7 World Trade Center

The Jenny Holzer artwork at 7 WTC was over 10 years old and needed a refresh. Silverstein Properties decided to upgrade the LEDs and technology. Since they were replacing the LEDs and the backend technology Jenny and her studio also decided to update the artwork. As long time collaborators on her LED installations, we worked with the artist and oversaw the creative aspects of the new artwork including creating the visuals. We also worked with the fabricator, SACO, to test and implement the new playback system.

The project began in 2017 with site visits to the WTC. A major test was planned for 2018, where we were able to test ideas, colors and texts. After collecting feedback we travelled to Montreal to work on a mock up. It was a sliver of what would become the final LED wall which we used to test speeds, fonts, sizes and colors. The fabricator used a D3 system and we worked literally alongside the the operator to make sure everything would be ready for the actual install.

A large part of the re-designed sign was matching the looks on the old sign while replacing some of the fonts that we no longer felt worked well. We went deep into the existing fonts and did research on new ones. We worked with a typographer to customize the fonts, both for the sign height and the character set. For instance, to have the type span full height of the LED we needed to make special accommodations for a letter like Q that normally would go below the baseline.  

Many of the animations are scrolling text, but a selection have animation and text effects that distort, emphasize and otherwise effect the text.  We created quicktime HAP codec files for the animations. Since the animations were quite long in run time we had to be organized and mindful of storage space. The total running time for the program is over 20 hours. You can stop by and see it if you’re in New York!