9/11 Museum: "can it be saved"?
Plus: Peru treasures come to British Museum
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Hello again. Hope you had an excellent week.
Tomorrow sees the twentieth anniversary of 9/11. Anyone old enough will remember exactly where they were when they first heard about the attacks. I was making a trip to my school library when the librarian asked if I’d heard about what had happened to the ‘Twin Towers.’ I didn’t even know what the Twin Towers were. A bulky TV with dodgy reception was then fired up to watch in horror at the billows of smoke coming from the World Trade Center. Minutes after the TV had been switched on, the first tower collapsed.
The Imperial War Museums are quite rightly marking this major anniversary here in the UK. There’s a special bonus episode of their Conflict of Interest podcast series asking the simple but important questions about the events of 9/11: Who were al-Qaeda and what did they believe? What actually happened on 9/11? How have the attacks shaped our current world and values? Also, opening today at their London museum is an exhibition by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Wim Wenders, which show his large-scale photographs taken on a visit to Ground Zero two months after the attack. They capture the devastation and the huge recovery operation.
This week’s top story is on the museum and memorial at the centre of tomorrow’s commemorations on the other side of the Atlantic. The controversy is a reminder at how highly we value our museums in helping us understand the past - even the very recent past.
#NeverForget911
Maxwell
This week’s top story
The focus of New York City’s 9/11 commemorations tomorrow will be the National September 11 Memorial and Museum. They will hold a ceremony where the names of all the victims will be read, beginning with a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m. to mark when the first hijacked plane struck the north tower. But the anniversary has shone a spotlight on the museum based at Ground Zero - and it’s not been positive.
From when it first opened, critics were not impressed (the architecture critic at the Washington Post, described it as “a hellish descent into a dark place”). But seven years on not much has changed, with commentators using the 20th anniversary of the attack to highlight how it is still fundamentally flawed. The HuffPost this week said it has such a problematic legacy they ask “can it be saved?” The New Yorker wrote a hugely detailed piece on how the institution is still struggling to address the legacy of those events. And the lead exhibition designer on the Museum Tom Hennes was interviewed by the Daily Beast and his frustrations with the venue’s creation and its execution are very clear. This all comes in the wake of the documentary film The Outsider which followed the team tasked with setting up the museum in 2008-2014 - and it’s less than flattering. (Although worth noting the New York Times weren’t particularly impressed with the film). On top of all this, the 9/11 Museum is facing a financial crisis caused by the pandemic, and has slashed programming and jobs to save cash. This is no doubt partly why the Museum’s Chairman, and one-time Democratic Presidential candidate, Mike Bloomberg will match - and triple - any contribution made this week.
As the world looks on at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum tomorrow, you can’t help but wonder if the same conversations will still be being had in exactly twenty years time as the 40th anniversary is marked.
This week’s other stories
London’s Design Museum has announced it’s exhibition programme for 2022, and a highlight will be Lionel Messi’s football boots. They’ll be part of a show on the incredible stories of design behind the world's beautiful game. Evening Standard
A landmark loan of over 40 ancient objects are being sent to the British Museum by museums in Peru for a major exhibition on the cultures of the South American country. Peru: a journey in time will explore over 3,000 years of history in the Andes mountains and beyond, and will highlight civilisations up to the Incas. The Guardian
The British Museum has also announced that it’ll help create a significant new Partnership Gallery at Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery in England’s West Midlands. It will open in 2024 with a focus on the national and international significance of Bronze Age Shropshire. Shropshire Star
Some of the world’s most famous portrait paintings are to tour England. The National Portrait Gallery is closed until 2023 for a major redevelopment so will be sending 25 of their most famous Tudor portraits, including the five monarchs, Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I, out on loan, as well as 58 of works of the Bloomsbury Group. I’m booking my train tickets as we speak. BBC News
A house plant festival is coming to London’s Garden Museum. Expect it to be wall-to-wall millennials. The Independent
A museum commemorating the deadly 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown has been raided by Hong Kong police, with officers seen carrying exhibits out of the June 4 Museum. BBC News
The “most significant collection of modern & contemporary art” ever to go under the hammer will be auctioned by Sotheby’s to settle a bitter five-year divorce battle. The $600m art sale was ordered by a judge after Harry and Linda Macklowe were at loggerheads over how to carve up the works. The i
Jeff Koons is creating a car with BMW, based on an idea by U2’s Bono. Because of course. designboom
Love art, museums and galleries? Then my newsletter is for you, keeping you up-to-date on what to read - and what to see. Subscribe below (it’s free!)