2,977 Drone Lights Rebuilt the Twin Towers Over New York Harbor | Moss and Fog
A team led by director Addison Mehr created a temporary memorial using 2,977 drones, each representing one person killed on 9/11, to form the outline of the Twin Towers at full scale over New York Harbor. Unlike the abstract annual Tribute in Light, this installation made individual loss visible by rendering the towers as a constellation of separate lights, with design input from Shigeru Ban (who worked on the unbuilt THINK proposal for the site) and the drone specialists at Studio Drift. The drones lifted in a slow spiral before forming the tower shapes in a deliberate reference to that 2002 architectural competition entry, creating a memorial that emphasized personal remembrance within collective memory.