Tribute in Light

Taking place on September 11, 2011

Tribute in Light
September 11, 2011
The twin beams will appear in the Lower Manhattan sky at dusk on Sunday, September 11, fading with the dawn on Monday, September 12. 

THE FUTURE OF “TRIBUTE IN LIGHT”

As THE MUNICIPAL ART SOCIETY prepares for this year’s illumination, it has launched a fundraising campaign to secure the future of “Tribute in Light” since funding is not guaranteed after 2011. 
As part of this campaign, the organization has invited everyone who values “Tribute in Light” and counts on its dramatic presence every September 11 to help guarantee its future by giving small donations. Through Text2Give, an innovative fundraising tool, anyone with a cell phone can donate $10 by texting the word TRIBUTE to 20222 (message and data rates may apply).
Alternatively, donations of any denomination can be made via MAS.org, or by calling (212) 935-2075.

ABOUT “TRIBUTE IN LIGHT”

Comprising 88 refrigerator-sized 7,000-watt xenon searchlights positioned in two 48-foot squares that echo the shape and orientation of the twin towers, “Tribute in Light” is assembled each year on a rooftop four blocks from the World Trade Center site. The strongest shafts of light ever projected into the night sky, the beams rise four miles and are visible from 60 miles away. This year, as in the past, THE MUNICIPAL ART SOCIETY is working with the New York City Audubon Society to make sure that the lights do not affect migrating birds.

“Tribute in Light” was designed by John Bennett, Gustavo Bonevardi, Richard Nash Gould, Julian Laverdiere and Paul Myoda with lighting consultant Paul Marantz. The annual installation and projection is produced by Michael Ahern.

BEHIND THE SCENES

“Tribute in Light,” THE MUNICIPAL ART SOCIETY OF NEW YORK’s graceful ode to the victims and survivors of the September 11th attacks, is the result of 10 days of hard work. Everything is done by hand – there are no computers – and many members of the crew have been with the project from the start.

The process begins on Friday, September 2, and continues through dusk on September 11, when a switch is flipped and the majestic twin blue beams shoot four miles across the sky, visible for 60 miles around.

Producing the now-iconic memorial is a formidable task. A crew of 30 electricians, lighting technicians, stagehands and production assistants spends more than a week at the projection site, the roof of the Battery Parking Garage in Tribeca. Their job is to unload, position, balance and synchronize the 88 refrigerator-sized, 7,000-watt xenon searchlights that create the twin beams. The lamps are so powerful that everyone handling them must wear goggles and gloves.

(Originally sent to help with the search-and-rescue effort, the bulbs were a spontaneous gift from innovative Italian lighting manufacturer Space Cannon, which shipped and stored them at its own expense.)

The first step is to split the lights into two groups of 44-light “arrays.” The lamps are then placed in 48-foot square metal frames whose shape and orientation echoes the twin towers’. Then comes the “bench focus” – the time-consuming and meticulous process of making sure each beam shoots straight up and – the tricky part – is 100% parallel to every other beam.

Lighting technicians known as “spotters” are dispatched to New Jersey, Staten Island, Brooklyn and Uptown Manhattan to assess the beams’ “perpendicular integrity,” relaying their findings via satellite-operated Nextels to technicians at the illumination site. Meanwhile to control for voltage fluctuations and power surges, electricians test the lights’ “ballast,” i.e. the amount of current coursing through the circuitry from two high-powered CAT diesel generators resting inside 18-wheelers seven stories below in the street (while only generator is needed, they operate in tandem to forestall a break in the lights if there’s a power cut).

There are administrative challenges, too. The MTA needs to see new engineering drawings and insurance paperwork before it will sign a contract letting MAS use the roof of the Battery Parking Garage, which it owns. The FAA must be notified so that it can issue a Notam, or Notice to Airmen, telling pilots to avoid the area. SAPO (the City’s Street Activity Permit Office) has to issue a permit to let MAS park the generator trucks on West Street.  

MAS also contacts the Audubon Society to let them know that the memorial will be produced again this year. Come September 11, an Audubon rep will be on hand to help MAS assess whether the beams need to be shut off at any point to enable migrating birds, who sometimes fly into the beams in search of their supper, a k a moths, to extricate themselves.

Finally, a little before sunset on September 11, a switch is flipped and the lights come on, reaching full strength after 4-5 minutes. As darkness falls the twin beams comprising “Tribute in Light” become visible, a powerful symbol of both loss and hope.