New York Harbor, New York City, United States; Dezeen reports that the drones launched from Governors Island.
About this story
On September 9, 2026, 2,977 illuminated drones rose over New York Harbor, gathered into a rotating helix and then formed a full-scale outline of the World Trade Center’s former Twin Towers. Each light represented one of the 2,977 people killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks. The installation was developed with input from family members, survivors and responders, including Brenda Berkman, Tim Brown, Terry Strada, Jim Smith and Genevieve Siller. Addison Mehr served as creative director and executive producer; Sky Elements produced and flew the show; Yan Paul Dubbelman was credited as designer; and DRIFT, Shigeru Ban and Dean Maltz were artistic advisors. Conceived in dialogue with Tribute in Light, the work replaced two monumental beams with thousands of discrete points. Its opening helix referenced the THINK team’s unbuilt World Cultural Center proposal for the World Trade Center site, whose open lattice towers were conceived around the original footprints as civic and cultural structures. Recorded music included work by Philip Glass, John Adams and Max Richter. The New York Foundation for the Arts served as fiscal sponsor, while IDEKO led permitting, safety and security operations. Sky Elements states that the flight required special airspace authorization, a temporary flight restriction, coordination with air-traffic control and nearby helipads, altitude waivers, NOTAMs and a ground-safety perimeter. The production was privately funded and presented without admission or commercial content in the sky.
Status and timeline
Completed as a one-night commemorative installation on September 9, 2026, ahead of the September 11 attacks’ 25th anniversary. The project announcement was issued at 11:05 p.m. EDT that evening. Dezeen reported two 15-minute presentations, but that duration was not stated on the inspected official pages.
Design highlights
A temporary 1:1 reconstruction of absent architecture; one light as an individual memorial marker for each victim; a helix transforming into the towers; dialogue between drone technology and Tribute in Light; reference to the THINK team’s unrealized open-lattice World Cultural Center; and the use of a distributed constellation rather than a solid or monumental volume.
