Hans Haacke
Proposal for poster commemorating 9/11 with photographs of posters produced by Creative Time 6 months after attack, on approximately 100 media boards in Manhattan, 2001-2
original collage and set of 50 photographs
collage 22 x 16 3/4 in.
frame: 21 x 15 7/8 x 1 3/8 in.
In March of 2002, Hans Haacke mounted a poster on approximately 100 scaffolding and media walls throughout New York City. White, with a cut out silhouette of the Twin Towers, the poster marked the six-month anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center. Abstracting the existing media landscape, the work visually demonstrated the new lens with which we viewed our lives.
Proposal for poster commemorating 9/11, 2002 was produced in collaboration with Creative Time. The project lasted for two weeks, from March 11 – 25, and the installation sites were photographed for documentation.
List of installation sites
Photo of Ground Zero taken by Hans Haacke approximately one month after the attacks.
“I will never forget it.”
-Hans Haacke
Haacke was teaching at The Cooper Union when the first plane hit the World Trade Center and, alongside fellow faculty members, he witnessed the collapse of the towers from the roof. A month later, he photographed Ground Zero from a high rise nearby.
The poster was also manifested as a digital application for download, abstracting personal computer desktops. Later, the installation photographs were included in Haacke’s 2005 exhibition, State of the Union, at Paula Cooper Gallery. In 2007, the Queens Museum included a miniature poster on their Manhattan diorama for the exhibition New York States of Mind.
To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center, we revisit this body of work and consider the lasting impact of that day.
Desktop application
Installation view, New York States of Mind, Queens Museum, New York, November 4, 2007 – March 23, 2008
