NEW HAVEN
DIARY DISKS

2021 • New Haven, CT

Diary Disks are community art installations across New Haven, CT. The Disks are boundless in shape and resemble time portals, acting as pandemic archives of collective memory, stamped with the location and date like a diary entry. At the heart of the series is a vital sense of belonging to a community. People are invited to write and draw their responses to a unique prompt on the Disk as they reflect on their pandemic experience. Every community chose how they wanted to reflect on the pandemic, by looking to the past, present, or future. Throughout the pandemic, lives unravel alone in the absence of both physical and social experience. Yet, when the mental space is shared together, it becomes a place where feelings, memories, and well-being are ultimately amplified. The Disks provide a place for New Haven to come together, reflect, and heal collectively as the city perseveres through the pandemic.

In partnership with the Department of Cultural Affairs (City of New Haven) and International Festival of Arts & Ideas, Diary Disks were co-created by over a dozen community partners throughout the city. The Diary Disk project is an outcome of the Design Brigade project, initiated by Yale Center for Collaborative Arts & Media and Atelier Cho Thompson.

“Invigorate civic monuments with new public engagement possibilities so that they function as constantly activated sites for critical dialogue, response, and experimentation.” — Monument Lab

“It’s important that we share our experiences with other people. your story will heal you and your story will heal somebody else. when you tell your story, you free yourself and give other people permission to acknowledge their own.” — Iyanla Vanzant