As Creative Consultants for Howl! Happening, SSB works with a talented group of people who are artists and innovators in their own right. We’re happy to showcase two members of that multi-dimensional team: Ted Riederer and Katherine Cheairs. Looking forward and looking back in two separate exhibitions opening this week, they are changing how we see the world, how we interact and connect, and even how the tragedy of the AIDS crisis can become an opportunity for “change through transformation.”
Ted Reiderer Never Records opens at the Rudin Family Gallery at BAM
Ted is a New York-based conceptual artist and musician AND the Gallery Director of Howl! Happening. In his work, he explores the potential of a record shop and recording studio as an artistic community hub. Installed inside the gallery, Never Records is a multi-use gathering space for connecting with others through recorded sound.
Riederer himself oversees the recording sessions, at the end of which performers leave with a freshly cut vinyl record and a digital file of their music. Visitors are encouraged to explore the shop, which is designed to mimic a long-operating record store and features unique artwork; listen to recordings from past Never Records installations; and watch live performances being recorded and cut in real time.
Check out SSB’s 2016 collaboration with Ted — Never Records Amman Jordan: Culture Not Conflict — in our Past Events Section.
Katherine Cheairs’ METANOIA: TRANSFORMATION THROUGH AIDS ARCHIVES AND ACTIVISM
Katherine Cheairs is a curator and education director of Howl! Happening. The exhibition is an archival examination of community-based responses to the ongoing AIDS crisis in America. From the Greek word, metanoia that expresses the possibility of change through transformation, the exhibition demonstrates that HIV/AIDS is a powerful agent of change through community, activism, words, sex, care, and the materials that document these efforts.
Metanoia is co-curated by Katherine, Alexandra Juhasz, and Theodore (Ted) Kerr and centers primarily on the contributions and experiences of Black cis and trans women, and cis and trans women of color who have been at the forefront of movement work, but who are often overlooked in AIDS archives, exhibitions, and histories.
Katherine is also co-curator of the public programs for SSB’s upcoming exhibition, Izhar Patkin The Making of The Black Paintings opening May 18th at Howl! Happening.
