|
iD Magazine is currently
seeking co-editors of the Public Art page.
Ground Zero
Spiritualized
Life
Unveiled on Christmas Day 1924
in the Riverside neighborhood of Jacksonville, FL USA, this bronze statue
honors approximately 1,220 Florida residents who died in World War
I (1914-1918). The
winged figure of youth rises above the chaotic world below that engulfs
humanity and turns to face the future courageously.
This
beautiful statue looks north to the center of Memorial Park and has his back
to the spectacular St. Johns River. People of all types and ages gather
at the park and enjoy the calming grace of the statue.
Holocaust
Memorial Statue
Located in South Beach Miami, FL
USA, this monumental statue reaches out to honor the many Jewish people killed
in World War II.
In
the fall of 1984, a small group of Holocaust survivors formed a committee
dedicated to building a permanent memorial to the memory of the six million
Jewish victims of the Holocaust.
The Holocaust Memorial Committee was formally established a year later as a
private non-profit organization. Its objective was to organize a permanent
committee, locate a potential site, develop ideas for the scope and design
of the Memorial, and determine ways and means of financial support for the
project.
With full cooperation from the City of Miami Beach Commission, the present
site at Meridian Avenue and Dade Blvd. was designated to receive the
Memorial. Kenneth Treister, architect and sculptor, was entrusted with
interpreting the Holocaust into a structure which would memorialize its
victims, serve as solace to its survivors, and also inform with factual
representations in pictures and words of this century's greatest human
crime.
The Holocaust Memorial on Miami Beach was dedicated and opened to the public
in February 1990. Since then, the committee is devoted not only to
maintaining the memorial, but to developing cultural and educational
programs for the community. The committee invites you to join the
effort to make a lasting impact on future generations.
The
Holocaust Memorial took more than four years to be built, reaching its final
stage at dedication ceremonies on Sunday February 4, 1990, with Elie Wiesel,
Nobel laureate as guest speaker.
The visitor to the Memorial will at first be met by a visual sensation of
contrasting elements: the brightness of the luminous Jerusalem stone, which
represents the basic building material for the Memorial, and the stark,
somber black granite, which lines the walls. Another contrast is
offered by the stillness of water in the reflecting pool with its majestic
lily pads of uncommon dimension, and the azure sky reflecting its patterns
in the water, almost competing with the somber reminder of the site's
purpose - the reflecting shapes provided by the Memorial's sculpture.
Two parts of a semicircular black granite wall provide two important
components of the memorial: On the visitor's right begins the journey
into the universe of the Holocaust. In the first three panels of the
granite wall, I presented a short but concise history of the event, from
1933 through 1945 and followed it up with a chronological pictorial
depiction of Holocaust events and experiences, accompanied by textual
explanations and maps.
Interrupting
this pilgrimage is an Eternal Light and an enclosed shrine-like space
leading to a narrow passage. The decreasing ceiling height of the tunnel
creates the feeling of a diminished self, while the names of the most
infamous death camps stare out of the two narrowing walls at the visitor.
The sight that awaits the sojourner stuns the eye. A large circular plaza
paved in pink-hued Jerusalem stone is surrounded by a high solid wall lined
with shining black granite. The multiple reflections in the many granite
panels mirror the central object of the plaza - a 42-foot-high bronze
sculpture, designed by Kenneth Treister and cast in Mexico City by
Fundición Artística. The sculpture depicts close to one hundred figures in
different family groupings. They cry out with anguish, they tell of pain, of
despair, of life and of death in a man-made hell. Topping the sculpture is a
hand evolving from an arm bearing the ultimate mark of man's dehumanization,
a number which became man's identification, cancelling his real human
identity.
Upon
emerging from this visit to what would seem to the contemporary visitor
another planet, one returns via the tunnel, proceeding to the left hand
segment of the black granite semicircle. Here, one faces the Memorial Wall -
a painful reminder of the numbers of human souls whose lives were cut down.
A multitude of names, many in groups of ten or more bearing the same family
name, of children, parents and grandparents, from different towns and
countries in Europe. Not unlike the Vietnam Memorial, this Holocaust
Memorial wall serves many of the survivors as the only real link with their
loved ones, a sort of surrogate gravestone, a place where they can at least
see the names of a loved one carved in granite to remain as their memorial.
In addition to the many thousands of names already being etched into the
wall, more names will be accommodated as they are submitted.
Filled with thoughts and emotions, the visitor now returns to the area
surrounded by the calming reflecting pool. Having completed the physical
journey one is now ready for one's inner journey Here, at the pool, the
visitor can contemplate and reflect upon his or her innermost thoughts,
feelings, and emotions. At the end, one leaves having experienced an unusual
epiphany...
THE MEMORIAL WOULD THUS HAVE SERVED ITS PURPOSE.
Dr. Helen N. Fagin
South Beach Sandcastle
This sandcastle built for Art
Deco Weekend arts celebration must have been 15-20 feet wide. There
were elaborate castle structures along with popular buildings such as the
Leaning Tower of Pisa, a pyramid, and the Eiffel Tower. Truly
spectacular!
Fountains
in Macon, GA USA
|
