Site Matters
LMCC’s World Trade Center Artists Residency, 1997-2001
In 2004, LMCC published Site Matters: The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s World Trade Center Artists Residency, 1997-2001, a book that chronicles the residency program in the World Trade Center edited by Moukhtar Kocache and Erin Shirreff, including texts by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Erin Donnelly, Tom Healy, Moukhtar Kocache, Olu Oguibe, Liz Thompson, and Anthony Vidler and documentation of works by all participating artists.
Site Matters chronicles the celebrated artists residency program in the World Trade Center sponsored by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC). From 1997 to 2001, more than 130 artists worked high above New York City in the upper reaches of Tower One, each responding in a unique way to the spectacular views and potent socio-political context of this landmark site. Brought together here for the first time, these exciting and, now, historic works range widely – from panoramic cityscapes to new-media performance.
The WTC complex was much more than an international center of commerce, and for four years the LMCC artists-in-residence strove to unearth a fuller, more sustained portrait of the towers’ inner life. They explored the hallways, elevators, basement and retail spaces, and worked together with tenants and building staff on complex site-specific projects. During the life of the program, these works raised compelling questions about the aesthetic, psychological and political aspects of the World Trade Center. Looking back, and looking forward, they fuel an important dialogue as the Twin Towers’ legacy is debated.
Site Matters is dedicated to Michael Richards, 1963 – 2001
— Site Matters, 2004
