Monument to Cold War Victory, 2012 to 2014
Dread Scott (b. 1965, Chicago, IL; lives New York)
maquette
42 x 42 x 16.5 in
Dread Scott proposes a building design similar in scale to the Jefferson Memorial, Lincoln Memorial and U.S. National World War II Memorial, and which references the neoclassical architecture of these and other US institutional structures: a scale and form in keeping with the era’s significance. Inscriptions on each step leading to the building’s interior reference a selection of the dozens of armed conflicts fought as proxy wars for the Cold War (such as the Greek Civil War of 1946-1949, and the Soviet War in Afghanistan of 1979-1989). The monument’s scale dwarfs the figurative sculpture of Ronald Reagan, the President credited with both aggressively escalating and ending the Cold War, whom Scott proposes to render in Uranium-238: a weakly radioactive isotope of Uranium often used in the production of nuclear weapons. Engraved on Reagan’s pedestal is his famous public statement, "“My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.”
Text by Stamatina Gregory.