The New York Times rejected underground artist Banksy’s editorial about the One World Freedom Trade Tower currently being finished at the site of the Bush administration’s most visible failure. He responded by posting it on his own site. The Times rejected it and not because it wasn’t well written. It was. It is. No, they rejected it because they didn’t like his opinion about the “Freedom Tower.”
Banksy said exactly what many people have said all along: Boring. Soulless.
Articles have already been written and discussed about “what could have been” and images of rejected designs. Banksy is not the only person pointing out that the building is ugly.
The most damning line in the piece is when he called the building “104 floors of compromise.” The building does look like little more than a staid office tower. Maybe an insurance headquarters somewhere in Iowa or Ohio. Nothing to see here. No vibrant architecture. No “middle finger” salutes to the people who tore down the World Trade Center by building something mind blowing awesome! No. Not as Banksy sees it. And not as most people who appreciate architecture and design.
It reminds you of a really tall kid at a party, awkwardly shifting his shoulders, trying not to stand out from the crowd. It’s the first time I’ve seen a shy skyscraper. -Banksy
The Daily News took no time finding relatives of 9-11 victims to attack Banksy for pointing out what everyone else seems to have already agreed upon. ?He’s insulting to everybody in New York, especially people that died that day,? said retired FDNY Deputy Chief Jim Riches, who lost his firefighter son, Jimmy, on 9/11 according to The Daily News.
No one asked the Chief if it was more or less insulting that it took over a decade to build a monument to mediocrity. That is what should be insulting. However, Banksy isn’t alone. Even Donald Trump, on Hardball With Chris Matthews, said:
?It’s a disgusting design we are going to have to live with for many decades. I’d rather have nothing than what they’re building, Chris. It’s a terrible design. It was designed by an egghead architect who really doesn’t have a lot of experience of designing something like this. And it’s just a terrible design.
It must be a cold day in you know where when a radical leftist like Banksy and Donald Trump agree. But then again to quote Michael Crichton, “It is the job of art to bring true feelings alive. To shock people into awareness.”
And it seems clear that this very public work of art does not do this. The building does not “shock” or even soothe. As Banksy pointed out, it is surprising the building can stand since it has no spine.
Edited by SS
