The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's Monuments

The Chicago Artists Coalition is pleased to present The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's Monuments, a solo exhibition by BOLT Artist-in-Residence, Emilio Rojas.

In 1890, a Spanish architect by the name of Alberto de Palacio submitted a proposal for a monument to commemorate Christopher Columbus for the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The application, which won the competition, was meant to surpass the Eiffel Tower, which is today the most visited paid monument in the world. If built, this 1312-foot-tall copy of the earth would have been the tallest man-made structure for 73 years. Although unrealized the monument remains the most ambitious and monumental celebration of colonization.

The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s Monuments is an exhibition about speculative fiction: a failed monument, a forgotten architect, an immigrant that popularized bodybuilding, and a Titan condemned to hold the weight of the sky in his shoulders. This exhibition proposes an alternative history that would have altered Chicago’s cultural and political landscape in unimaginable ways using performance and the remaking of a monument.