memorials | counter - monument by dick averns
world trade centre public art installation architectonics museum
9/11 Architectural Artefacts
questioning the ethics of nomenclature
Dick Averns
above, and opposite: World Trade Centre Artefact J0006 (detail),The Military Museums, Calgary
Where are they now?
And when considering that 9/11 precipitated concomitant conflicts such as the so-called Global War on Terror, are these World Trade Centre artefacts symbolic of only the collapse of the twin towers? Or, should they be evaluated within a broader context? In September 2009 The New York Times published an article profiling the de-accessioning of World Trade Centre architectural artefacts, and would you believe it, hundreds of relics – steel columns, cross- sections and beams, many twisted and deformed – would be made available through national and international application?
What became of those contorted 9/11 artefacts from the collapsed World Trade Centre in New York City?
You may know that Hangar 17 at John F Kennedy International Airport became a central depository housing a range of materials including crushed vehicles and a large cache of architectural steel remnants; but once authorities deemed them as surplus, could one acquire such architectural residue? Ethical considerations for this steel are many, and in the public interest: might the artefacts be evidence in potential litigation? Do any retain traces of human remains?
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