NONUMENT01:The McKeldin Fountain is the first in a series of international NONUMENT projects. It uses augmented reality as a virtual memorial to the utopian fountain once located in Baltimore. Viewers who hold up a smartphone or tablet like a protest sign will see and hear the fountain’s waterfalls and nearly forgotten memories from the past 35 years. Narratives will be animated from Occupy Baltimore, the Black Lives Matter movement, the National Guard, Women in Black, controversial comedians, a marriage proposal, artist interventions, mermaid performances and many other personal and political stories imbued with this monument.
The Fountain was popular among local workers, tourists and residents and was recently demolished without future plans for the site. The story of the Fountain is an example of the escalating privatization of public spaces world-wide, a trend that continues to diminish access to free and full participation for ordinary people in everyday urban life.