'Leave no trace': Photographer captures removal of mysterious Utah monolith
The Utah monolith that inspired a host of conspiracy theories and various Reddit threads from science fiction enthusiasts disappeared almost as quickly as it rose to internet fame — and one photographer watched it happen. The monolith, a three-sided statue made of metal with no engravings or writing of any kind, was seemingly first discovered on Nov. 18 while surveyors studied populations of bighorn sheep, according to the New York Times. It is unclear when exactly the work was installed, but Reddit users who discovered the coordinates of the monolith used Google Earth photo archives to determine that it appeared somewhere between 2015 and 2016. On Monday, photographer Ross Bernards posted on Instagram pictures of the structure, its removal, and his account of the events that unfolded. Bernards and three friends went to see the sculpture Friday night when he says four men came up to the monument to take it down. "They gave a couple of pushes on the monolith and one of them said 'You better have got your pictures,'" Bernards wrote in the post. "He then gave it a big push, and it went over, leaning to one side." Bernards said the men broke the sculpture into pieces and carried it out on a wheelbarrow, and one man instructed the group to "leave no trace." The incident lasted fewer than 15 minutes.
It's unclear whether the men who removed the monolith were involved in its installation, but it appears unlikely based on Bernards' account. He overheard them saying, "This is why you don't leave trash in the desert." At the time of the removal, Utah's Bureau of Land Management said it did not remove the sculpture and would not conduct an investigation into the removal since it was considered private property. "We have received credible reports that the illegally installed structure, referred to as the 'monolith,' has been removed from Bureau of Land Management (BLM) public lands by an unknown party," the BLM wrote in an official statement. "The BLM did not remove the structure which is considered private property." No one knows who placed the monolith, which required the use of precision tools to bore a triangular hole into the rock, or how it arrived at such a remote location, according to a spokesman for the Utah Department of Public Safety. Officials speculated that the structure was the work of sculptor and science fiction aficionado John McCracken, who was known for creating minimalist sculptures. McCracken's son told the New York Times that his father said, "He would like to leave his artwork in remote places to be discovered later." Some in the art world have disputed that claim, including David Zwirner, an art dealer who represents McCracken's estate, and Almine Rech, who represents artists in her galleries in Paris, according to the New York Times. However, it could have been completed by someone inspired by the likes of McCracken. McCracken died in 2011 at the age of 76. Even if it was his work, based on the Google Maps data, it is unlikely he installed it.
Despite going to see the sculpture himself, Bernards said the men were right to remove it, citing the damage that the influx of visitors to such a remote portion of Utah's landscape had done. "They were right to take it out," Bernards wrote. "We stayed the night and the next day hiked to a hill top overlooking the area, where we saw at least 70 different cars (and a plane) in and out. Cars parking everywhere in the delicate desert landscape. Nobody following a path or each other. We could literally see people trying to approach it from every direction to try and reach it, permanently altering the untouched landscape."
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/leave-no-trace-photographer-captures-removal-of-mysterious-utah-monolith
https://www.instagram.com/rossbernards