An artist has defended a controversial “9/11 watch party” art piece despite criticism from local councillors.
The event, staged by London-based arts collective Verdurin, is due to re-run television broadcasts of the attacks on New York Trade Center in real time.
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Taking place at the Wild Boscombe Cafe in Bournemouth, the art piece was criticised by Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole (BCP) councillor Simon McCormack who said it “risks turning tragedy into spectacle”.
However, Pierre d’Alancaisez the artist behind the piece, has hit back at the criticism, saying he had “no intention of addressing” the concerns raised by the councillor.
He told GB News: “That phrase about turning this into a spectacle. These events were spectacular in that these attacks were engineered for the camera.
“I have no intentions of addressing what people are worried about. I have zero to gain from turning this into a very kitsch commentary.”
When asked about why people are asked to surrender their phones before entering the event, he said: “The entire point is to reconstruct our relationship with the media we simply do not have anymore.
“It is nothing to do with secrecy or preventing people from taking selfies or anything like that, we want people to have the attention that they don’t really have anymore.”
He continued: “The news footage of the attacks marked a shift in how we relate to media, how we understand events and what conclusions we draw from aesthetic experience relayed to us by television cameras.
“The focus of the screening and discussion is the unwitting role of media itself in pre-empting responses, such as paranoia or conspiratorial thinking.
“What we are showing are historical documents (already available to the public) that, owing to their ongoing global influence, warrant wide engagement and scrutiny.
“There will be no spectacle here… other than the ‘spectacle’ constructed in 2011 by news organisations in real time.”
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Adam Curtis Party Conference organiser Brian Jenner said how the attacks in the US were “totally shocking”, adding: We’re looking at 9/11 from a media perspective, how it was portrayed and how it became a spectacle.
“It’s not about upsetting anyone. Everyone has a story about where they were. Everyone is free to interpret these things.”
In a statement, the owners of the Wild Cafe said: “We completely understand why the title, particularly when seen without context, has caused concern.
“The work is not intended as a celebration or trivialisation of the attacks.
“We recognise that the subject matter and deliberately provocative title will not be comfortable for everyone, particularly on the 25th anniversary, and we respect that.”
Events will be taking place across the US and in the UK to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the attacks on America on 9/11.
On September 11, 2001, al Qaeda militants crashed airplanes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon outside Washington, with a fourth crashing into a field in rural Pennsylvania after the crew and passengers overpowered the hijackers.
The attacks claimed the lives of almost 3,000 people, including 67 Britons, sparking decades of war, including the US-led invasion of Afghanistan, where al Qaeda leaders were based.
It remains the deadliest terrorist attack in history.
Speaking about his art piece, Mr d’Alancaisez told GB News the event would feature the footage broadcast on US television before, during and after the event.
He said: “Two hours of it is uninterrupted footage from that morning from the US cable networks.The final hour sees the footage cut with other materials, with things like TikToks discussing completely crazy interpretations of the event from every conceivable angle.
“It ends with the Guardian’s memory holed letter from Osama Bin Laden to America plus a local traffic report from the day, and the coverage kind of collapses into itself.
“I think the entire point is to reconstruct the relationship a relationship with the media we don’t really have anymore.”
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