A Bournemouth cafe is hosting an immersive ‘9/11 watch party’ where guests are invited to ‘relive’ the world’s deadliest terror attack as if it were happening in real time.
The event will take place on Friday, marking the 25th anniversary of the death of nearly 3,000 people when two planes crashed into the World Trade Center. New York City on September 11, 2001.
Guests are invited to leave their phones at the door and “relive the fear, tears and paranoia of the live news channel’s analysis and raw footage of the disaster.”
The event, organized by political arts group Verdurin as part of the Adam Curtis Party Conference, will take place at the Wild Boscombe Cafe.
Owners of the venue insisted the display was ‘not intended to celebrate or trivialize the attacks’.
A local councilor criticized the event, warning that it risked ‘turning a tragedy into a spectacle’.
In the attacks, nineteen al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial passenger planes in the US, including the two that crashed into the Twin Towers.
Another plane hit the Pentagon near Washington DC, while a fourth plane crashed in Pennsylvania, believed to have targeted the White House or the Capitol.
A view of the Twin Towers after they were hit by Al Qaeda terrorist planes
An online listing described the watch as the ‘most avant-garde event to take place in Bournemouth in years’.
It read: ‘9/11 Watch Party rebroadcasts the mainstream media’s responses and pairs them with conspiratorial commentators in an installation of overwhelming scale.
At the end of the evening you will be carried away by the seductive power of conspiracy theories.
‘If you were there when it happened, you can refresh your memories.
“If you were too young, try to experience what it was like when it happened.”
Verdurin’s website describes itself as an address that ‘answers urgent cultural, political and philosophical questions through visual culture’.
The curator Pierre d’Alancaisez is described as a writer, curator and researcher concerned with the multiple politics of the arts.
He is a regular art critic for the English magazine The Critic. His writing has appeared in outlets such as ArtReview, The Spectator and Compact.
Pierre d’Alancaisez said: ‘That the live television images of the September 11 attacks would define the 21st century was clear even to the newsreaders as they recounted the events.
So much so that the archive video shows them revising the story as it unfolds, creating a real conspiracy in real time.
‘The anniversary offers the opportunity to take another look at the raw television image, the fundamental building block of our hyperreality.’
Christchurch councilor Simon McCormack said he was “deeply concerned” by the event.
He added: ‘According to reports, attendees will hand in their mobile phones before being able to re-watch the original television news footage, commentary and emerging conspiracy theories in real time, recreating the day’s experience as an ‘immersive event’.
‘Nearly 3,000 people were murdered on September 11, while countless survivors, first responders and relatives are still living with the consequences. This was a real human tragedy – not entertainment, a ‘viewing party’ or an experience to be recreated for an audience.
“There are respectful ways to remember the victims, educate people about what happened and explore how the attacks changed the world. But packaging their final moments and the suffering of their families as a compelling event crosses a line and threatens to turn tragedy into spectacle.
‘I don’t believe this is appropriate for Bournemouth, especially on such an important anniversary. I urge the organizers and the venue to reconsider this, out of respect for the victims, survivors and their families.”
