Tribute in Light

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The Tribute in Light in 2011, taken from Jersey City, New Jersey. The tri-colored building on the extreme left is One World Trade Center under construction. In this photo, Tribute in Light is not located on the former site of the Twin Towers, but is projected from further south in Manhattan

The Tribute in Light is an art installation of 88 searchlights placed next to the site of the World Trade Center to create two vertical columns of light in remembrance of the September 11 attacks. It is produced annually by The Municipal Art Society of New York. It initially ran as a temporary installation from March 11 to April 14, 2002, and was launched again in 2003 to mark the second anniversary of the attack. As of 2013, it has been repeated every year on September 11. It had been announced that 2008 would be its final year,[1] but the tribute was continued in 2009.[2] On December 17, 2009, it was confirmed that the tribute would continue through to the tenth anniversary of the attacks in 2011, but continued again in 2012.[3] As of July 23, 2012, plans are underway for the National September 11 Memorial & Museum to assume the lease for the MTA property used during this tribute, and to begin transitioning operation of the tribute from the Municipal Art Society to the memorial foundation.[4]

Development

The light towers in 2011, as seen from Manhattan's East Village.

Those working on the project came up with the concept in the week following the attack. On September 13, 2001, the idea was presented to executives of Consolidated Edison, the electric utility company serving New York City, by John Englehart, then president of the brand innovation firm Arnell Group [5] Architects John Bennett and Gustavo Bonevardi of PROUN Space Studio distributed their "Project for the Immediate Reconstruction of Manhattan's Skyline". Artists Julian LaVerdiere and Paul Myoda, who before September 11 were working on the 91st floor of the World Trade Center north tower on a proposed light sculpture on the giant radio antenna with Creative Time, conceived of a project called "Phantom Towers". They were commissioned by The New York Times Magazine to create an image of the project for its September 23 cover.[6]

Richard Nash Gould, a New York architect, presented the concept to the Municipal Art Society. Gould was part of a firm whose SoHo office looked on the World Trade Center. Other projects by Gould include Howard, Darby & Levin in New York City and Polo Sport, Ralph Lauren in New York City. On September 19, Municipal Art Society chairman Philip K. Howard wrote to Mayor Rudy Giuliani, asking him "to consider placing two large searchlights near the disaster site, projecting their light straight up into the sky."[7]

After some consideration it was decided to contact lighting experts in the field of high intensity light displays. A Las Vegas company was chosen to help design the installation and to supply the 88 fixtures that would be needed.

The project was originally going to be named "Towers of Light", but the victims' families felt that the name emphasized the buildings destroyed instead of the people killed.[8]

On clear nights, the lights could be seen from over 60 miles away, visible in all of New York City and most of suburban Northern New Jersey and Long Island, Fairfield County, Connecticut, Westchester County, Orange County, New York and Rockland County, New York. The beams were clearly visible from the terrace at Century Country Club in Purchase, New York, from at least as far west as western Morris County, in Flanders, New Jersey, at least as far as the barrier beach of Fire Island in Suffolk County, New York on Long Island, and as far south near Trenton, New Jersey in nearby Hamilton.[9]

Tribute in Light, being projected on Sept. 11, 2009, from the ProPublica office on One Exchange Plaza

Since 2008, the generators that power Tribute in Light have been fueled with biodiesel made from used cooking oil collected from local restaurants provided by Tri-State Biodiesel. [10]

The lights have caused confusion for thousands of migrating birds, trapping them in the beams, and requiring that the lights be switched off for 20 minute periods to allow the birds to escape.[11] To ensure the lights do not affect migrating birds, the Municipal Art Society works with the New York City Audubon on the illumination.[12]

Media appearances

The "Tribute in Light" has been featured in Boyz II Men's music video for "Color of Love". It also made a notable appearance during the opening credits of Spike Lee's 2002 film 25th Hour. In the Spider-Man 2 Video Game for Xbox, PlayStation 2 and GameCube, it appeared as a virtual memorial.[citation needed]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Chan, Sewell (2007-09-11). "Will Tribute in Light Go Dark After ’08?". New York Times. Retrieved May 26, 2010. 
  2. ↑ " "September 11th Tribute Lights Up Again". NY1.com. 
  3. ↑ Dunlap, David W. (2010-09-10). "‘Tribute in Light’ Will Keep Shining, This Year and the Next". New York Times. Retrieved Sep 11, 2010. 
  4. ↑ Mann, Ted. "'Tribute' Handover". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 24 July 2012. 
  5. ↑ http://www.arnell.com
  6. ↑ http://www.creativetime.org/programs/archive/2002/tribute/main.html
  7. ↑ http://mas.org/programs/tributeinlight/
  8. ↑ "Tribute in light to New York victims". BBC News. March 6, 2002. Retrieved 2008-04-27. 
  9. ↑ Moran, Lee (September 8, 2011). "Twinkling tribute to the Twin Towers: World Trade Center rises in poignant pillars of light as New York makes final preparations for 9/11 anniversary". Daily Mail (London). 
  10. ↑ "Tri-State Biodiesel fuels Sept. 11 memorial". Retrieved 2009-09-11. 
  11. ↑ Allen, Nick (2010-09-15). "10000 birds trapped in Twin Towers memorial light". London: Daily Telegraph. Retrieved Sep 15, 2010. 
  12. ↑ Laermer, Emily (2011-08-18). "Tribute in Light seeks funders". Crain's. Retrieved August 22, 2011. 

External links

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Coordinates: 40°42′39″N 74°00′52″W / 40.71096°N 74.01440°W / 40.71096; -74.01440

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