August 2, 2020

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Door

Juan Bernal and Peter Grillo

The project you see is the sketch for a door we are going to produce and build a performance around. Our goal was to finally unlock the door to Washington Plaza, the floor that was locked on that sad day we lost those 146 souls to the Triangle Shirt Waist Factory Fire. Our hopes in unlocking this door is to symbolize the “setting free” of the many individuals who were trapped, unable to get to safety. They were locked in by the idea of valuing profit (over workers’ lives) and also killed by it.

The project was interrupted by Covid-19 but also relevant to it.

Most importantly, the lesson we have learned must continue to be a lesson today, when we forget, sometimes history can repeat itself.