as many may already know there is a Frontline
documentary on public television tonight in the
.US about the WTC rebuilding with Childs and
Libeskind. 'Sacred Ground' it is called. (Sept.7)
the idea came to mind that a do-it-yourself mini-
memorial could do what 'the Freedom Tower' and
other monolithic designs may never be able to do,
in the intimate way of connecting with the loss of
a memory of the NYC skyline which so many refer
to and remember, as some incredible image that
would never be believed to be destroyed as it was.
the symbol cannot be replaced or manufactured,
this is evident enough in that any replication can-
not mimic the original probably in terms of office
space, firecodes, aesthetics, and everything else
when put together. it would be of different material,
different proportions, something would be inexact.
yet the symbol remains a potent reminder, and a
meaningful connection to the events, the memory
of NYC, and what people value about it. the ease
of 'constructing new symbols' is contrary to this.
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instead of a few billions dollars to create a new
symbol for 'freedom', it was thought a thousand
or so dollars with some welded metal bar with
the shape of twin-towers could be placed in a
corrected perspective from various places from
which the towers could be seen, and in effect
create a do-it-yourself (diy) mini-memorial to
the WTC skyline as it is remembered. that is,
to add the silhouette of the two buildings by
a remote sculpture which can be seen through
onto the Manhattan peninsula, photographed
in relation to the skyline, and remembered as
such. it is imagined that for a plot of land of a
very small size (waterfront, parkland, city block)
that a concrete block could be buried in ground
to hold up the metal outline (maybe even glass,
stained or translucent, inside it) in relation to the
city as it now exists. Thus, to have dozens if not
more of these sprout around from the various
places in which the skyline was both seen and
felt and remains a memory without an image to
replace it. And maybe the erasure of memories
by a new manufactured symbol would cause a
conflict in the memories, that it does not evoke
what was the original sense, as the symbol is
not simply that was created but evolved as part
of a city during a place and time now a memory.
artists could probably make these, with the help
of architects to work on perspective issues and
how to locate the outline in relation to landmark
buildings on the horizon or in the geography, to
reimagine the skyline, both old and new, with a
small, affordable sculptures based on meaning
and memories of the love that can never be lost.
not to architects, politicians, cities, bureaucracies.
all it would take is a small community to give the
okay for a small project with city funds, and would
be part of a circuit of such memories that could be
visited, to see the WTC skyline, as it was seen by
others, and in this way it would be rebuilt, live on,
as an idea. while what now exists could be freed
from the symbolic agenda of the 1960s urbanism,
and get back to the ground, with purposeful ideas.
brian thomas carroll: architecture, education, electromagnetism
http://www.mnartists.org/artistHome.do?rid=13102
http://www.electronetwork.org/bc/
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