Podcast: The 9/11 Museum, 25 Years After 9/11, with Mark Wagner
A very special episode of Making the Museum, for the 25th Anniversary of 9/11.
The unique, unforgettable story of the architect who found himself on the 9/11 debris pile right after the tragedy, working for years to save artifacts for a museum he could only imagine. What do you do when your two largest museum artifacts aren’t there anymore? What is the “Bilbao Effect Upside Down”? How is architecture a stage for a story?
Mark Wagner (Design Principal, Arts & Culture Sector Leader, Stantec) discusses “The 9/11 Museum, 25 Years After 9/11” with MtM host Jonathan Alger (Managing Partner, C&G Partners | The Exhibition and Experience Design Studio).
Along the way: bicycling to Paris, recovering musicians, and an angel in a green gown.
Talking Points
1. Cathedral Memories
2. Selecting Artifacts from The Pile
3. Architecture as a Stage for a Story
4. The Greatest Artifact is the Site Itself
5. The Bilbao Effect, Upside Down
6. Recognizing Visitor Sensitivity
How to Listen:
Listen on Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/making-the-museum/id1674901311
Listen on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/6oP4QJR7yxv7Rs7VqIpI1G
Listen at Making the Museum, the Website:
https://www.makingthemuseum.com/podcast
Links to Every Podcast Service, via Transistor:
https://makingthemuseum.transistor.fm/
Guest Bio:
Mark Wagner, AIA, is a Design Principal in Stantec’s New York office and the firm’s Arts & Culture Sector Leader. With more than 30 years of experience, he has led the design of award-winning museums, cultural institutions, and civic projects from vision through realization. His practice focuses on experience-based design, exploring how architecture shapes memory, narrative, and human connection. Known for guiding multidisciplinary teams through complex cultural and technical challenges, Mark believes architecture can strengthen communities by creating meaningful public experiences. He advances this philosophy across Stantec’s global practice, championing design that enriches civic life through arts and culture.
About Making the Museum:
Making the Museum is a newsletter and podcast on exhibitions, written and hosted by Jonathan Alger. MtM is a project of C&G Partners | The Exhibition and Experience Design Studio.
Learn more about the creative work of C&G Partners:
https://www.cgpartnersllc.com/
Links for This Episode:
Mark Wagner:
Mark.Wagner@stantec.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-wagner-8a1242a/
Stantec:
https://www.stantec.com
The National September 11th Memorial & Museum:
https://www.911memorial.org/
Links for Making the Museum, the Podcast:
Contact Making the Museum:
https://www.makingthemuseum.com/contact
Host Jonathan Alger, Managing Partner of C&G Partners, on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanalger
Email Jonathan Alger:
alger@cgpartnersllc.com
C&G Partners | The Exhibition and Experience Design Studio:
https://www.cgpartnersllc.com/
Making the Museum, the Newsletter:
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