Crossroads Roundup: the Las Vegas Desert's "Mystery Monolith," a Picasso Archive, and a Real Photo Wins an AI Contest

Our favorite stories on art, archaeology, folklore, and more from this past week.

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This 6’5” installation was discovered near the Gass Peak trail in the Desert National Wildlife Refuge outside Las Vegas. Via the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.

The Banksy of sculptures? Someone has been installing “mystery monoliths” around the world. The latest was discovered outside of Las Vegas.

In one of the wackier bits of art news that I’ve come across, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department announced the discovery of the above monolith, which stands at six feet and five inches tall (just under two meters). The installation was spotted this past weekend along Gass Peak, a trail in the Desert National Wildlife Refuge near Las Vegas. For safety reasons, the police have removed the installation.

What’s incredible is that someone managed to haul the thing all the way to the top of that trail—in the summertime, in the desert.

The structure appears to be an ode to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, in which similar monoliths materialize when humans meet evolutionary milestones. Given the chaotic state of the world, it’s unclear if the Las Vegas monolith is intended as a signifier of milestones met, or rather, a warning. On the other hand, it could also be an artist having a lot of fun.

The first of many “mystery monoliths,” found in Utah’s Red Rock region in November of 2020. Via the Utah Department of Public Safety.

When researching this story, I was surprised to learn that this “mystery monolith” is actually a global trend. In November of 2020, a helicopter crew from Utah’s Department of Public Safety discovered a three-sided metal structure standing at 12 feet (3.7 meters) in the middle of Red Rock Country near Moab. Even stranger, the monolith vanished without a trace a few days later.

This episode was followed by monolith discoveries in Piatra Neamt, Romania, the Isle of Wight in the U.K., and most recently, one in Hay-on-Wye in Powys, Wales this past March. Since the discovery of the first monolith in Utah, nearly 250 similar installations have been found around the world.

I know it’s more likely that the sculptors are acting independently of one another. However, I’m obsessed with the idea that there is a team of undercover artists with a wealthy, reclusive benefactor funding the monoliths. But if this is the work of aliens, as many on the Internet have suggested, I would like to know if they had time for a show and a round of poker on their way out of Vegas.

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