Installation view, SIDE B: the sounds, David Zwirner, Los Angeles, 2026

Installation view, SIDE B: the sounds, David Zwirner, Los Angeles, 2026

Installation view, SIDE B: the sounds, David Zwirner, Los Angeles, 2026

 

SIDE B: the sounds

A Roy DeCarava listening room

Location

Los Angeles, 616 N Western Avenue, Los Angeles, 90004, CA

September 19—October 24, 2026

Adjacent to Roy DeCarava: the sound i saw, curated by Ebony L. Haynes and on view at David Zwirner Los Angeles, SIDE B: the sounds is a listening room inspired by the artist’s work.

In addition, there is live programming in the space through October 24; the following calendar of events will be updated on a regular basis.

Wednesday, September 23

Focus: John Coltrane (all day)

Friday, September 25

Screening of Conversations with Roy DeCarava (1983), 12PM, 2PM, and 4PM

Wednesday, September 30

Focus: Miles Davis (all day)

Thursday, October 1

Screening of Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool (2019), 3:30–5:30PM

Wednesday, October 7

Focus: Billie Holiday (all day)

An exhibition of photographs by Roy DeCarava (1919–2009) at the gallery’s 606 N Western Avenue location in Los Angeles, the sound i saw is DeCarava’s unwavering exploration of the relationship between the visual and the aural created between the late 1940s and the 1960s. First assembled as a handmade artist’s book, it was later condensed and exhibited at the Studio Museum in Harlem in 1983. This body of work juxtaposes images of everyday life in New York City—elegiac street corners, deliverymen working, children playing, riders waiting for the train—with images of jazz musicians, glimpsed both mid-set and off-stage in moments of repose. Taken together, DeCarava’s tonally rich silver gelatin photographs redirect the viewer’s attention to the sounds of life, offering—as he noted—“images for the head and for the heart.”

On View in Los Angeles

Roy DeCarava: the sound i saw