In Response exhibition

“grace” installed at Savannah International Trade & Convention Center, 2002

Visual Artist Pietro Costa’s “grace”
Travels to Savannah for September 11 Memorial Event & Exhibition

Brooklyn, NY (August 27, 2002) – “grace”, an interactive light memorial to the victims of September 11, 2001, by Brooklyn-based visual artist Pietro Costa has been selected by the Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD) to be featured in “In Response,” a memorial tribute exhibition that will run from September 11 through November 5, 2002, at SCAD and throughout the city of Savannah, Georgia. “grace” will hang in the Savannah International Trade and Convention Center, where, on the morning of September 11, 2002, it will be illuminated in a free citywide public event to honor the victims and heroes of September 11, 2001.

“grace” is one of twelve temporary memorial commissions that was chosen by a panel of local and regional artists and art professionals, city officials, and SCAD representatives to be included in “In Response.”

A twenty-foot high tower composed of concentric neon rings and suspended from the ceiling by the simple tension of four plumb bobs, “grace” will hang in the entrance to the Savannah International Trade & Convention Center, located along the city’s waterfront. During the run of the exhibition, “grace’” red glow will illuminate the Convention Center’s entrance hall and radiate across the river to Savannah’s downtown historic district.

“grace” was originally created for the Hudson River Museum in Yonkers, NY, and exhibited there in the Spring of 2002. Strips of paper — each bearing the name of a victim of the attacks of September 11, 2001 — are scattered randomly in a wreath around the base of the light tower. Among these strips is an unknown quantity of blanks representing the possible loss of homeless individuals and unregistered New York City residents.

At 9:15AM on September 11, 2002, “grace” will be formally illuminated in an inaugural ceremony at the Savannah International Trade & Convention Center. Residents and visitors will be invited into the Center to take a name from the wreath at the base of “grace”.