Behind the Scenes of NYC's 9/11 Tribute in Light

Originating from the roof of a Lower Manhattan parking garage, eighty-eight thin rays of blue light shot into the sky on Tuesday evening to form two seemingly endless and ethereal pillars. The lights shone for 30 minutes before technicians manually switched them off one by one. This brief spectacle was a test run for New York City's annual 9/11 Tribute in Light, and Untapped New York got a behind-the-scenes look.

Tribute in Light is an annual memorial to the victims of the September 11th attacks on Manhattan's World Trade Center. Conceived by several artists and designers brought together by the Municipal Art Society and Creative Time, the powerful art installation first illuminated the night just six months after the tragedy, while recovery efforts were still ongoing. Since then, the Tribute has shone from dusk until dawn every September 11th.

Produced by Michael Ahern Production Services (MAPS) and presented by the 9/11 Memorial & Museum and Con Edison, the installation is made of 88, 7,000-watt lightbulbs arranged into two 48-foot squares that mimic the shape and orientation of the original Twin Towers. Once illuminated, the beams of light are visible from up to 60 miles away.

At the lighting test on Tuesday evening, we spoke with Cosmo Wilson, one of the lighting technicians with MAPS. Wilson is part of a small crew that will be on hand to monitor the lights and fix any issues as the tribute shines through the night.

"It's a special thing because it means so much to so many people, not just here in New York but around the country, and around the world," Wilson said.

One important task we observed at the test lighting was the crew sweeping away moths attracted to the light. But it's not just moths that might fly into the beams; birds may be lured in too. That's why NYC Bird Alliance staff and volunteers will also be on the parking garage rooftop on Thursday evening.

The NYC Bird Alliance team will monitor the site and surrounding airspace, taking a total count of birds in and around the light beams every 20 minutes. If there are ever too many birds or if they are flying too low, the lights will be momentarily turned off. While watching the birds, the team collects scientific data to determine how artificial light at night affects bird activity and behavior.

No matter the technical challenges or extreme circumstances (i.e., a global pandemic), the lights continue to shine each year in honor of the nearly 3,000 lives lost on September 11, 2001.

"People ask me, 'How high do they go,' and they want a technical answer, you know, '4 miles,'" Wilson recounted, but "I say, 'They all the way to heaven.' The memorial is for the dead, but the lights are actually for the living. We want our loved ones to be remembered. I have a lot of firefighter friends who love to come down here, and it means a lot to them that we don't forget."

You can see the Tribute in Light from dusk on September 11th through dawn on September 12th.