The Drawing Center Awaits Its Future

By Etta Sanders


George Negroponte, president of the Soho-based Drawing Center, is a man in limbo.

Tossed from the heights of glory to the depths of disappointment following Gov. George Pataki's about-face on the appropriateness of the Drawing Center for the World Trade Center site, Negroponte was still awaiting word late last month on the fate of his museum's dream.

Drawing Center president George Negroponte, an artist in his own right, is seated at home, where one of his own works is on display. Photo: Carl Glassman

In his most extensive interview since the museum rejected Pataki's controversial demand in June for a promise to show art that does not disparage the United States, Negroponte, spoke to the Trib about how the museum's coveted spot in the heart of the site may have turned into a place on the sidelines.


The apparent removal of the Drawing Center from the World Trade Center site upends two years of planning and comes on the heels of other well-publicized glitches in the rebuilding effort.

"I'm not sure anyone would look back on the last two or three years when it comes to this project and call it a success so far," said Negroponte, who lives on Hubert Street with his wife and their two sons. "I think the only thing that is going to change that perception is the outcome."

Pataki had lauded the Drawing Center and the three other cultural institutions chosen for the site-the International Freedom Center, the Joyce Theater and the Signature Theater Company-when their selection was announced to great fanfare at the Winter Garden in June of last year. They will "reaffirm life in the wake of tragedy," Pataki said then.

That giddy optimism began fading fast this spring following an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal by Debra Burlingame, whose brother was the pilot of the plane that terrorists crashed into the Pentagon. The Drawing Center and the Freedom Center, a new institution that was to occupy most of the new cultural complex, did not belong near the World Trade Center memorial, she wrote. What followed was a barrage of similar criticism from other 9/11 victims' relatives. In June, the Daily News examined the catalogues of past Drawing Center exhibits and found images of Abu Ghraib and other drawings perceived as "anti-American."

In no time, the News got action. "Nutty 9/11 Art Nixed," its June 24 front page proclaimed. Pataki called for an "absolute guarantee" that the museum's exhibits would not "denigrate America." (Ironically, Negroponte's brother, John Negroponte, is director of national intelligence, a post he took after serving as President Bush's ambassador to Iraq during the war.)

On Aug. 11, John Whitehead, chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, announced that the Drawing Center and the LMDC

Front page of the June 22 Daily News announces that Gov. Pataki will not allow "un-American" art at the World Trade Center site.
"have been exploring alternative sites Downtown." The Freedom Center, which continues to be the focus of attacks by some family groups, was asked to submit "its specific plans, program and governance structure" by Sept. 23. If those plans are rejected, Whitehead said, a new tenant "consistent with our objectives" will be found for the cultural complex.

While Whitehead cited consensus of the LMDC board, the city expressed displeasure with the recent decisions. "To reach this conclusion without a significant amount…of debate and public comment leading up to the debate is disappointing," said Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff.

The Drawing Center quickly made it clear that it would not succumb to censorship. "We basically said there is nothing we would change," Negroponte said.

The barrage caught the Drawing Center by surprise.

"If the Daily News had come into the Drawing Center and demanded that we take a piece off the wall, it would have been much simpler," Negroponte said. "What made it more complicated was that we were being questioned about plans for what we might show five years from now."
Planned cultural building, where the Freedom Center and Drawing Center were to be housed. Rendering: Lower Manhattan Development Corporation

Additionally, he said, in the museum's 28-year history it has shown little art with a political slant.

The Drawing Center, a small museum with a $1.7 million annual budget, submitted its long-shot application for a place on the site along with 130 other cultural organizations in June 2003.

Negroponte and the museum's executive director, Catherine de Zegher,

spent hundreds of hours in discussions with the LMDC, explaining their vision for making the 28-year-old museum a part of Downtown's revitalization. When they were selected a year later, they worked closely with the cultural complex's architects to customdesign a space, and in a matter of months put together a business plan of several hundred pages to demonstrate the financial and administrative viability of their plan.

Throughout the meetings and intense scrutiny, one question was not raised, according to Negroponte. "We never really discussed content with the LMDC," he said.

The cultural center, designed by the architectural firm Snohetta, was unveiled on May 19. The wood-andglass building would be elevated above the ground, allowing for passage beneath it as a kind of gateway to the memorial. It would hover just 25 feet from the north tower's footprint. Organizations of victims' families protested that it was too close. Having museums with content unrelated to the events of 9/11 and the remembrance of their loved ones adjacent to the memorial could be confusing and offensive, they said. (The building's size has since been reduced by 30 percent and moved farther from the memorial). The issue was not censorship, they said, but that the quadrant earmarked for the memorial should be only for the memorial.

"We're not against culture. We're not against the redevelopment of Lower Manhattan," said Patricia Reilly, whose sister died at the World Trade Center. "But not on the small site they set aside for the memorial. It's not like they can't put it somewhere else."

In its effort to press the point, a coalition of 9/11 family groups (www.- takebackthememorial.org) plans to demonstrate near the site on Sept. 10.

Negroponte believes that misunderstandings about architect Daniel Libeskind's master plan fueled the controversy. A building dedicated to art and ideas was intended to bring life to the redevelopment, as well as to act as a buffer between the memorial and the commercial bustle of the transit station and office space to the east, he said. "It's a little confusing to some because they are not civic planners, they are not architects, nor are they very visually inclined."

Money also played a role in the LMDC's backtracking. Family member groups threatened to boycott fundraising for the memorial. Whitehead worried publicly at an LMDC board meeting in July about the potential harm to fund-raising efforts by the two museums.

Negroponte also said that a relentless focus on the rebuilding schedule may have prevented more discussions between the cultural institutions and the family members. "For months and months we were led to believe that schedule was all that mattered," he said.

The preoccupation with problems has been difficult for Negroponte and his family, he said. Fortunately for the 52-year-old painter, he could escape to his other life, as a working artist. (An exhibit of his paintings opens this month at the Jason McCoy gallery on 57th Street.) He said his artistic viewpoint also helps him keep perspective.

"Artists can kind of appreciate a mess. I'm not sure politicians can."

Officially, the Drawing Center has yet to be removed from the Snohetta building, according to Negroponte, but the museum is actively looking at alternative sites. One possible location is a triangle of open space alongside 7 World Trade Center. An LMDC spokesman did not respond to requests for comment.

Anita Contini, a former LMDC executive who was in charge of the selection process for the cultural institutions and memorial design, said it would be a loss to the community if the Drawing Center does not find a home Downtown.

"The Drawing Center has a long history of presenting extraordinary exhibitions and has important and loved educational programs for children," she said. "It's a gem of an institution."

As discussions continued with the LMDC about the Drawing Center's fate, Negroponte expressed both sadness and hope.

"After 9/11 I thought we were all part of some extraordinary rebuilding effort that was going to serve as an example of how we could collectively do something fantastic. It's been a big disappointment," he said. "Strangely, I feel pretty optimistic. I still have this feeling there is a way to address all the issues and say everyone is right- everybody can be part of the solution."