9/11: The day civilization stood still
Ten years after the terrorirst attacks on the World Trade Centre in 2001, those terrible images are still in our heads: it is part of our modern history, an event that re-shaped the world and inaugurated the third millenium.
WTC Architects: Old and New
Japanese-American architect Minoru Yamasaki (1912-1986) was the creator of the original WTC: the slender twin towers that rose above Manhattan. He was selected in 1962 and construction began in 1965 until 1973. The two towers look very much like any other skyscraper, but the simplicity of its design and its elegant forms made it instantly recognisable. They added to New York's character and quickly became a powerful icon. Let's say luckily, Yamasaki didn't live to see their destruction on 11th September 2001 (nor the 1993 bombings), so we'll never know what it feels like for an architect to lose one of his buildings (and such a famous one). It must be a heart wrenching moment, of great frustration and confusion -like to most of those who witnessed it- but also of loss, for something of your creation and effort has been erased for ever.
Petitions for a memorial on Ground Zero didn't take too long, but its creation has. The reconstruction of the WTC and its memorial was originally scheduled for completion in 2011, but it has been postponed for late 2013. The new Ground Zero will include five new skyscrapers:
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Computer generated image of the new WTC
(skyscrapers described appear from left to right) |
- One WTC- the so called "Freedom Tower"- is the star of the show. The graceful, twisting, blue tower designed by Daniel Liebeskind will be the tallest building in New York and one of the tallest in the world, standing at the symbolic height of 1,776 m (the date of American Independence).
- Two WTC is designed by Lord Norman Foster and has a characteristic sloping roof of four intersecting squares. According to Liebeskind's masterplan, it won't overshadow the memorial, representing a "wedge of light".
- Three WTC by Richard Rogers, designed in his special metal-bracing-glass style, will include four pinnacles.
- Four WTC will be the most similar to the originals, having a squre plan and facing the tip of Manhattan island. It is designed by Fumihiko Maki, also Japanese.
- Five WTC is the only one without released plans, but its designer is the Kohn Pederson firm.
- It will also include a transport hub designed by Santiago Calatrava and a museum. The finishing date is expected to be 2015.
Up to date, only the memorials are basically finished. They consist of two pools within the perimeter of the twin towers, inscribed with the names of the victims, and surrounded by oak trees. Designer
Michael Arad, winner of the memorial competition, described them as "reflecting absence"- it's not a grand monument, but a discrete void of loss.
This project has been, and still is, largely controversial, as citizens struggle to forget the dreadful events and face a bright, new skyline for Manhattan, and some have criticised it for "homogenizing" New York and making it lose its distinct flavour. But a city is always in constant change, with a flow of inhabitants, visitors and ideas... and that has to be reflected in its appearance.
Influence on art
A plane impacts the towers, and a cloud of dust and fire rises to the sky as the twin towers come crashing down. That sequence is unforgettable, a symbol of Western dominance and security destroyed in less than 24 hours. Obviously it didn't take too long for it to spark creativity: two films have been made (World Trade Center, by Oliver Stone, and the better United 93, by Paul Greengrass), both from 2006; thousand of conspiracy books and novels, comics and graphic novels, tv shows, documentaries (most famous being Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11) even an opera, but few artworks. The reason for this is obvious: it's a recent, risky event that scares and offends alike. Probably the most controversial is Scott Blake's 9/11 Flipbook. It consists of photos of the plane crashing into the South Tower, accompanied by texts on the attacks. At first it seems banal and to some insulting, turning such a grave moment into a seemingly careless, entertaining object. But its more than that: it's a reflection on how mass media has blown up the attacks by showing them over and over again, how it infuses us with fear and insecurity in a much subtler "terrorist" manner. For more on this inrteresting subject, check out this video. Another example is Cleveland artist Susan Crile, who created a series on the attacks (and also on the subsequent Irak war), executed with a simple realism, but having a surreal, phantasmagoric quality. Click on the image on the right or the link for her interview on myartspace>blog. But the most recent are Francesc Torres' photos of the 9/11 remnants stored in an empty hangar in JFK. Executed in only 5 weeks in 2009, the photos are now in a book (Memory remains, from National Geographic Society) and shown in simultaneous exhibitions in Barcelona's Centro de Cultura Contemporánea, Madrid's Palacio Cibeles (starting on the 16th sept.), New York's International Centre of Photography and London's Imperial War Museum; the latter three locations of islamist terrrorism attacks.
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Steel beams from Ground Zero, by Francesc Torres.
(From Nat. Geographic.) |
All shows feature the same images of objects barely recognisable or totally intact, but all housed in the abandoned hangar, its cold, metal walls giving them an eerie quality, like profane relics. In addition, each venue also has a particular surviving item: the one in Barcelona is a piece of a destroyed Alexander Calder, our next subject.
Lost artworks during 9/11
Apart from the iconic Twin Towers, many artworks were destroyed or badly damaged during the attacks. Most of them decorated the WTC buildings and others were outdoor installations. They include a Joan Miró tapestry, Roy Leichtenstein's
Entablature Series (lithographs of architectural ornaments) and around 300 sculptures and drawings by Rodin belonging to the Cantor Fitzgerald collection, the largest Rodin private collector. For the complete list, click
here.
Among the outdoor sculptures, the biggest loss was Calder
WTC Stabile, or
Bent Propeller; a large, curvy, red mass. From this iconic installation only 30% survived and its rusty, disfigured shape serves as a reminder that humanity often destroys, either wanting or not, one of the few things that unites it: art.
WTC Stabile (1971) by Calder, before and after 9/11 (Image from Washington Post)
