Monoliths, Obelisks & Lead Figures

"Throughout his long artistic career, Sivert has been interested in the impact and significance of individual objects for the viewer, both through their form and their placement.

Surely, like many others, he has regarded them as bearers of a sign or a symbol for an event, a memory, or something significant – precisely because they deviate from the everyday in their surroundings. Do they conceal a secret? Is there an enigmatic function?

A monolith is a large object or block consisting of a single stone, or something perceived as such a unified whole. It differs from its surroundings both in its size and its form. The word monolith comes from the Greek *monolithos*, from *monos*, 'one' or 'alone', and *lithos*, 'stone'.

Such objects can be intended as memorials – monuments that remind the viewer of an event or honor something that has taken place at a certain location or at a certain time. They mark something perceived as remarkable or significant, for example, an event between people in power or between humanity and the forces of nature.

Monolith can also denote natural formations consisting of single large boulders or cliffs. Usually, erosion has exposed such formations by leaving behind the harder and more resistant bedrock, as seen in the raukar of Gotland. The largest known monolithic rock formation, Uluru, formerly called Ayers Rock, is located in Australia.

Surely the Gotland raukar – these sea stacks – have interested Sivert. Many of his early sculptures have been subjected to a similar form of 'abrasion', meaning a breakdown through the influence of waves, surf, tides, and coastal currents. It is as if something in time, or with time, has freed the form and exposed what remained – a form that powerfully distinguishes itself from its surroundings.

The raukar on Gotland are remnants of coral reefs that formed approximately 400 million years ago in a tropical sea during the Silurian period. When the coral reefs fossilized, limestone and muddy marlstone were formed, which were later covered by ice. Approximately 10,000 years ago, the land began to rise as the ice masses melted. The sea then began to erode the softer parts of the bedrock, while the harder cores of the reef bodies remained as isolated stone pillars.

Sivert's sculptures can sometimes be seen as the result of a similar process. Something has been worked on, broken down, and removed, until only one form remains. In what remains, we sense something much larger and more unfathomable.

Another frequently recurring element in Sivert's public embellishments is the obelisk. An obelisk is a tall stone pillar, usually of granite, that tapers upwards and has a square or rectangular profile. It is topped with a pyramid-shaped capstone, a so-called pyramidion.

In ancient Egypt, the obelisk was associated with the sun god Ra and with the king's power. It expressed the idea of a connection between earth and heaven, where the sun god resided. Size also came to function as a marker of strength and power. Today, obelisks primarily serve as monuments and decorative elements in parks and squares.

When Sivert exhibited several of his monoliths at the Dr Glas gallery in Kungsträdgården in 1977, most of us had no idea what he was thinking when he created these steles and slabs.

In retrospect, we can, of course, speculate. Surely there was a mythical power in these forms which, with their distinct terminations and directions, appealed to him. The forms became characters or imprints that we can relate to. There was something enigmatic and mysterious in these final expressions – something that challenges our imagination and that we, more or less consciously, try to understand.

Why did the form end precisely there? What is missing? Is it the object itself, or is it something that the object was once a part of – something it would fit into?

In Stanley Kubrick's film *2001 – Ett rymdäventyr* (*2001: A Space Odyssey*, 1968), the monolith represents an evolutionary catalyst and, at the same time, the universe's ultimate, incomprehensible mystery. It functions as a milestone that appears at crucial turning points in humanity's history and seems to guide humanity's physical, technological, and spiritual development.

The monolith's meaning can be understood from several fundamental interpretations.
An evolutionary catalyst.
The object functions as a kind of teaching aid or guiding hand, sent by an advanced extraterrestrial civilization. It first appears among early hominids and seems to prompt them to begin using tools and weapons. Later, it reappears on the moon, where it sends a signal towards Jupiter, thereby leading humanity further into deep space.

The metaphorical narrative.
In a more analytical and metatextual interpretation – where a work comments on, analyzes, or tests another text or itself – the monolith can also be understood as an image of storytelling itself and our need to interpret. When we encounter an object, we usually try to ascribe a function to it or place it in a context that can explain why it fascinates us.

If one rotates the rectangular monolith 90 degrees, its proportions roughly correspond to the film's widescreen format. From this perspective, the monolith can represent the film screen itself, while the apes and astronauts become the bewildered audience – humanity reacting to and trying to understand the new film medium.

The unknown and the divine.
Stanley Kubrick and the author Arthur C. Clarke deliberately left the monolith's exact origin and purpose undefined. It thereby becomes an abstract symbol for the infinite and an intersection between technology, human consciousness, and a higher power that we can never fully comprehend.

It is here that I believe I see a correspondence between the enigmatic nature of some of Sivert's monoliths, various geological phenomena, and the so-called 'Aztecs' that Sivert frequently revisits. They all seem to carry something that lies beyond the immediate form – a hint of a context, an event, or a force that we can sense but never fully grasp."
/JÖ

SEE FILM CLIPS from the film *2001* and the primates' discovery of the obelisk (copy the link below and open in a new window to see 2 clips featuring the monolith)
https://reactormag.com/2001-a-space-odyssey-tried-to-break-us-out-of-our-comfort-zone/