Memorial Union Hall, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR

Bottom of Form

Memorial Union Hall, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR

PROJECT 11 UP | September 11th Memorial DEDICATION APRIL 13th, 2012

• About the MU
• Entertainment
• Restaurants-Retail
• Student Services
• Events & Reservations
• Contact Us

Home›

Project 11 UP

PROJECT 11 UP | September 11th Memorial

Project 11Up was initiated by artist Sandra Priest in 2010 and serves to commemorate the losses of 9/11. San acquired blocks of aggregate concrete that werecut from the foundation wall of the World Trade Center to make room for the new PATH subway line that had to go in to bring visitors into the New World Trade Center. The eleven blocks are carved and chiseled into Project 11Up memorial sculptures. Taking up new ground the sculptures mark out sites of remembrance and renewal.

The World Trade Center’s foundation wall is made up of stacked concrete blocks that extend seven stories into the ground. After 9/11 the exposed foundation was nicknamed “bathtub” for its uncanny resemblance to an empty basin or a burial ground. San procured the several-ton blocks from a section that was cut to re-route a subway through.The salvaged material is testament to the original construction and the part that it plays in the new. Sans body of work in this series represents a rebuilding of our Nation.

Impact Environmental and John and Kay Krapf have given immeasurable support to preserve the blocks and see them through transformation. The first finished sculpture,VICTORII REBUILD, was installed in Bethlehem, PA at the request of Mayor John Callahan.Socratic Way,was given to the students of OSU in dedication to all those who the Memorial Union Building represent.

Sculpture ‘VICTORII REBUILD’ IN PENNSYLVANIA SOCRATIC WAY IN THE MEMORIAL UNION HALL

6 FT. HIGH AND WEIGHING 10,000 LBS. 20 INCHES HIGH AND WEIGHING 80 LBS.

Joce DeWitt / The Daily Barometer|Oregon State University News

A new addition to the Memorial Union will allow Oregon State to be the first university in the country to house a rehabilitated piece of 9/11 ruins.

Following the dedication ceremony today at 11 a.m. in MU 109, the sculpture "Socratic Way," a piece of aggregate concrete from the foundation of the World Trade Center transformed by artist San Priest, will be unveiled by the MU Advisory Board and ready for public viewing.

The piece's temporary location will be in the display case near the information desk in the MU West Concourse.

Priest and her cousin Ted Flory of OSU Facility Services chose to donate the piece as part of Project 11UP, for which Priest is in the process of creating memorials like Socratic Way out of 11 blocks of the foundation, and have it housed in the MU to commemorate lives lost in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Priest, joined by Flory and Kay Krapf, who owns the Pennsylvania facility where blocks similar to the one Socratic Way were sculpted from are stored, will be speaking at the unveiling ceremony. Assistant Director of MU Building Services Sid Cooper, who was involved in bringing the project before the MU Advisory Board alongside Kent Sumner, assistant director of marketing and assessment, said they were faced with the challenging question: How do you display an object like this?

"We were approached by Ted Flory who was interested to see if the MU would like to house this piece," Cooper said. "We were pleased to be considered in such a way."

According to Cooper, Priest originally donated the piece to Flory but instead of having it in his own home, Flory chose to share it with the community.

"It's very appropriate to have it here," Flory said. "It needs to be shared by as many people as possible."

"It was important that we choose the right places to put them," Priest said of the slurry blocks.

MU President Ashley Barnes said the Memorial Union was the appropriate choice as a home for the piece, since the building was originally built for related reasons. "The union was built as a memorial for those who served in World War I, having those roots, it makes it appropriate to house it in the Memorial Union," Barnes said. "They [Flory and Priest] donated it together and requested that it be housed here."

The building was constructed for Americans in reverence of war and events that "we didn't want to happen, but did," Flory said, adding that the memorial has to be looked at as a positive thing. "There's a time to grieve and a time to move forward, and that's what I'm proud to be a part of."

Barnes said the piece will be illuminated from the bottom up in its display case. "It's not a huge sculpture, but we're trying to raise funds to have a bigger one here," Barnes said.

The artist can vouch for an addition, not replacement, to Socratic Way by a larger memorial sometime in the future.

Priest, who claims to have a special place in her heart for Oregon and the OSU community, said the bigger piece will be called "Renew Rebuild" to signify what the project set out to do from the start: rebuild the nation after the 9/11 tragedy. She also mentioned the additional piece belongs at OSU for another unique reason: its mascot, because "beavers rebuild and make [things] new immediately," she said.

"She's had an impact on this uniform piece of concrete," Cooper said about Priest and her work with the slurry. "It's literally sacred."

Though a professional artist for many years, prior to Project 11UP, Priest had no experience with sculpting large blocks of concrete until she was asked. Her idea for making sculptures out of the foundation existed five years before Project 11UP was established, and the first of the pieces, "Victorii Rebuild," took eight months to create. "Nobody else has this concrete, we're the only ones," Priest said.

All parties who played a role in bringing the sculpture to OSU found it to be a positive way to acknowledge the tragedy of the attacks, and allow all passersby an opportunity to remember the historical event.

"There are people who will remember 9/11, it's the university's responsibility to memorialize it, but also be sensitive in how they represent it," Cooper said. "We're taking a gift and shining a light on it."

Those involved agree the project will allow students to pay homage in a more accessible way. Both Flory and Priest feel that by donating "Socratic Way" to OSU, they are placing a lot of trust in the student body to respect it.

"There is an element of faith that the right things will be done, that it'll be cared for, looked after," Flory said. "We have the utmost faith in everyone at OSU."

Joce DeWitt, news editor

541-737-2231,

On Twitter: @Joce_DeWitt