West Side Fest: AIDS History Walking & Exhibition Tour with NYC AIDS Memorial

Explore the intersection of history, art, and grassroots activism with New York City AIDS Memorial Executive Director Dave Harper. This immersive program begins with a guided walking tour of the New York City AIDS Memorial—including its newest site-specific installation, Eternal Flame for Scott Burton by artist Oscar Tuazon—as well as its historic environs, like the LGBT Community Center and the former St. Vincent’s Hospital. This portion of the tour seeks to ground visitors in the West Village neighborhood that served as the poignant epicenter of the epidemic, allowing you to trace the footsteps of advocates, caretakers, and activists who changed the course of history.

This journey culminates in a visit to the exhibition Love & Fury: New York’s Fight Against AIDS, curated by Ian Bradley-Perrin at Poster House. This exhibition explores how graphic design shaped New York’s grassroots response to AIDS from 1979 to 2003. Through a striking collection of public health campaigns, agitprop, benefit flyers, and club handbills, the exhibition offers more than just historical material, showing how communities built survival and communication systems from the ground up.

Join us to discover how design became a vital weapon in the fight for survival, visibility, and justice, and how a community’s love and fury altered the cultural and political landscape forever. 

This program is part of West Side Fest, a three-day celebration of arts and culture across Manhattan’s historic West Side, organized by the West Side Cultural Network.

Image Credit: New York City AIDS Memorial, Photo by John Moore, Circular Space Photography

Accessibility Note: Guests should be prepared to walk for 60 minutes without seating. Masks and clear masks are available free of charge at the museum. Assistive listening devices and stools are available. ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or a CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) is also available upon request. Please contact access@posterhouse.org or (914) 295-2387 to request interpretation services and to address any other accessibility needs. For other event-related questions, please contact events@posterhouse.org.