‘Monument to the Unelected’ recalls presidential hopefuls who came in second

As the upcoming election nears, TV viewers are being inundated with campaign ads. The carousel of ads for congressional candidates cycles through every commercial break to make sure people know their names, and nearly every lawn has a sign firmly planted in the soil with a candidate’s name and slogan. In the city of Orange though, one yard displays signs for candidates passersby may not have heard of.

Winfield Scott. Rufus King. Barry Goldwater.

These names, unfamiliar to many modern-day voters, will not appear on the ballot this election season, but they can be found in artist Nina Katchadourian’s free public art installation “Monument to the Unelected.”

Presented by the Grand Central Art Center, in collaboration with Community Engagement, Katchadourian’s temporary installation at 896 S. Oakwood St. through Nov. 17 consists of 59 signs bearing the names of losing candidates from every presidential election in American history.

A sign for Barry Goldwater and other “unelected candidates” are part of Nina Katchadourian’s public art installation.

(Courtesy of Grand Central Art Center)

The project began during the 2008 presidential election when Katchadourian was commissioned by the Scottsdale Museum of Art to create new work for the museum’s 10th anniversary under the theme of humor.

“Although I think I am known as an artist who works with a lot of humor, who uses humor as a strategy, it was actually the first time I had ever been asked to make something funny purposely,” said Katchadourian, “which is of course a great way to make sure you are not going to have a funny idea at all.”

Katchadourian said she spent time exploring many unfunny ideas, but the narratives around that year’s presidential election got her asking some serious questions about American history.

“I stood looking at a vacant lot on a street corner seeing all these campaign signs for all these people and thinking, this is history about to be made, and some of these names will continue forward in our knowledge of our country’s history and other will just kind of disappear,” said Katchadourian.

She was inspired to create a work that would use election signs to help viewers think about the past and the roads not taken. The result is a thought-provoking public artwork that as a bonus is a bit of a home owners association nightmare. The signs are not historically accurate in terms of style, but Katchadourian consulted with a couple historians to create a list of losing candidates. She worked with graphic designer Evan Gaffney to design signs that would adopt a contemporary style to make it look as if all the candidates were running for office today.

“I based these designs on actual signs that I had seen, sort of cribbing from the feel and the look of those real election signs,” said Katchadourian. “They are all corrugated plastic with commercial inks on top.”

Of course, elections didn’t always work the way they work now, and before the 12th amendment in 1804 the person who got the most votes became president, and the person who came in second became vice president. For the purposes of this projects, Katchadourian said she thinks of the “losers” as whoever came in second.

“No matter what the system might of been, for this project it was whoever wasn’t quite president,” said Katchadourian.

There are also some candidates who were president but who maybe didn’t win a bid for a second term like Jimmy Carter, who lost the 1980 presidential race to Ronald Reagan.

Katchadourian never thought she would show “Monument to the Unelected” beyond 2008 but has shown it in every presidential election since, adding the latest loser each time.

This election cycle, the work is also being shown in Scottsdale, Ariz., as well as in Oakland, Napa, San Francisco, Madison, Wis., and Northfield, Minn., simultaneously. “Monument to the Unelected” was featured on a segment on Spectrum News 1 and included in Forbes Magazine as one of “6 Exceptional Art Exhibits to Redeem 2020.”

In the time since she first showed the work, Katchadourian said she learned that “Monument to the Unelected” can be a measuring stick for our current culture. She finds she can gauge the nation’s mood based on how people react to the piece each election.

Nina Katchadourian’s “Monument to the Unelected” bears the names of losing candidates from every presidential election.

(Courtesy of Grand Central Art Center)

“Some elections in recent years have been so tense, and I think we are up against another nail-biter this time, and people’s mindset is very attuned to questions of politics,” said Katchadourian.

One point Katchadourian is careful to make is that while the subject matter in this artwork is politics, the piece isn’t political.

“The piece, although about politics, it is actually apolitical. It is curiously neutral, and people often look to the piece to display a kind of politics, to take a side, and it doesn’t do that,” said Katchadourian. “Sometimes I think that is surprising and even confusing for people.”

This year, when election results are official, a 60th sign with the name of the losing candidate for the 2024 Presidential Election will be added, giving the loser, so to speak, a chance to be considered, which Katchadourian said is part of her intention.

“I am eager to make something that makes people look twice, think twice and consider what they are seeing.”