September 11 @ MoMA PS1

 This was one of my favorite pieces because it displays the bright colors of our precocious nation.

Now Showing @ Moma PS1 through January 9th, 2012

 

George Segal - American artist - 1924-2000 

'Woman on a park Bench' 1998 (bronze w/ white patina & metal bench)

         

In the room seen above one could reminisce about September 11th 2011, as we see various pieces incorporated into a brightly-lit room. There is a woman seated carelessly on a bench minding her own business. She holds dearly to her purse and seems as if she were about to smile, but not quite. There is material scattered along the center of the floor which resembles ashes done by Roger Hiorns a British artist born in 1978. It is an 'atomized passenger aircraft engine' and he left his work Untitled. In addition, the theme from Patriot (a solo by Mark O'Connor) can be heard playing in the background to add to the mood. The audio is 6:40 minutes long and it was incorporated by John Williams an American artist born in 1932.

 Filmmaker Jem Cohen's addition to the show is in the form of a 6:00 minute video with sound & in black and white. Little Flags (1991-2000) is an excerpt of a film made by Cohen who was recording a parade that was lead along Broadway to celebrate the end of the Golf War. In the film we can observe the crowd maneuvering around lower Manhattan in a sward of paper. Looking at the picture above (from the film) we can see the similarities between the film and the city on that September 11, 2001 morning.


Another piece (not shown) is a canopy of black bunting which welcomes the visitors to the 2nd floor of the museum. It was created in 2001 by Fiona Banner an English artist born in 1966 by using vinyl and rope. Black Bunting (2008) can be interpreted as a touch of celebration to this one-decade-after tribute without robbing from the mourning sensation implied by the color black.