List of works similar to the 2020 Utah monolith
series of art installations
In late 2020, the appearance of a series of metal columns was reported internationally. Referred to as "monoliths", these sheet metal structures began to be constructed in the wake of the discovery of the Utah monolith, a 3 m (9.8 ft)-tall pillar made of metal sheets riveted into a triangular prism, placed in a red sandstone slot canyon in northern San Juan County, Utah. The structure was placed there sometime between July and October 2016 based on images from Google Earth, but only attracted media attention after it was reported in late November 2020 by state biologists who discovered it during a helicopter survey of wild bighorn sheep.
Soon after the Utah discovery on November 18, 2020, reports emerged on social media of similar metal columns being found in many other places throughout the world, including locations across North America, South America, Central America and Europe. Over two hundred similar metal columns have been reported from various locations around the world.
The origins of these structures varied; some monoliths were made by artists inspired by news coverage of the original Utah pillar; others, like the two Pittsburgh monoliths, were made by local businesses for promotional purposes. Some monoliths were subsequently removed. Despite the word monolith referring to a single great stone, these sculptures were mostly made from metal, and the name derives from the Monolith that appeared in the 1968 science fiction film, 2001: A Space Odyssey. This connection gave rise to speculation about an extraterrestrial origin, although the phenomenon has also been viewed as a craze or an Internet hoax, with a number of features in common with crop circles.
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Since November 2020, monoliths similar to the one found in Utah have been reported internationally.
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