Exhibition: Hear Me: Voices of the Epidemic
Hear Me: Voices of the Epidemic was an original, open-space, touch-free, and experiential sound-and-light-based installation that ran December 1-31, 2020.
The soundtrack was composed of historical texts, poetry, speeches, music, and more that capture the history of the epidemic. Examples include a powerful speech by Vito Russo (1946-90), a song composed by Michael Callen (1955-93), historic recordings of an ACT UP-led protest made by artist David Wojnarowicz (1954-92), and poems by Melvin Dixon (1950-92) and Kia LaBeija, who was born in 1990 at St. Vincent’s Hospital, on whose former site the Memorial sits today. Visitors were welcomed to hear the program, accompanied by a distinctive lighting installation, through December 2020. Hear Me was preceded each day, beginning at 10 a.m., by a recording featuring the names of over 2,000 New Yorkers, representing a fraction of the 100,000+ lost to AIDS, and read by What Would an HIV Doula Do?, a group of activists, caregivers, friends, long-term survivors of HIV/AIDS, and people living with HIV today. You can watch video documentation of the full 45-minute program above or by clicking here.
Hear Me invited audiences to experience both the transformation of the permanent structure of the New York City AIDS Memorial by using state-of-the-art speakers and advanced lighting systems designed by leading engineering firm Arup. This program was free and open to the public and could easily be experienced while maintaining all advised social distancing protocols. Hear Me was the third exhibition under the New York City AIDS Memorial Arts and Education Initiative. This initiative supports interactive, experiential, digital, and site-specific educational and arts programming and furthers the Memorial’s aim throughout the world.
Hear Me is supported by a new, online conversation series called A Time To Listen. This six-episode recorded series features a wide breadth of thought leaders, artists, and activists sharing current experiences and knowledge of AIDS history connected to New York City and beyond through a discussion of media, including speeches, songs, poems, plays, and oral histories. Episodes were published on Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout November, beginning November 5, in the lead up to the launch of Hear Me at the New York City AIDS Memorial. For more information and a full list of participants, please visit the project page, or explore our mini-site at www.atimetolisten.org.
HEAR ME: More Information:
Support for Hear Me: Voices of the Epidemic was generously provided by:
HEAR ME: VOICES OF THE EPIDEMIC was commissioned by the New York City AIDS Memorial
CREATIVE CONSULTANT: Theodore (ted) Kerr
DESIGN, PROGRAMMING, AND PRODUCTION: Sound design, programming, and production by Helen Searle, Léonard Roussel, Ryan Cox and Raj Patel, Arup; Lighting design by Kristen Garibaldi and Xena Petkanas, Arup
PRESS: Blue Medium Inc.
THANK YOU: American Indian Community House, Constantine Jones, Iris House, James Wentzy, Jim Hubbard, Kia LaBeija, the LGBT Community Center, Pamela Sneed, Park Blvd Productions, Richard Dworkin, Visual AIDS, VOCAL-NY, NYC Parks, and the NYC AIDS Memorial Board
PHOTOGRAPHY: Ryan Lahiff
VIDEOGRAPHY: Clifford Toy