New Exhibit Curated by Stan Walden, Parsons M.Arch ’24, Explores the History of AIDS at The New School
“The Gentrification of the Mind,” by Sarah Schulman, has been called “provocative” and “powerful” by critics and readers alike. The AIDS memoir has also served partly as inspiration for a new exhibit at The New School curated by Stan Walden, Parsons M.Arch ‘24.
While reading the book, and taking a class taught by Brian McGrath that centered on identifying and promoting non-heteronormative cultures around New York City, Walden started to ask around The New School community about people’s interactions with HIV/AIDS, which led to the exhibit AIDS at The New School: What is Remembered? currently on view in the Aronson Gallery until January 12, 2025.
“In this moment where it feels like crises are piling on top of one another, I find it really soothing to look back into history,” explains Walden. “More often than not, we’ve seen something like this before, and there are models of action and resistance that were used then that can be applied to whatever we may face now. Exploring how New Schoolers conducted themselves then and now (thanks to the new oral histories featured in the exhibit) reveals a lineage of action and discussion. I feel comforted knowing that there’s an apparatus (made up of many, many actors!) here that can continue to do good work. Knowing where we’ve been and working with the experts who share our hallways will help us get where we want to be.”
Walden curated the exhibit with the help and collaboration of the Archives and Special Collections staff, as well as researcher Ray Self. In 2020, the Archives identified a number of assets in their collection that spoke to the impact HIV/AIDS had on the New School community, which allowed Walden to immediately go in, study, and start making selections.
“Numerous student newspaper articles speak to the complex facets of the crisis and its impacts, while hundreds of sketches by the artist Gustavo Ojeda (Parsons ’79) offer a very intimate, human, and visual component to the exhibit. I like how the newspapers ground the crisis in our immediate community, while the drawings begin to relate the community to the city.”
The exhibit also includes oral histories, which Walden collected from New School community members including John Magisano, Bradley Erickson, Robert Sember, Dr. Mindy T. Fullilove, Ted Kerr, Neil Greenberg, Tamara Oyola-Santiago, and Griphen Avina. The listening consoles were designed by Maya McGlynn and Ross Myren, who both graduated from the M.Arch program in 2023, and together run Scatter Practice.
During his time in the M.Arch program at Parsons, Walden felt challenged by the course work, yet immensely rewarded by his experiences. His cohort came from a variety of backgrounds, which allowed them to push their definitions of architecture in bold and new directions.“Our professors challenged us to deeply research any claims we were making, instilling a culture of accountability as we all aim to do less environmental and social harm in our profession. While in school I was lucky to have been given the latitude to develop the beginnings of a more multidisciplinary practice that extends from multifamily housing design to exhibit and furniture design.”
While the exhibit is on display, Walden and his colleagues are hosting programs related to HIV/AIDS, artist performances, video presentations, podcast recordings, and more. In addition to his work with the exhibit, Walden is also a researcher with the Healthy Materials Lab, and recently returned from managing the Lab’s showroom at the High Point Furniture Market in North Carolina. He is looking ahead to new projects with HML, as well as continuing with his own projects.