The Battle For Ground Zero, Part XXXIX

The New York Post is reporting that Cooper Union is sponsoring an art exhibit that features a bunch of anti-Bush, anti-military, and anti-American art. This is on the eve of the fourth anniversary of the 9/11/2001 terrorist attacks that resulted in more than 3,000 people being murdered by Islamic terrorism.

A 9/11-themed art exhibit at Cooper Union has bombed with families of terror attack victims, who say its vitriol against President Bush, seeming mockery of war hero Pat Tillman and other anti-American images denigrate the memory of their loved ones.
"What is the matter with these people? Where is their sense of decency?" asked Debra Burlingame, whose brother was a pilot aboard the airliner hijacked and crashed into the Pentagon and who has been among relatives fighting the location of the International Freedom Center at Ground Zero.

The artworks bashing Bush and the military are included in a program called "Knock at the Door," part of a slate of arts activities planned this weekend by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council — a program that has outraged many 9/11 family members.

One piece at Cooper Union shows Bush and his top Cabinet members as if they are in black-and-white police mug shots.

NFL star Tillman, who joined the military after the 9/11 attacks and was killed apparently accidentally by fellow Army Rangers in Afghanistan, is featured in what appears to be the cover of a mock magazine called "Friendly Fire."

"My death was tragic. My glory was short-lived. Flawed perceptions of myself, my country and the War on Terror resulted in the disastrous end to my life," a faked quote reads in the piece that pokes fun at a national hero.

A painting shows "Wizard of Oz" characters prancing down a yellow brick road as the Twin Towers burn in the background.

This is part of a larger exhibit that included works by Christopher Hackett who claimed that he would be including a real bomb in the exhibit, but NYPD investigations have revealed that it is nothing more than a dud - just like the reception that this 'exhibit' should receive. This isn't about shocking an audience as we know that there are many people who hate President Bush and hate the war in Iraq. What is shocking that so many people actually think it's acceptable to denigrate the memories of those murdered on 9/11 by turning it into a political statement.

In the course of an article discussing the deconstruction of the Deutsche Bank building, the New York Times drops this tidbit:

Yesterday, the corporation board approved a $150,000 grant to the Drawing Center, a SoHo museum that is one of the designated tenants for the cultural building at the trade center site, to help it look for alternative spaces in Lower Manhattan.

Mr. Pryor also named Peter H. Woodin, a professional mediator, to try to help break an impasse over the International Freedom Center, the other designated tenant in the cultural building.

The center has faced strong opposition from many victims' relatives, who object to the presence within the memorial quadrant of an institution with political overtones that is not devoted exclusively to memorializing and commemorating 9/11.

Because Mr. Woodin served as the deputy special master for the government's Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund, Mr. Pryor said, he may open "conversations that might not otherwise happen."

As we should remember, the Drawing Center, a group of anti-American artists who have no problem slamming the US and essentially blames the victims for 9/11, dropped out of the WTC cultural center because it refused to accept new requirements to have a family panel determine appropriate content. So, the LMDC is helping them find alternative space? Sorry, but the LMDC should have more pressing business to attend to. The Drawing Center has space in SoHo and doesn't need to be relocated, or if it does need additional space, does not need the economic assistance that could otherwise go to more worthy endeavors - like donating to Katrina relief or adding to the 9/11 memorial fund.

Adding Mr. Woodin to help break the impasse between 9/11 families and the IFC is an interesting situation, but it is up to the IFC to make good on its pledge that it would not put on anti-American, blame the victim displays that some of its current and former members are prone to show.

The New York Times is also reporting on a new walking tour of the Ground Zero environs. Tour guides include Lee Ielpi whose son was killed in the terrorist attacks.

The tours are meant to connect the public with people who were personally affected by the attacks, said Sally Yerkovich, president of the embryonic Tribute Center, a visitors' center that is to open next March at 120 Liberty Street, opposite ground zero. It will offer one-hour walking tours in the meanwhile, starting outside the center.

Beginning in November, the tours will cost $10, $7.50 for those 12 and younger or 65 and older. The center has set up an e-mail address for inquiries about the interim tours: visit@tributenyc.org.

UPDATE:
Via email:

World Trade Center Memorial Museum Public Forum
Thursday, September 15, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
At the Center for Architecture, 536 La Guardia Place, New York, NY

New York New Visions and the AIA New York Chapter are pleased to host the first workshop presentation pertaining to the programming and design of the World Trade Center Memorial Museum. The relation of artifacts, bedrock and slurry wall to the over 100,000-square-foot space adjacent to the World Trade Center Memorial will be better understood through this timely presentation, as will the relation of the Memorial Museum to the WTC Memorial itself. The event will take place at the AIA’s Center for Architecture at 536 LaGuardia Place. We expect that comments on exhibition programming and relation to site planning will provide input to LMDC and Memorial Foundation decision-makers. Please RSVP to rsvp@aiany.org or by phone to 212-358-6111.

Following the September 15 event, the Civic Alliance will host two workshops on September 19 and October 11 on the WTC Memorial Museum, as described in an earlier e-mail. The workshops will take place from 6:00 - 8:30 in the evening at the NYU Center for Continuing Education in the Woolworth Building at 15 Barclay Street. Registration information is available on the Civic Alliance website, www.civic-alliance.org.

UPDATE:
Lest we think that the controversy over memorializing the murdered victims of 9/11 is confined to Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan, there's one brewing over the design for the memorial in Shanksville, PA, which is where Flight 93 crashed after passengers realized what was going on in NYC and DC and acted with courage and conviction to stop the murderous bastards who hijacked the plane. The passengers on that flight gave their lives so that others could live in DC, which is where that plane was supposed to crash.