the/my ground zero exhibition
Yesterday Bender (visiting from San Francisco, hooray!), PM and I went to the Brooklyn Museum to see the Ground Zero commemorative exhibition that I researched (http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/ground_zero/). It was a VERY haunting, emotionally charged and subsequently draining show. I was keeping myself together pretty well, but some of the "day of" pictures started to wear me down. Then I read a telephone log between a girl in Manhattan and her mother and lost it. I wanted to sink onto the floor, curl into a ball, and weep into my knees. I managed to remain standing but didn't really care about the tears sliding down my face. I saw several uniformed NYPD guys with somber, about to crack looks on their faces; I wondered what they saw that day--I wondered what their nightmares look like when the worst thing this city ever experienced is a part of our daily lives. Are we the walking wounded? Post-traumatic? (I say 'we' and 'our' because even though I wasn't here that day I've somehow inherited the trauma, as a new New Yorker. I'll never truly understand the depth of the horror of that day, but I'm intimate with the wave of anger and sorrow it's left behind.)
As far as the exhibition design, I only had a problem with the readability of the books. I hate plexi-cases, always will, but I know the museum can't let everyone touch every book--they'll fall apart. Still, there should have been more cases with better lay-out inside; I had to crane my neck to even see that phone log and the end of it was too far towards the back, thus I didn't get to finish. The great things about the show, besides its emotional impact, was the way in which the designers realized Dr. K's vision of a before/during/and after theme, centered around the WTC. The gallery architecture set up boundaries that weren't obvious, but nevertheless well defined. There were even two partitions that echoed the design of the towers' "skin." Really cool. I was also really taken by the different shades of blue that were used throughout the interior. There's also a film about the building of the WTC, and in the back room people can listen to Dr. K, the director, and the head librarian talk about their experiences during Sept. 11th as well as leave comments in a BIG book. The show really tried to touch all the senses, which I've notice in the past about the Brooklyn and instantly loved. My museum rocks.
The wall didactics were clear and informative, and I think people really walked away with a better understanding of the 14 blocks that were razed for the WTC (I even saw one woman taking notes). Also, one of the maps I found was used to introduce the exhibition--which made me happy. Finally, one of my photos (spotted first by Bender) was included on one of the wall labels to accompany another photograph (kind of a before and after pairing). It was *way* bigger than the thumbnail I was expecting, and my name was even spelled correctly for the photo credit. I was pretty stoked about it and PM's been calling me "famous" ever since. I'm going to try and snagged the label when the show comes down in January; in the meantime, here's a peek for everyone...
new background: sky
90 West St. (Cass Gilbert, c. 1909.) The wtc USED to be the background to this picture. A print by Harry Wilks bears witness to what once was. My picture show what isn't.
That's all for now. Do please try and see the show if you live in NYC. Thanks for seeing it with me, Bender. It was a pleasure showing you around my "office." Also, on Sept. 11th, remember the dead and remember the living. Remember the triumphs as well as the horror. And remember those whose names aren't written on memorials: the firefighters and cops of course, but also the store owners and strangers on the street who became instant hospitals, shelters, and medics for others. Now that's really something...
As far as the exhibition design, I only had a problem with the readability of the books. I hate plexi-cases, always will, but I know the museum can't let everyone touch every book--they'll fall apart. Still, there should have been more cases with better lay-out inside; I had to crane my neck to even see that phone log and the end of it was too far towards the back, thus I didn't get to finish. The great things about the show, besides its emotional impact, was the way in which the designers realized Dr. K's vision of a before/during/and after theme, centered around the WTC. The gallery architecture set up boundaries that weren't obvious, but nevertheless well defined. There were even two partitions that echoed the design of the towers' "skin." Really cool. I was also really taken by the different shades of blue that were used throughout the interior. There's also a film about the building of the WTC, and in the back room people can listen to Dr. K, the director, and the head librarian talk about their experiences during Sept. 11th as well as leave comments in a BIG book. The show really tried to touch all the senses, which I've notice in the past about the Brooklyn and instantly loved. My museum rocks.
The wall didactics were clear and informative, and I think people really walked away with a better understanding of the 14 blocks that were razed for the WTC (I even saw one woman taking notes). Also, one of the maps I found was used to introduce the exhibition--which made me happy. Finally, one of my photos (spotted first by Bender) was included on one of the wall labels to accompany another photograph (kind of a before and after pairing). It was *way* bigger than the thumbnail I was expecting, and my name was even spelled correctly for the photo credit. I was pretty stoked about it and PM's been calling me "famous" ever since. I'm going to try and snagged the label when the show comes down in January; in the meantime, here's a peek for everyone...
new background: sky
90 West St. (Cass Gilbert, c. 1909.) The wtc USED to be the background to this picture. A print by Harry Wilks bears witness to what once was. My picture show what isn't.
That's all for now. Do please try and see the show if you live in NYC. Thanks for seeing it with me, Bender. It was a pleasure showing you around my "office." Also, on Sept. 11th, remember the dead and remember the living. Remember the triumphs as well as the horror. And remember those whose names aren't written on memorials: the firefighters and cops of course, but also the store owners and strangers on the street who became instant hospitals, shelters, and medics for others. Now that's really something...