Semiautomatic Cenotaph
Under the direction of Marc Manack and Frank Jacobus, “the memorials in this exhibit were created with two overarching ideas in mind. One is that all the shootings have commonalities between them, so the exhibit’s creators determined that the memorials should maintain some resemblance to one another. Then, there is the idea that each of these events is an extremely personal, human tragedy that is unique for each person involved. This meant that each cenotaph — or memorial — had to be distinctly designed for that location and the specific tragedy that occurred there.
They achieved these goals by designing the cenotaphs using a rule-based algorithm that creates a new form from the different information entered for new mass shooting. This process means that each event gives the individual cenotaphs a nuanced formal make-up, while tying this information to a specific form creates an aesthetic consistency for all of the cenotaphs.” Photography by Ethan Werkmeister, words by Marc Manack
