The Medicine Wheel installation opens on November 23 with Luminaria, a 22ft tall physical lantern made out of portraits of faces representing those that have been affected in the age of AIDS. The portraits that will hang from the grid are made from original wood-block engravings that are carved from images in photographs, which are mostly sent by the public. Two thousand paper birds from the Paper Project will be suspended from the ceiling and will appear to take flight into the Luminaria. The Paper Project is made up of thoughts and prayers and it was produced with the help of thousands during last year's Medicine Wheel.

The participatory portion of Medicine Wheel will begin with a procession that starts at 11:30pm on November 30 at Eliot Norton Park, located at the corner of Tremont Street and Charles Street South, and ends at the Cyclorama. Participants will carry 36 shrines and pedestals and process into the Cyclorama to begin the 24-hour vigil, which runs from midnight to midnight on December 1 for World AIDS Day/A Day Without Art.

During the vigil, visitors are invited to leave offerings inside the shrines--personal objects, letters, pictures and other mementos. Artwork and performance from local artists include dance, song and poetry that will illuminate the wheel and mark every hour of the vigil. Performers include: performance artist Alice Vogler, Actor's Shakespeare Project member Bill Barclay, pop duo Gracious Calamity, movement artists Andrea Blesso & Liz Roncka, Jane Wang, Grant Smith, Tom Plsek and Joanne Rice.