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Brief statement about the Guggenheim fellowship

In the year 2000, I wrote a proposal for the artist in residence program sponsored by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council at the World Trade Center. On this proposal I mentioned "The opportunity to work in the World Trade Center would give me access to a very symbolic location. I will be using images from the WTC environment together with my personal vision to produce new video and installation work"

During the summer of 2000, I was awarded the residence. 

On the following six months I worked on the ninety-first floor regularly. I started very early in the morning, around 6:00 AM and videotaped the views from my assigned space. These views contained the night mist of the pre-awakened city. I came back later on in the afternoon and recorded the sunset. I was interested in capturing, in real time, the passing of time from this "mile-high" perspective. 

My experience videotaping the New York landscape before and after rush hour made a significant impact on my work. When I look at the videos now, it is not a "past time" but a real time converted into mist and dust. The events of 9/11 have dramatically altered the context and meaning of my project. The landscapes I videotaped now exist in our collective memory and are full of anger, sadness and a range of other complex emotions. 

If I am awarded this grant I will develop an installation based on the footage videotaped during the residence. The piece will consist of two large stripes of white paint on the center of a black painted wall. On each side of the painting will be projected the view from my assigned space. On the left side will project a view of the East River. On the right side a view of the Hudson River. This reverse of "real" viewing will further distress the dislocation of the 9/11 event produced in my work. Each video projection will be a real time, one in the sunset and the other on the sunrise. 

The working title of this new piece is "Rewind and Stop". 

The installation with all the equipment and DVD's will be pack in an special designed crate and available for presentations in universities and museums all around the world. 

This will enclosed the work I started during the summer of the year 2000.