ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the 'official' spatialization of memory at the site, and the significance of the now absent Twin Towers to the process of constructing a 'public memory narrative' about 9/11. It considers both the contested reframing and physical transformation of Ground Zero by multiple, often contradictory forces and interests, and the uncanny 'subjective' character of the space itself. Tribute in Light was an uncanny reminder of the absence that now haunted the skyline of New York, and an expression of a desire, in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, to reimagine what many now perceived as a symbolic void in the heart of the nation's largest city and most iconic skyline. The symbolic status, historical significance and mnemonic value of the memorial voids will continue to be renegotiated in the future, their place in a national commemorative landscape subject to changing political contexts, interpretations, spatial practices, and personal and collective memories.
