In partnership with cultural institutions throughout all five boroughs of New York City and in New Jersey, the 9/11 Memorial & Museum will screen an excerpt of Wolfgang Staehle’s “2001” – a dual channel video work that captured the approach of hijacked plane Flight 11 and its impact. The exhibition will take place at St. John the Divine Cathedral, Brooklyn Historical Society, Queens Museum, Pregones/Puerto Rican Traveling Theater, Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden and Monmouth University.
Several days prior to the attacks, then a pioneering internet artist, Staehle set up a pair of unmanned webcams in the south-facing windows of a Williamsburg apartment building. The footage was intended to convey the predictable normalcy of life at the start of the 21st century. Manhattan’s downtown skyline represented the contributing influence of global capitalism.
In a sequence of 12 seconds yielding 3 images, those mundane rhythms were interrupted as Staehle’s cameras chronicled the transformation of a routine workday into a city under siege. This rare footage, which records the launch of the terrorist attacks on America, would shift the perception of Staehle’s artwork completely.
To learn more about each participating venue’s individual programming surrounding the Staehle exhibition, please visit the links below.
St. John the Divine Cathedral
Brooklyn Historical Society
Queens Museum
Pregones/Puerto Rican Traveling Theater
Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden
Monmouth University
Presentation of this program is made possible through the generous support of 9/11 Memorial Museum Presenting Sustainer Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund. Additional support provided by the German Academy New York.
By 9/11 Memorial Staff