Francesc Torres
09 Sep - 03 Nov 2011
FRANCESC TORRES
11-S NY Memory remains
9 September - 3 November, 2011
On 11 September 2001, at 08:46 in the morning, I was standing in front of the window of an apartment on the twelfth floor of number 11 Courtland Street, in New York, just two blocks from the World Trade Center, when, suddenly, the 20th century ended. Memory Remains. 9/11 Artifacts at Hangar 17 is a project that deals with the historical memory, the national memory, social and individual grieving and ways of dealing with deep traumas in order to achieve healing; all these aspects catalyse in a kind of suspended animation in the extraordinary Hangar 17 at JFK in the city of New York where the physical remnants of the disaster that took place on 11 September 2001 are stored. There will be a National Memorial and a 9/11 Museum, but the exceptional nature and temporary aspect of Hangar 17 confer upon it a singularity, and a visual and emotional power that it is very difficult to supersede. Paradoxically, this is a place closed to visitors. Few people are even aware of its existence. After much red tape, I managed to gain access and permission to photograph its contents.
Francesc Torres
This installation by artist Francesc Torres presents a series of photographs of the area used for the preservation of material removed from Ground Zero at the World Trade Center. These images reveal to us how, in special circumstances, a museum may emerge almost like an organic body. Images of destroyed fire engines and police cars, bits of buildings converted into compressed magma, objects from shops, twisted pieces of steel and, even, a Calder sculpture that is equalled with all the other materials.
Coinciding with the ten year anniversary of 9/11, the CCCB and the National September 11 Memorial & Museum are preparing this installation. Simultaneously it will be presented at the International Center of Photography–ICP in New York and at the Imperial War Museum in London.
11-S NY Memory remains
9 September - 3 November, 2011
On 11 September 2001, at 08:46 in the morning, I was standing in front of the window of an apartment on the twelfth floor of number 11 Courtland Street, in New York, just two blocks from the World Trade Center, when, suddenly, the 20th century ended. Memory Remains. 9/11 Artifacts at Hangar 17 is a project that deals with the historical memory, the national memory, social and individual grieving and ways of dealing with deep traumas in order to achieve healing; all these aspects catalyse in a kind of suspended animation in the extraordinary Hangar 17 at JFK in the city of New York where the physical remnants of the disaster that took place on 11 September 2001 are stored. There will be a National Memorial and a 9/11 Museum, but the exceptional nature and temporary aspect of Hangar 17 confer upon it a singularity, and a visual and emotional power that it is very difficult to supersede. Paradoxically, this is a place closed to visitors. Few people are even aware of its existence. After much red tape, I managed to gain access and permission to photograph its contents.
Francesc Torres
This installation by artist Francesc Torres presents a series of photographs of the area used for the preservation of material removed from Ground Zero at the World Trade Center. These images reveal to us how, in special circumstances, a museum may emerge almost like an organic body. Images of destroyed fire engines and police cars, bits of buildings converted into compressed magma, objects from shops, twisted pieces of steel and, even, a Calder sculpture that is equalled with all the other materials.
Coinciding with the ten year anniversary of 9/11, the CCCB and the National September 11 Memorial & Museum are preparing this installation. Simultaneously it will be presented at the International Center of Photography–ICP in New York and at the Imperial War Museum in London.