Building Memories: the Future of 9/11

What do we remember of September 11, 2001? How will our collective memory shape this moment in history? The magnitude of human loss and the jarring impact of unforgettable visual images are branded forever in our consciousness -- the countless faces of those lost, the distorted landscapes of New York and Washington, a final message on a voice mail from a passenger on the downed Pennsylvania plane, divide our lives as we once knew them before September 11, 2001, and after. How will it be remembered in the future?

Building Memories: The Future of September 11, a day-long forum organized by the Center for Downtown New York/CDNY at Pace University and The Legacy Project will provide background and insight for the public with respect to the issue of remembering 9/11. In a series of panel discussions journalists, scholars, and commentators make an effort to share the immediacy of the events following 9/11 and its place in history of violence.

"For the families and the survivors the path of memory is extremely personal," says David A. Caputo, president of Pace University. "For the observers, the eyewitnesses and the electronic watchers from all over the world memory takes another path. This is an opportunity to begin a dialogue about the powerful intersection between loss and memory. It is critical that we begin to explore the many ways in which the catastrophe has changed our perceptions of life as we once knew it," he added.

Panelists will reflect on the one-year anniversary, the shared awareness of the community at large and their experiences of the traumatic aftermath of violence. Topics include: The Legacies of Loss -- The Struggle to Remember," "Memory and Community," "Memory Into Stone: Building a Memorial," Imagining New York and "New York: One Year Later."

Speakers and panelists include Clifford Chanin, founder, The Legacy Project; Tom Freudenheim, former deputy director/chief operating Officer of the Jewish Museum in Berlin; Paul Goldberger, architecture writer, The New Yorker; Elizabeth Jelin, academic director of the Program on Collective Memory of Repression; Witold Rybczynski, director of the Urban Design Program, University of Pennsylvania; Kari Watkins, executive director of the Oklahoma City Memorial; Pam West, director of the Museum Resource Center, Washington, D.C., and others.

All sessions are free and open to the public, and located at Pace University's Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts Theater, at 3 Spruce Street. Reservations are available by calling 212.346.1715 between 1:00 and 5:00 p.m.

In conjunction with the conference, the Legacy Project is presenting In Memory: The Art of Afterward, an international exhibition of works on loss and remembrance in the aftermath of violent trauma. The show opens on September 5 at 6 p.m. at the Sidney Mishkin Gallery, 135 E. 22nd Street.

The Legacy Project (www.legacy-project.org) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to understanding the enduring consequences of the violence of the 20th century. Through scholarly research and public exchange, the Legacy Project is working to build a global dialogue on the contemporary significance of historical tragedies.

Pace University (www.pace.edu) is a comprehensive, independent university with campuses in New York City and Westchester County, and a Hudson Valley Center. Nearly 13,500 students are enrolled in undergraduate, graduate, and professional degree programs in the Dyson College of Arts and Sciences, Lubin School of Business, School of Computer Science and Information Systems, School of Education, Lienhard School of Nursing, and Pace Law School.

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Building Memories: The Future of September 11
Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts, Pace University, 3 Spruce Street, New York City

9:30 a.m. Welcome
* Benjamin Tucker, Pace University
* "Reflections on 9/1l," brief video

Introduction: Legacies of Loss
* Clifford Chanin, The Legacy Project

10:00 a.m. Greetings
* David A. Caputo, Pace University President

Memory and Community
* Richard Raskin, Pace University - moderator
* Elizabeth Jellin, University of Buenos Aires
* Ed Linenthal, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh
* James Young, University of Massachusetts-Amherst

11:15 a.m. Memory Into Stone: Building a Memorial
* Aseel Sawalha, Pace University - moderator
* Tom Freudenheim, The Jewish Museum, Berlin
* Karl Watkins, Oklahoma City Memorial
* Pam West, Vietnam Veterans Memorial

12:30 p.m. Lunch Break

1:30 p.m. Imagining New York
* Lonard Lopate, WNYC - moderator
* Paul Goldberger, The New Yorker
* Witold Rybczynski, University of Pennsylvania

3:00 p.m. NYC: One Year Later
Donald Singletary, Hofstra University - moderator
* Brian Kates, Daily News
* Panel To Be Announced

For more information go to: http://appserv.pace.edu/emplibrary/LegacyMailer.pdf