World Trade Center “Tribute in Light” Returns for 12th Anniversary on 9/11

The Tribute in Light installation will return this September according to the Gothamist’s recent report. Until this year, the iconic light ceremony has been run by the Municipal Art Society (MAS), but there was always trepidation as to whether there would be enough funds to continue the annual memorial. It’s great to see that the 9/11 Memorial and Museum has taken over the management. The installation will turn on at sunset on September 11th in lower Manhattan (West and Morris Streets) and end at sunrise.

Six months after the attack in 2001, two artists Julian LaVerdiere and Paul Myoda installed the “Phantom Towers,” what we know now as the Tribute in Light, in partnership with several architects and Paul Marantz, the original lighting designer. LaVerdiere told New York Times Magazine, “It is an emotional response more than anything…the towers are like ghost limbs, we can feel them even though they’re not there anymore.” Untapped Cities previously had the opportunity to get up close to the mechanics of Tribute in Light–see our behind the scenes photos from the ceremony in 2011.