draws attention to the importance of equality, of battles fought in the past, and battles still to be fought, now and in the future. Monument of Equality celebrates equality in all its forms. It works with humour, playfulness and levity, but simultaneously it does it with great seriousness. History, imagination, dreams and free associations bubble up on the museum's rooftop. Architecture is put into play with interaction and art. The work consists of a number of figures placed next to each other: an ice cream cone with many scoops, an ironing board, a Justitia figure, a flag garland, a flower wreath, a car tire, a tractor tire and a unicorn.

The main idea of the work is balance, where the individual elements balance each other out. Balance as a symbol of equality. The objects are coloured in a scale Hesselholdt & Mejlvang has worked with for a long time. Namely, a palette of skin colour shades from completely dark to completely light, so that all people are included in the monument. Thus, the decoration constitutes its own rainbow scale of connectedness.

The monument is developed in the context of United Change - 17 Visions for the Future. 17 UN Global Goal artworks produced within dramatic art, visual arts, music and video-animation. United Change’s ambition is to create a clear and positive footprint on the journey towards more sustainable development.  Monument of Equality in AR relates to the UN Global Goal number 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.

The project is developed in collaboration with Cadpeople - a technology-led visual communication agency and supported by the Obel Family Foundation, the Danish Arts Foundation, and Nykredit.