Past Projects & Events:
2024
The spirit of visual artist Brian Buczak (1954—1987) is memorialized in the fourth string quartet of Philip Glass (1937—), one of the composer’s most intimate works. In 2024, what would have been Buczak’s 70th year of life, the acclaimed Mivos Quartet performed Glass’s tribute in a free concert organized by composer Nick Hallett as part of the Memorial’s live art series. The October 27th performance included introductory remarks by Bracken Hendricks and Sur Rodney (Sur).
On September 28, the New York City AIDS Memorial again welcomed the Generations Project to produce a storytelling event focusing on the stories of six women living with HIV/AIDS, which have been too often overlooked or marginalized throughout the epidemic. Organized alongside activist Shirlene Cooper, it featured members of the Visual AIDS’ Women's Empowerment Art Therapy Group.
On the occasion of what would be his 70th birthday, the David Wojnarowicz Foundation in collaboration with the New York City AIDS Memorial, Visual AIDS, and P·P·O·W staged a production of Wojnarowicz’s seminal monologues, The Waterfront Journals, along with performances by Rimbaud Hattie and candlelit vigil.
BODY FREEDOM FOR EVERY(BODY) is a cross-country exhibition tour inside a 27-foot Box Truck celebrating Reproductive Justice, Queer Liberation, and Trans Joy! On September 8 the New York City AIDS Memorial hosted this event by Project for Empty Space which brought over 200 artists’ works inside this truck to cultivate community coast-to-coast.
The act of remembering is essential to our collective mourning and to strengthening our community. A Remembrance featured performances from aAliy A. Muhammad, Kinan Abou-afach with the Bergamot Quartet & Elisa Sutherland, and Jessica Hecht to reflect and renew.
On June 5, Long-Term Survivors HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, floral stylist Devin Antheus invited activist and visual and performing artist Agosto Machado to collaborate on an installation in honor of lives lost at the New York City AIDS Memorial.
In honor of Pride Month, and presented in partnership with the Whitney Museum of American Art, this celebratory evening celebrates queens featured in Legends of Drag: Queens of a Certain Age (Cernunnos, 2022), queer elders who have long been cultural and spiritual leaders within their communities.
Jim Hodges: Craig’s closet was on view from June 9, 2023—May 29, 2024 at the New York City AIDS Memorial Park
This two-day program of community, song, conversation, and food is catalyzed by artist Ines Doujak’s decades-spanning practice, and co-presented by the New York City AIDS Memorial and the Center for Art, Research and Alliances (CARA).
2023
From October through December 2023, this new, site-specific installation by artist and activist Avram Finkelstein formed a conceptual ‘sky’ of memory and witnessing above the New York City AIDS Memorial, incorporating the words of poet Irena Klepfisz.
Each year, on December 1, the world gathers to remember those lost to and impacted by HIV/AIDS and champion the ongoing fight against the epidemic. To commemorate World AIDS Day 2023, the New York City AIDS Memorial hosted its annual, free, and public observance featuring a day of programming in collaboration with organizations dedicated to bringing communities together in the fight to end AIDS.
On November 19, we held a screening of Nostalgia, a new collaboration between filmmaker Jim Hubbard (United in Anger: A History of ACT UP) and composers Chris Cochrane and Kevin Bud Jones. Hubbard has been commissioned by the New York City AIDS Memorial to create a new experimental film about death and memory.
On October 21, we welcomed members of the Recollectors, a digital community and storytelling forum created and dedicated to remembering parents lost to AIDS and supporting the children they left behind, for a live storytelling program organized by artist Caroline Falby in partnership with the Generations Project. Eight storytellers from the Recollectors joined us on-site at the New York City AIDS Memorial.
On October 14, we celebrated our new, site-specific installation - Dedications - by Avram Finkelstein at an special event that featured a reading by poet Irena Klepfisz of her poem Bashert.
A new, site-specific version of City Park (1973), a controversial early work by maverick American composer, cellist, producer, and singer Arthur Russell (1951–1992), was presented at the New York City AIDS Memorial, directed by Nick Hallett, and featuring David Van Tieghem, Peter Zummo, Nat Baldwin, Lea Bertucci, Shawn O’Sullivan, and Alex Waterman.
“Revival: Survivors’ Stories” highlights the experiences of long-term HIV survivors, as well as friends and loved ones of those we have lost. This installation is intended to activate the Memorial, honoring our history and spreading a message of resilience, community, and hope.
This experiment in joining text and sound, a passage through memory, and a fitting coda to our season brings together influential poet Pamela Sneed with the remarkable musicians Natalie Greffel and Mazz Swift. Sneed’s practice poignantly emerges from her service as an activist and caregiver during the height of the AIDS epidemic.
Dance for a Memorial was our second annual silent disco which took place during NYC Pride Month on June 14 and featured a line-up of incredible DJs, including Oscar Nñ (Papi Juice), br0nz3_g0dd3ss, DJ Ches, and resident sound guru DJ Nikki Jax.
In celebration of NYC Pride Month, the New York City AIDS Memorial partnered with the creative team behind the new portrait book Legends of Drag to present a live, on-site, live revue at the Memorial featuring six, fabulous drag elders.
Cramer and Waters conceived a durational performance/installation in collaboration with members of their “queer-skinned kitchen band,” NYOBS. For several hours, the ensemble wove a tapestry of ribbons, sound, movement, music, and text throughout the Memorial site, evoking the tradition of 1960s-era Happenings.
Celebration of the opening of Jim Hodges: Craig’s closet with a public concert featuring Tender Ness and Jamie Reynolds.
Co-presented with Danspace Project, choreographers Ishmael Houston-Jones and Miguel Gutierrez in collaboration with musician Nick Hallett to adapted excerpts of the celebrated work of John Bernd.
2022
Two days of artist-led Community AIDS Memorial Quilt-Making Workshops at the Whitney Museum.
This newly commissioned neon installation explored the intersection of language, music, and memory.
This remix staged elements of Greenberg’s original choreography in response to the site.
This free, community silent disco celebrated Pride with DJs Lady Bunny and Lina Bradford
Five storytellers shared tales of nightlife, partying, and connecting under the disco ball.
2021
2016—2020
An immersive sound- and light-scape tracking the history of the epidemic in New York City.
A conversation series where we learn from the past and come together to prepare for the future.
The New York City AIDS Memorial was dedicated in front of thousands on December 1, 2016.