1. Background

2. Effects on birds

3. Media appearances

4. See also

5. References

6. External links

The Tribute in Light is an art installation of 88 searchlights placed six blocks south of the World Trade Center on top of the Battery Parking Garage^[1] in New York City to create two vertical columns of light to represent the Twin Towers in remembrance of the September 11 attacks.^[2] Tribute in Light began initially as a temporary commemoration of the attacks in early 2002 but became an annual commemoration, currently produced on September 11 by the Municipal Art Society of New York.^[3][4][5]

On clear nights, the lights can be seen from over {{Convert|60|mi}} away, visible in all of New York City and most of suburban Northern New Jersey and Long Island. The lights can also be seen in Fairfield County, Connecticut, as well as Westchester, Orange, and Rockland counties in New York. The beams have been clearly visible as far north as the terrace at Century Country Club in Purchase, New York, from at least as far west as western Morris County, in Flanders, New Jersey, at least as far east as the barrier beach of Fire Island in Suffolk County, New York on Long Island, and as far south near Trenton, New Jersey in nearby Hamilton.^[6]

The two beams cost approximately $1,626 (assuming $0.11 per kWh) to run for 24 hours. There are 88 xenon spotlights (44 for each tower) which each consume 7,000 watts.^[7] As of 2011, the annual cost for the entire project was about half a million dollars.^[8]

Background

The Tribute in Light initially ran as a temporary installation from March 11 to April 14, 2002, and ran again on September 11, 2003 to mark the second anniversary of the attack.^[9] Since then, it has been repeated every year on September 11. It was announced that 2008 would be its final year,^[2] but the tribute was continued in 2009.^[10]

On December 17, 2009, it was confirmed that the tribute would continue through to the tenth anniversary of the attacks in 2011, but continued again in 2012.^[11] In 2012, plans were underway for the National September 11 Memorial & Museum to assume the lease for the MTA property used during this tribute, and to begin transitioning operation of the tribute from the Municipal Art Society to the memorial foundation.^[12]

Those working on the project came up with the concept in the week following the attack. On September 13, 2001, the concept was introduced by John Englehart in a meeting with the crisis communications task force at the electric utility Consolidated Edison, as a signal of support for the community.{{Cn|date=January 2019}} Architects John Bennett and Gustavo Bonevardi of PROUN Space Studio distributed their "Project for the Immediate Reconstruction of Manhattan's Skyline".{{Cn|date=January 2019}} Artists Julian LaVerdiere and Paul Myoda, who before September 11 were working on the 91st floor of the World Trade Center north tower, on a proposed light sculpture on the giant radio antenna with Creative Time, conceived of a project called "Phantom Towers".{{Cn|date=January 2019}} They were commissioned by The New York Times Magazine to create an image of the project for its September 23 cover.^[13]{{Failed verification|date=January 2019}}

Richard Nash Gould, a New York architect, presented the concept to the Municipal Art Society. On September 19, Municipal Art Society chairman Philip K. Howard wrote to Mayor Rudy Giuliani, asking him "to consider placing two large searchlights near the disaster site, projecting their light straight up into the sky."^[14]

The lights are produced by an Italian company named Space Cannon, who sends a team every year to help with the installation.^[8] A Las Vegas-based company, Light America, was also part of the team that implemented the project.^[15]

Each year, about 30 technicians, electricians and stagehands work for about ten days to install the lights, which also involves a testing phase of several days during which observers located in Brooklyn, Staten Island, New Jersey and uptown Manhattan help make sure that the beams are adjusted accurately.^[8]

The project was originally going to be named Towers of Light, but the victims' families felt that the name emphasized the buildings destroyed instead of the people killed.^[16]

A permanent fixture of the Tribute in Light was at one point intended to be installed on the roof of One World Trade Center,^[17][18] but it was not included in the finished design.^[19]

Since 2008, the generators that power Tribute in Light have been fueled with biodiesel made from used cooking oil collected from local restaurants.^[20]

Effects on birds

The light pollution from Tribute in Light has caused confusion for thousands of migrating birds, trapping them in the beams.^[21] As a result of this effect, the lights are switched off for 20-minute periods to allow the birds to escape.^[22] To ensure the lights do not affect migrating birds, the Municipal Art Society works with the New York City Audubon on the illumination.^[23] A 2017 study found that the installation "dramatically altered multiple behaviors of nocturnally migrating birds—but these effects disappeared when lights were extinguished".^[21][24]

Media appearances

Tribute in Light was featured in Boyz II Men's music video for "Color of Love". It made a notable appearance during the opening credits of Spike Lee's 2002 film 25th Hour. The tribute was also shown and referenced in the CBS series Blue Bloods.

See also

• Memorials and services for the September 11 attacks
  • National September 11 Memorial & Museum
  • Pentagon Memorial
  • Flight 93 National Memorial
• Other beams
  • 20th Century Fox logo (designed circa 1935) famous non-military use of searchlights.
  • Cathedral of light, a 1937 Nazi propaganda display with massed searchlights pointing skyward.
  • spectra, an installation series of light and sound artworks featuring searchlights
  • A Symphony of Lights, a contemporary light display in Hong Kong
  • Luxor Hotel and Casino skybeam since the mid-1990s, the world's brightest searchlight-style display.
  • Dale Eldred, Steeple of Light, Community Christian Church, Kansas City, MO. Completed in 1994.

References

External links

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20100825172813/http://mas.org/programs/tributeinlight/ The Municipal Art Society of New York, annual producers of the Tribute in Light]
• Tribute in Light, presented by the National September 11 Memorial & Museum

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