"This action is more unnerving than the building the whole structure just disappears. "Remember that paper has a memory," he said as he began disassembling the towers. Paper squares printed from the original woodcut become two towers, each about 6 feet high, with black and white images of people and names of the victims.Ībout five years after the 2001 attacks, Pfeiffer came up with the idea of building "Out of the Sky." So far, he has created 52 of the pieces, one of which is on display in the Kroch Library exhibition and will remain part of Cornell's permanent collection. As Pfeiffer spoke, he constructed two towers from a case the size of a large shoebox, which folds out like a book. To conclude his talk, Pfeiffer assembled and disassembled his creation called "Out of the Sky," which commemorates the Sept. Pfeiffer also addressed the role of the book in society, noting, "there is a handwringing as we mourn the loss of books to technology." But people fail to realize that "one technology pushes another out of the way over and over throughout history." "Pfeiffer's work is profoundly moving and disturbing, examining uncomfortable and important truths about human rights and offering tribute to those who have had their voices silenced." "These objects are metaphors for censorship made concrete," University Librarian Anne Kenney said in her introduction. Some are bound with ropes, sprouting teeth, sewn up with red thread, or shot through with spikes, nails, screws or bullets. His book-objects are real books, covered with an unforgivingly hard, white gesso, and they involve literal depictions of violence. That experience translated into book-centered art for Pfeiffer. People had died for what was hidden behind those black bars." "Having lived through it, we'd experienced what they were trying to keep from us. "Schoolbooks were heavily censored" even after World War II, he said. Books, which he called a "refuge" during his violent early years, were censored, banned and burned in public. The lecture opened the Cornell University Library's exhibition of his work, which will run through February.Īddressing the crowd of about 100 people, Pfeiffer described his childhood in Nazi Germany and its role in his life as an artist. 20, "destroys" books to express the dangers of censorship. The artist, who spoke in Olin Library Oct. Werner Pfeiffer's work is designed to make people feel uncomfortable.
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