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embodies the qualities of a “public space,” and by how adroitly it balances the utopian
and critical aspects of public art.
The design of a permanent memorial at Ground Zero is a culmination, rather than
a beginning, of the work of collective memory that commenced on September 11. While
smoldering flames and acrid smoke still lingered over New York City, the intense public
desire to mourn and remember the victims could already be seen in missing posters,
votive candles, American flags, flowers, and personal objects that dotted streets, parks,
fences, and train stations. The ephemeral physical nature of these monuments accented
the need for more permanent displays of memory: homemade signs faded, flowers wilted,
and the votive candles formed amorphous puddles of wax when the wicks burned to the
ground. Eventually, the memorial process moved to a more aesthetically discriminating
and ordered space of the museum. Many photographers and journalists fashioned the
footage of the attacks and their aftermath into pieces of reflection about our collective
trauma in a media-saturated environment. These diverse efforts should not be overlooked
in pondering how best to remember September 11.
We therefore insist on examining the different stages of commemoration leading
to this final stage—from makeshift private tokens of grief and mourning to museum
exhibits—to illustrate the quality of publicness, and to assess the balance between utopia
and critique in the vernacular and official commemorative art.
Public Art in a Public Space
The process of selecting a suitable memorial to the World Trade Center victims is
yet to be completed, but recent lessons in public and memorial art will undoubtedly
inform the memorial that will eventually take shape on the World Trade Center site.
Convention