11
Sep/11

ELENA DEL RIVERO: [SWI:T] HOME: A CHANT

11
Sep/11

Elena del Rivero, “(Swi:t) Home: A CHANT,” 2001-2006 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

New Museum of Contemporary Art
235 Bowery at Prince St.
Wednesday – Sunday through October 2 (Thursdays free 7:00 – 9:00)
Artist Talk: Thursday, September 15, $8, 7:00
212-219-1222
www.newmuseum.org
[swi:t] home: a chant slideshow

On September 11, 2001, Valencia-born New York City artist Elena del Rivero was in her native country of Spain. When she eventually returned to her home on Cedar St., right by where the World Trade Center used to stand, she found her apartment/studio filled with debris, the windows having collapsed and all sorts of papers sucked in from the outside world. She set to work cataloging and cleaning the notes, forms, memos, letters, and other documents, deleting the names and addresses to protect the vital information of men and women who very well might have perished on that fateful day. She then stitched them onto long sheets of white cotton-mesh fabric to create the moving memorial “[Swi:t] Home: A CHANT,” which is currently installed in the back lobby gallery of the New Museum of Contemporary Art through October 2. The remnants of these anonymous people’s lives seem to once again float in the air as they rise over a center rod, only to tumble down to earth again on the other side. “[Swi:t] Home: A CHANT” includes some 3,136 documents, mostly white but some yellow, green, red, and other colors, spread out across more than five hundred feet, cluttered together on the ground and rising into the air, at its full height forming a kind of memorial tower. Del Rivero’s brown stitching can be seen throughout, as if a pathway detailing the journey taken by the unseen people behind the endless stream of paper. Del Rivero will be at the New Museum on September 15 to discuss the project with Andrea Blum in a special artist talk at 7:00 ($8). The entire museum is open for free on September 11, but the lobby gallery is always open for visitors without requiring paid admission.