A sculpture made with material sourced from the wreckage of New York’s Twin Towers is to be permanently displayed in London’s Olympic Park from 2015, after a disappointing history – the Art Newspaper reports.
The segment of the World Trade Centre was gifted from the US as a public reminder of the 2001 atrocity which killed 2,977 people, including 67 Britons. But a permanent home could not be found for the sculpture after a number of officials across London barred its permanent display.
The piece, entitled ‘After 9/11’, by American artist Miya Ando, was initially only on show in the UK for 28 days after it was unveiled in 2011, by the mayor of London Boris Johnson in a lavish ceremony in Battersea Park. However, according to The Telegraph, a New York judge had to give the green light for the release of the metal, which could be used as court evidence in cases relating to the September 11 terrorist attack, and despite it being gifted on the provision it remain on permanent display.
One campaigner stated at the time: “This is a national embarrassment. It’s also an insult to New York and all those who died.”
Since the work was taken down from its temporary home in Battersea Park every council in London is believed to have either refused to house the work, designed by American artist Miya Ando, and, or ignored requests to discuss a site for its display.
Since then bureaucratic issues have lead to the statue being stored first in a Cambridgeshire farm, then in a warehouse in North London, much to the dismay of the victims’ families – and of the artist. In 2013, Ando told New York Daily News: “In my mind this was something that was meant to honor the victims and the families. It’s really unfortunate that the sculpture has been stored.”
Now finally it would seem the red tape has been cut away, and the memorial sculpture has found a permanent home. A spokesperson for Ando’s dealer, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, told the Art Newspaper that “the actual installation and the ceremony will be taking place in spring of 2015.”