The Media Lab, in response to the tragic events of September
11, 2001 suspended its regular arts programming. The walls of
monitors and screens were dedicated to displaying work created
as a memorial to the World Trade Center victims. This commemorative
included among the tragic imagery of that day the scrolling names
of those lost in the attack, and the text of the sad and final
phone messages of victims. The lab artists mixed their own edited
video shorts with these scrolling names, the transcribed calls,
and internet updates. This live collage was projected onto screens
facing the street. So within a few days after the Trade Center
attack people walking in downtown St. Louis could watch digital
artists wrestling with the medium as they tried to give voice
to a memorial. It was a complex and beautiful performative piece.
It may have been the only place in the country where something
like this was done. Paul Guzzardo and Margaret Newman produced
the Memorial. Media artists Alan Brunettin, Ben Kiel, Ken Zarecki
and Paul Guzzardo contributed to the memorial.
