On Friday, January 31st, ACE, together with ENU Builds, premiered  ‘The Art of Protest', a multimedia exhibit that paired visual art by NYC-based artists with audio recordings, many of which were from the Alan Lomax Archive. The 2-day event was held at the Lab at Yonkers Arts in Yonkers, NY. 
 

Those in attendance were given multiple sets of wireless headphones, one per audio channel. Three separate audio channels contained three songs playing on loop, all expertly set up by ENU Builds co-founder Jermain Smith. His partner at the non-profit, Tamarah Bridgewater, ushered guests in and explained the significance between the visual art on display with the corresponding music playing in the headphones. The evening blended the power of visual art with the soulful rhythm of music, all while celebrating the spirit of community. 

An artist-led collage making workshop for local children and families was held during the exhibit the next day.
 

This was an exciting partnership for ACE, as many who participated were unfamiliar with the recordings made by Alan Lomax. Pairing archival recordings with visual art made nearly a century later was particularly poignant, since many of the concerns embedded within these recordings are still resonant for contemporary artists.

Thank you to those who came out and we look forward to presenting more events like this in the future!