October 23 - December 13, 2020, Never Records: Apocalypse Anthems 

2020 marks the 10th anniversary of Never Records, an artwork by New York conceptual artist/musician Ted Riederer. Drawing inspiration from Fluxus, Kaprow’s Happenings, Shinto, Bourriaud, Alan Lomax, and the collectivism of 80s and 90s DC punk scene, Never Records explores the power of the vinyl record to unite, educate, and uplift a community through recorded sound. Riederer’s project began in an abandoned Tower Records near Union Square in New York City in January 2010 and has since traveled to 9 other cities around the world.  From Liverpool, Derry, London, Lisbon, New Orleans, Texas, Kansas City, Amman, Jordan, and Brooklyn over 1000 vinyl records have been cut capturing the music, poetry and performance of over 1000 participants, a living archive of our time.

For Never Records: Apocalypse Anthems Riederer has asked participants from past Never Records around the world to write songs, poems, and send sounds that capture the zeitgeist of this moment in time. For particpiants based in New York, Riederer will record and cut vinyl during a three hour session in his art studio in Long Island City. Etched sonically forever into vinyl, for both participants and posterity, these recordings will telegraph the sounds of our time into a future which seems so fragile and unsure.