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 at the New York City AIDS Memorial.
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.
Hear Me invited audiences to experience 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.
Role: Co-curator, with Theodore (ted) Kerr
Date: December 1—31, 2020
Location: New York City AIDS Memorial, New York, NY
Photography by Ryan Lahiff
