a proposal: a memorial for the absent A museum is a place for the public, to educate the public and make them aware of the historical moment. A memorial is a place to com- memorate. A memorial here should pay respect for not only the brave ones who crossed; equally important but forgotten are the ones who never made it in their pursuit for freedom. The rest of Ellis Island could be opened up, leaving the existing dilapidated condition as it is, since it is a place more powerful than any architect’s attempt to portray reality. It is reality. The abandoned condition should be preserved by having a path around the site and an installation of mirrors and cameras reflecting and showing the inside of the buildings: the hidden will be exposed, even the morgue and the crematorium where it is pitch darkness and cold. The mirror reflects us as we reflect upon this this delicate and desolate space. The museum on Ellis Island speaks of the immigrant heritage only on the surface – pure factual information. An Ellis Island web site allows one to track down one’s ancestors. It contains timelines of historical facts, missing all the real qualities of the island. The ancestors found through the web site were the ones who made it across. What about the detained, the deported and the ones who died on the island? There is no reference to this dark side of the history. Libeskind’s Jewish Museum in Berlin speaks to the void: the void in the museum that organises all the other spaces and the void in the space of Berlin:‘that which can never be exhibited when it comes to Jewish Berlin History. The void is the space which represents the absence — the eradication of Jewish life in Berlin.’ (Libeskind. Jewish Museum. Berlin: G and B Arts International, 1999.)
Frances Mikurya has just finished the graduate program in architecture at Columbia and is currently living in San Francisco.
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ON SITE review 5
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