WTC Memorial Designs: S & D

The worst of the lot: "Gardens of Light" (quasi-religious "altars" for each victim are creepy and heavy-handed), "Memorial Cloud" (WTF is a "memorial cloud"? Someone's been hitting the crack pipe too often), "Votives in Suspension" (more quasi-religious hocum).

Possibly salvageable: "Lower Waters", "Suspending Memory" (though do we really need a timeline of the life of each victim?), "Reflecting Absence".

I'm so surprised! ;-)

There's one shot of "Suspending Memory" that shows a couple kneeling in front of one of the plinths clutching each other and sobbing that I find
offensive on a subatomic level.

Missed that but I'd have to agree -- at the same time, it's actually an honest reflection of what will almost certainly happen there for a while to come.

fuck sake that image is insane!

and the Floating Votive thing looks kinda Japanese, which is neat.

still, Absense gets my vote.

NEW YORK—Mayor Bloomberg has promised an extraordinary impromptu "grief summit" with Tracer Hand. President Bush applauds the meeting and is asking Hand for "time to resolverate our nation's differentiations."

Hand, the great Internet typist, has repeatedly called for a "logically and morally coherent" response to the events of September 11, 2001 on an Internet message-board. The nation's political leaders, ever-attuned to the near-daily rants of the mysterious and wildly influential figure, have insisted they are listening.

"Mr. Hand knows we are doing all we can to make this memorial work for him. Despite having lost no one in the tragic calamity of that day, nor even knowing anyone who knew anyone, etc, we do swear great fealty to his peerless taste and opinion," Bush and Bloomberg said today in a joint statement.

Asked for comment, Hand said "it's too bad that Saian Super Crew's second album didn't make good on the promise of their first. I'm sorry, who is this again?"

TO Hand or to THE hand?

http://www.nyc-photo-gallery.com/LargePhotos/fireman_statue01.jpg

(I think the idea is he's taken his hat off)

"This is minimalism, and you can't minimalize the impact and the enormity of Sept. 11," Gardner said. "You can't minimalize the deaths. You can't minimalize the response of New Yorkers."
--

I guess you kind of have to expect/sympathize with this response. But the problem is there is no memorial which could encase the entire event. The most the memorial can hope for is to be a sort of common starting point for the viewer's thoughts/emotions/memories. My two cents, at least. I think they chose the right design.

I have to admit I can't, which is a bit cruel considering I have no personal stake in this. What's the guy going to do, dump paint over it all? How does that help bring his brother back?

It reminds me of the Vietnam memorial, when some veterans were outraged because there wasn't a traditional 'heroic' statue on the memorial site. Not so coincidentally, the most conservative people were the most offended by the memorial. However, as a memorial, it's proven to be very powerful and 'successful'. The Oklahoma City memorial is the same way.

I know the guy's bereaved and all, but that's a very conservative notion he's putting forth.

It's funny how people think statues are more appropriate, when they seem to imply that people can be 'replaced'.

Unless it was an enormous one like that Michael Jackson video...

Ever since the memorial project started, there has been clashes with deciding for one design or other. I can understand his point of view, but as you've all said, he's being ridiculous. Considering the other options that were out there, this one is rather tasteful. He does have an option not to go down and see it, if he doesn't want to. No one's forcing him forward with a whip. Next time I'm in NYC, I'd go (which would be my first time on the site since it happened.)

(xpost)

But in turn I would be wary and weary of the hijacking of that for political ends, as we have seen over the past two and a half years. I am not for something that could inadvertantly be turned into a symbol that way.

x-post : you see, nate - you're projecting your own values onto the project, and with a project this size, we have to compromise with each other and be as pluralistic as possible (this is something a lot of Americans have a problem with, too). Minimalism is the aesthetic language that can be 'translated' to the most people - that's why it's used. In some cultures, it is the dominant aesthetic mode - it's not in American culture, that's all.

The 'footprints' stuff reminds me of that bad inspirational poster.

really we should just cut out the middleman and make a big michael jackson statue, or better yet, a michael jackson-shaped skyscraper

As for the "footprints" thing - that's not my idea - that's what the reflecting pools are all about. If you don't like the idea, then you must not like the reflecting pools.

(xpost)

You are confusing two things, though -- an artwork *designed* by committee and an artwork *approved* by committee.

Whoa, I find that an incredibly strange thing to say about artistic reaction in general. In fact I think this is almost indefensible as an arguing position, if we're talking about general receptions to art by a mass audience.

Maya Lin's memorial has been noted above -- need I invoke any other counterexample? It sounds like you are denying the possibility of the emotional reaction in such a construction.

This is all coming down to personal taste, of course, but reread some of the responses upthread -- many people, including myself, were not 'resigned' to this choice, in fact we openly approved of it and wanted it to be selected. I'm sorry, o.nate, but our preference was not based on some sort of aesthetic surrender.

I'll grant you your point about modification and will await those final results. For all any of us know they may be changes which in fact will make you happier.

you're right that the firefighters were heroic but as andrew says they are only part of the story. a heroic part, yes, but it could be argued that they were supplemental to the most tragic thing that day - ppl eating donuts etc with no idea or intention of being caught in a flaming building. at least the firefighters had some idea of risk before putting themselves into harm's way.

no doubt the coalition of families has been at times unreasonable and petty but it kind of has to be expected in context.

Do you mean my alternative to the design, or my alternative to the selection process? My alternative to the design is described earlier in this thread. As for the selection process, that's a more difficult question. This is a democracy, so perhaps we should throw it open to a real public vote. Put an item on the ballot in the next election. Or set up a website where people can submit and vote on designs. Alternatively, perhaps we should just elect someone to the post of Memorial Designer and let them decide. As it is, there was very iittle democracy involved in the creation or workings of the committee.

we don't know what the story is yet so to tell something beyond that seems presumptuous at best

Well, if we don't know yet what we're trying to do with the design, then perhaps we should wait to design it until we do know, rather than just putting out there which is so minimal that it runs the risk of not meaning much of anything.

"society"

Look, I see the difference here a little starkly -- if a memorial was chosen that you happened to like but which I didn't, I might express my dismay but I wouldn't start going on about how the committee was clearly not reflecting 'the will of the people' or whatever because it's JUST my opinion, nothing more. That others happen to agree with you, even the families, does not automatically validate your own choice.

I'm not sure what you're getting at with the scare quotes around "society". In my post, I'm simply referring to people who vote and pay taxes.

Tracer, if that's the case, then O. Nate will be arguing til he stops breathing. I'd think that the "triumph" should be that a respectful memorial will be erected soon despite the red tape. The big deal shouldn't be about whether tis a perfect symbol for the lives lost, since there is no such thing as "perfection".

"[T]here is the declaration of the organizations of World Trade Center families-of-victims that there should not be a statue of the firemen at the WTC memorial site. Three hundred forty-three of them died that day, but to commemorate their sacrifice would be "hierarchical." They want it clear that no one was better than anyone else, that all alike were helpless, victims.

But that is not true; it is the opposite of the truth. The men and women working in the towers were there that morning, and died. The firemen and rescue workers--they weren't there, they went there. They didn't run from the fire, they ran into the fire. They didn't run down the staircase, they ran up the staircase. They didn't lose their lives, they gave them.

This is an important disagreement, because memorials teach. They teach the young what we, as a society, celebrate, hold high, honor. A statue of a man is an assertion: It asserts that his behavior is worthy of emulation. To leave a heroic statue of the firemen out of a WTC memorial would be as dishonest as it would be ungenerous, and would yield a memorial that is primarily about victimization. Which is not what that day was about, as so much subsequent history attests."

Interestingly, in the NY Post today it says: "Arad's plans (for 'reflecting absence') may also satisfy the demands of firefighters who want the names of 9/11 rescue workers to be grouped together in the list of victims." You would think it's one or the other: if they don't get a seperate memorial, they should obviously be on the list. I agree with Noonan though, minus her high horse, you can have two memorials without them competing for which victims are more worthy/tragic.

*i am using this word in its traditional sense THANKYOU

From a look at the website of the Coalition for Families of 9/11, whose official criteria for a memorial are available here - http://www.memorialfor911.com/memorial%20position%20Dec03.htm, they simply don't mention firemen at all. Is this what Noonan means when she says the declare there "should not be a statue of a fireman?" It's hard to tell. Maybe she was reading a previous draft or something. What they do ask for is that all memorial designs adhere to all applicable fire codes, which they note the original WTC was legally immune from.

In any case I think it's telling that the firemen themselves, according to the Post, would like to be grouped in with the names of the civilians who died that day. It befits a certain solidarity and humility that Noonan appears to need a horse-sized dose of.

"The memorial will be one of two focal points at the trade center site, along with the 1,776-foot glass skyscraper known as the Freedom Tower. Four other buildings are planned where the trade center once stood."

...gives me the heebie jeebies.

However, I'm still opposed to this design the memorial by the relatives themselves.

A thought about heroism and remembering it: have you fireman boosters forgotten how awash New York was with fireman fever? Fundraising balls, nationally-televised concerts, a brisk sale in quasi-official merchandise... The Mets even played a few games where the home team sported a mix of NYFD, NYPD, and PAPD caps. I wondered aloud at the time where the caps for the victims were. Or the random joes who just breezed in off the street and assisted people down the stairs. Or the Red Cross. They are certainly heroes, too; as are the scores of "victims" who carried elderly co-workers across burning vending vestibules and down collapsed stairways one at a time. Do they not deserve special recognition? What should they get, a statue each? A fireman to represent them all? A star by their name, or maybe two if they were high-ranking in their respective department? What kind of star should the "heroic" (as opposed to "passive") victims get? Is Noonan really calling them mere victims of circumstance? More importantly (because I don't give a rat's ass about Noonan) - are you?

"I'll take 'Missing The Point By A Country Mile' for $600, Alex."

http://www.upsaid.com/blogaloo/index.php?action=viewcom&id=14

"...but then again, they can't say its too minimalist can they?"

LOL

http://www.wtcsitememorial.org/images/fin7/sig.jpg

Never forget, etc.

x-post