In 1988, at the height of the AIDS crisis, activist Vito Russo compared the epidemic to trench warfare, a nightmarish battle in which “every time a shell explodes, you look around and you discover that you’ve lost more of your friends, but nobody else notices.”
New York City’s first large-scale monument to those affected by AIDS took one step closer to reality tonight, when Manhattan’s Community Board No. 2 approved the latest design for a $2-million, 1,600-square-foot memorial in Greenwich Village.
After several weeks of intensive negotiations, a deal has been reached to create the first-ever large-scale AIDS memorial in New York City, though it will be much smaller than its supporters had initially hoped.
A design that calls for a grove of trees reflected infinitely by 12-foot-long mirrors was selected today for New York’s first large-scale AIDS memorial.
AIDS Memorial Park, a coalition of individuals and groups committed to recognizing the ongoing AIDS crisis, has teamed up with Architectural Record and Architizer to host a design competition for a park, memorial, and small educational center in New York City’s West Village, across from the now-shuttered St. Vincent’s Hospital.
