GuitarAngel.net

Abstraction allows for a memorial that, instead of having to pick and choose which story to tell, provides a powerful space of reflection. An abstract memorial is not totalizing: It does not pick a single story to tell, but shares a multiplicity of experiences. Arad's design does not tell us how to remember the event, but it does tell of the void left behind in its wake. - In the Abstract by Noam Lupu

The above excerpt from Flak Magazine is discussing the design picked to replace the fallen Twin Towers and how it doesn't display anything related to an airplane or the actuality of 9-11. Rather it will be a place to reflect and think over the entirety of what happened...the powerful and impacting aspect of the moment. I agree with Lupu about her take on representation in abstract art, that it exists for everyone to make their own interpretation of it, that it doesn't limit the imaginative possibilities your mind can create while gazing at whatever the creation is. I think a few other places that I consider to be abstract, if not thought-provoking and powerful, would be structures such as the St. Louis Arch, the Vietnam Memorial and the sand paintings of Tibet. To me its amazing how such things can be created that can just stimulate your brain by looking at it. Even the sand paintings...more so how the monks can sit there and work on the paintings for hours and hours just to destroy them minutes after completion. Art is just awesome! And on it culture thrives.