Wolfgang Staehle, Untitled, live video projection (diptych), unique, 2001
The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine
1047 Amsterdam Ave. at 112th St.
Wednesday, September 11, free with advance RSVP, 7:00 am – 7:00 pom
212-316-7540
www.stjohndivine.org
On September 11, 2001, German-born, New York City-based artist Wolfgang Staehle had two webcams in Brooklyn focused on Lower Manhattan, taking time-lapse photos at four-second intervals for a monthlong live-streaming exhibition at Postmasters Gallery that had begun the week before. Titled 2001, it was meant to show everyday life in the city, from a distance. He ended up capturing the unspeakable tragedy that befell the World Trade Center. For the eighteenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks that killed nearly three thousand innocent people and injured six thousand more, the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine is teaming up with the 9/11 Memorial & Museum to present “Transformed Overnight: The Impact of 9/11,” consisting of twelve hours of Staehle’s footage in real time, from 7:00 in the morning to 7:00 in the evening. At the time, Magdalena Sawon of Postmasters noted about the gallery show, “Until last Monday one could see a beautiful scene of the iconic New York skyline, with boats and blimps and incredible sunsets as the day progressed. Tuesday morning it looked like our world ended as the projection captured all stages of the catastrophe. Now the smoke has settled and it’s back to the transformed skyline with a disorienting gap where the towers stood before. As difficult as it is for me and the gallery audiences to see this image, the key intent of the work was (and remains) to continuously stream in an unedited and unaltered reality, updating the idea of landscape using the tools of our time.” Watching the events of that day nearly twenty years later should be powerful inside the mighty St. John the Divine; admission is free with advance RSVP.