Monument to the Present by Tom Dale for SCAPE Public Art Season 2018

UK-based artist Tom Dale contributed three works to SCAPE Season 2018: two works made in Ōtautahi, a sculpture Monument to the Present and a video work The Red Zone, plus an earlier video work A Cage for Voices. After Dale spent time in Ōtautahi, Monument to the Present emerged from his observation of the challenges of having many voices and many perspectives vying to be heard, often representing conflicting ideas and imperatives. The imagery which informed the silhouetted gesturing and pointing was drawn from archival and contemporary media images from Canterbury and from existing figurative memorials in the city.