Tribute in Light

The Tribute in Light is an art installation of 88 searchlights placed six blocks south of the World Trade Center to create two vertical columns of light to represent the Twin Towers in remembrance of the September 11 attacks. It is produced annually by the Municipal Art Society of New York.The two beams cost approximately $1,626 (assuming $0.11 kWh) to run for 24 hours. There are 88 xenon spotlights (44 for each tower) which each consume 7,000 watts.BackgroundThe Tribute in Light initially ran as a temporary installation from March 11 to April 14, 2002, and was launched again in 2003 to mark the second anniversary of the attack., it has been repeated every year on September 11. It had been announced that 2008 would be its final year, but the tribute was continued in 2009.On December 17, 2009, it was confirmed that the tribute would continue through to the tenth anniversary of the attacks in 2011, but continued again in 2012. As of July 23, 2012, plans are underway for the National September 11 Memorial & Museum to assume the lease for the MTA property used during this tribute, and to begin transitioning operation of the tribute from the Municipal Art Society to the memorial foundation.Those working on the project came up with the concept in the week following the attack. On September 13, 2001, the concept was introduced by John Englehart in a meeting with the crisis communications task force at the electric utility Consolidated Edison, as a signal of support for the community. Architects John Bennett and Gustavo Bonevardi of PROUN Space Studio distributed their "Project for the Immediate Reconstruction of Manhattan's Skyline". Artists Julian LaVerdiere and Paul Myoda, who before September 11 were working on the 91st floor of the World Trade Center north tower on a proposed light sculpture on the giant radio antenna with Creative Time, conceived of a project called "Phantom Towers". They were commissioned by The New York Times Magazine, (Janet Froelich, art director) to create an image of the project for its September 23 cover.