It has been five years since the nightmare of September 11th. The anniversary is getting a wide range of coverage in all media. Some of the most heart-wrenching footage I’ve seen has been on the News Hour: candid interviews with rescue and construction workers from Ground Zero, many of whom now have debilitating ailments caused by the toxic conditions at the site. The scars of this horrendous act will be with us forever.
There have been many discussions concerning the response to 9/11 from artists. So far there certainly has been no Guernica, no Third of May, 1808, in response. Many attempts have been put forth in pop songs and country music, and thousands of hours of media coverage and a few movies, which I have no desire to watch.
In time, the right words or music, a work of art that captures the essence will come. Surely, all who lived through that day will always remember the love and compassion that just flowed from around the world in response. That’s the world I want to live in.
Laurent, I agree. I wrote a long article about a recent performance of On the Transmigration of Souls in Baltimore this past April. I agree that it is still a powerful work. I am not sure that it will ever the power of something like Britten's War Requiem, but I am waiting to see how I feel in another five years.
ReplyDeleteMark is really writing about the lack of a great work of visual art.
Laurent, I haven't heard it, but will. Thanks for mentioning it.
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