"Battery Park City and the Authority are not just about the buildings – it’s about the character of the community that has developed over time. Public space has had a new renaissance in New York City, but here in Battery Park City is where it started."
Eleven Tears, designed by Ken Smith, is a graceful and elegant tribute to the 11 American Express employees who died on September 11, 2001.
The installation consists of an 11-sided, 600-pound piece of natural Brazilian quartz that resembles a gigantic tear. this “tear” is set in a steel ring suspended from a 35-foot-high ceiling by 11 cables, and hovers over an 11-sided black granite fountain with the names of the employees etched into the granite, along with five words or phrases that describe the person. Drops of water gently fall like tears over these inscriptions. Nearby is a panel that gives further biographical details on each person.
Ever since September 11, Smith had been preoccupied with the sky
because the towers were so much a part of the sky. He wanted to bring the ceiling and the floor together as sort of a metaphor for sky and ground or heaven and earth.
Ken Smith is a landscape architect who lives and works in the former “frozen zone,” the area bordering The World Trade Center that was evacuated after 9/11.
