Accidental Counter-Monument: A Postmortem on Sam Durant’s Scaffold

Scaffold, a public artwork that reconstructed seven gallows used in United States sanctioned executions, was described by artist Sam Durant as “neither memorial nor monument.” Scaffold was removed from the Walker Art Center in 2017 in response to protests by the Dakota people and, as a result of mediation sessions, the work was ceremonially buried by Dakota leaders. I propose that Scaffold can be interpreted as a counter-monument. Durant visualized a history often made invisible, working within the commemorative tradition of public monuments while challenging their conventions. His work utilized anti-monumental interactive tactics and dialogical strategies by allowing viewers to climb the structure and reckon with capital punishment practices—both historic and contemporary. I also consider Nancy Marie Mithlo's "Red Man's Burden: The Politics of Inclusion in Museum Settings" (American Indian Quarterly) to ask: Might Scaffold be similar to stolen objects in museums that are perceived as sacred by indigenous communities past and present? Policies such as the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act inform my understanding of contemporary art practices involving works such as Scaffold, which engage with the history of indigenous genocide. I speculate that settler-colonial perspectives position indigenous events and objects as memorials and monuments, however, the indigenous perspective of an object's ephemerality provides a counterpoint to current related dialogues. The comparison of sacred objects not intended for museum installation and public viewing contextualizes Scaffold’s subsequent ceremonial burial, and potential transformation as sacred object.