Field Notes are dispatches from a growing community of voices exploring Monument Circle—its past, present, and possible futures. Here you'll find updates from the project team alongside writing from historians, research partners, and friends of the Monument who have stories, memories, and ideas to share. We're learning in public, and we'd love for you to learn alongside us.
What does the monument know?
Field Note No. 1 introduces The Monument Knows through a personal and historical reflection by Monumental Gestures Artistic Director Sarah Urist Green. Beginning with a deceptively simple question—“What does the monument know?”—the essay traces the many ways Indianapolis’ Soldiers & Sailors Monument has functioned as a backdrop for civic life, public debate, celebration, and memory. Drawing from her own experiences on Monument Circle over nearly two decades, Green considers how monuments accumulate meaning over time and why the Circle has become the focus of a new public humanities and civic research initiative exploring the city’s evolving relationship to its most recognizable landmark.