Arts, College of Arts & Sciences, In The News, Upcoming Events, Weatherspoon - Thursday, September 15, 2011 10:33 am

Collecting memories of 9/11

Ten typists dressed in black sat at manual typewriters in Manhattan’s Bryant Park on Sept. 9, 10 and 11 and invited the public to answer a question: “What would you like the world to remember about 9/11?”

Some park visitors replied on the spur of the moment. Some had heard about the project, the brainchild of assistant professor of art Sheryl Oring, and arrived with an answer ready. Some wept while they spoke.

The typists recorded more than 300 answers verbatim on small sheets of white paper. Another 200 people typed or wrote responses themselves during hours the typists weren’t available. Photos of the responses are available on flickr.

Sheryl Oring. Photo by Dhanraj Emanuel.

“It had a real impact on people visiting the park, even people who didn’t participate,” Oring said. “It turned out to be a really contemplative way to memorialize 9/11.”

The project, “Collective Memory,” will include an exhibition that will visit college campuses, including UNCG, where it will be will be part of the Department of Art Faculty Biennial at theWeatherspoon Art Museum Oct. 1-Dec. 18.

Oring has used manual typewriters in her interactive projects before. There’s just something about the antique machines and attentive listening that encourages people to share their thoughts, she says.

Inspiration for the project came, in part, from an experience she had as a student in junior high school. She was intensely curious about the Vietnam War, but her teacher ended his American history lessons at World War II. When she asked about Vietnam, her teacher told her that he had lost a friend in the war and couldn’t teach about it.

“It’s time to start thinking about how we’ll teach 9/11,” she says. “How do you deal with recent, traumatic history? How do you teach about this sort of complex event in a way that will be good for future generations?”

The project has been covered by a number of media outlets:

• The BBC (the interview with Oring begins at the 2:50 mark)
• The New Yorker
• The New York Daily News
• Washington Square News, the student newspaper of New York University
• News 14 Carolina
• The Epoch Times
• News & Record

“Collective Memory” was made possible by support from the UNCG Department of Art and Bryant Park Corporation. For more information about Oring’s work, visit her website, I Wish to Say.