11-S

11 september, 2004
Place
Sabatini Building, Auditorium
Curatorship
Berta Sichel and Paco Barragán
Elena del Rivero. Dust, 2002
Elena del Rivero. Dust, 2002

These works distance themselves from the terrifying and yet fascinating images and stories spread by the media to explore different aspects of the experience, such as the perceptual dimension, sensory evocations and questions of a political, social and cultural nature, all doubtless necessary elements to move beyond the collective trauma.

September 10, 2001. Uno nunca muere la víspera (Monika Bravo) and 5 Minute Break (Kristin Lucas) present the experience of two artists-in-residence working in the World Trade Center in 2001 whose works now seem prescient. On the night of September 10, like any other day, Monika Bravo set up her video camera and captured a storm and lightening hitting the city on what would be the last day of the WTC. Without showing a single image of that fateful day, the artist reflects on the destructive power of hate. Kristin Lucas, in turn, whose work looks at paranormal elements, was taking advantage of the World Trade Center to study electronic emissions. When she went down to tour the basement of the North Tower, she imagined herself as an avatar á la Lara Croft, trying to navigate a sub-world where no signals reach and the access doors lead nowhere.

Other pieces like American Dreams # 3 (Moira Tierney) and Dust (Elena del Rivero) were made in the area around the recently baptised Ground Zero shortly after the terrorist attacks, while works by Pia Lindman (World Financial Center), Brian Doyle (The Light) and Txuspo Poyo (Cruzando vías. Si ves algo di algo) are more theoretical, investigating the anthropological dimensions of the event and the way in which societal conduct was interrogated. Shown in a single session between 1:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. on this year’s 9/11, three years after the tragedy, the series pays tribute to the victims and is an invitation to reflect on the events that shook the world at the dawn of the 21st century.