Nearly 25 years after the September 11 attacks, the Twin Towers briefly returned to New York City’s skyline. On September 9, 2026, 2,977 illuminated drones rose above the water in Manhattan. They formed 2,977 Lights Over New York Harbor, a one-night public artwork honoring those killed on September 11, 2001. The powerful presentation was a collaboration with members of the 9/11 community, including family members, survivors, and first responders.
The display began with 2,977 individual points of light gathered into a constellation before forming a spiraling helix. Then, the drones assembled into the recognizable shapes of the Twin Towers at full architectural scale. Each light represented one person killed in the attacks. In doing so, the individual lives behind the number were visible within the larger image of the towers.
Music accompanied the presentation. The score included works by Philip Glass, Max Richter’s On the Nature of Daylight, and John Adams’s On the Transmigration of Souls, which was written in response to the September 11 attacks. As the music played, the drones moved through several formations, from constellation to helix to towers, before dispersing into the night.
The formation referenced the THINK team’s unbuilt World Cultural Center proposal. Developed in 2002, the architectural plan envisioned open, lattice-like towers around the original World Trade Center footprints. The September 9 presentation translated elements of that unrealized design into light above the harbor.
Creative director and executive producer Addison Mehr led the work. Sky Elements produced the aerial presentation, while Yan Paul Dubbelman served as designer. Studio Drift, Shigeru Ban, and Dean Maltz participated as artistic advisors.
On September 9, 2026, 2,977 drones formed a constellation, spiraled into a helix, and recreated the Twin Towers above New York Harbor.
Created with 9/11 families, survivors, and first responders, the installation connected each light to a life lost.
Accompanied by music from Philip Glass, John Adams, and Max Richter, the one-night memorial dissolved back into darkness.
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