New York sound installation captures the history of the fight against AIDS

HOW to capture the history of the decades-long fight against HIV when the world's attention is fixed firmly on a different virus entirely? For World AIDS Day, December 1, the New York City AIDS Memorial unveiled a new open-air sound installation giving New Yorkers the opportunity to hear poignant voices spanning the 40-year history of the epidemic.

Throughout the month of December, this installation, titled "Hear Me: Voices of the Epidemic," offers a nightly broadcast of historical texts, poetry, speeches and music that capture the history of the AIDS epidemic. More than 100,000 New Yorkers have died from the disease, according to the New York City AIDS Memorial. And, as part of the installation, located in Greenwich Village, the "What Would an HIV Doula Do?" collective will read the names of over 2,000 New Yorkers lost to the disease in a recording played each morning at 10 am (EST). 

The installation's titular 45-minute "Hear Me: Voices of the Epidemic" soundtrack plays each evening at 7 pm (EST), featuring the voices of historical personalities and contemporary artists retracing the 40-year history of the fight against AIDS. The recording notably features extracts from the late playwright Larry Kramer's historic 1991 "Plague" speech decrying AIDS inaction, as well as a recording that the artist David Wojnarowicz made in 1989 during an ACT UP-led protest, and poems by the artists Constantine Jones and Kia LaBeija.

"During this time, I think a lot of us are trying to figure out how to be together," observes the creative consultant for "Hear Me," Theodore (Ted) Kerr in a statement. "Hear Me is an answer, a bold and visionary way forward. It is a sound installation that uses our AIDS history, voices from our movements, and the Memorial as a place for community. Every night, for a month, 'Hear Me' is an open invitation for people to social distance together, a place to reflect on the past, gather in the present, and imagine and work towards a better future." 

For those who can't visit the sound installation in person, the New York City AIDS Memorial is also offering an online conversation series called "A Time to Listen." The videos feature researchers, artists and activists sharing experience and knowledge of AIDS history through a discussion of media such as speeches, songs, poems, plays and other historical documents that inspired "Hear Me: Voices of the Epidemic." – ETX Studio, December 3, 2020