VisualAIDS

Floating a Boulder: Works by Felix Gonzalez-Torres and Jim Hodges

Floating a Boulder: Works by Felix Gonzalez-Torres and Jim Hodges

Opens: Oct. 1, 2009

The FLAG Art Foundation
545 West 25th Street, 9th floor
New York, NY 10001
www.flagartfoundation.org
OPEN: Wednesday - Saturday 11 AM – 4 PM

FLAG Art Foundation announce Floating a Boulder: Works by Felix Gonzalez-Torres and Jim Hodges, an exhibition featuring works by Felix Gonzalez-Torres and Jim Hodges, two prominent artists that developed a unique vocabulary of meaning through a myriad of subtleties.

Both artists distill personal experiences and emotions into their objects with a universal resonance. Furthermore, a vital component to both artists’ works is the role of the viewer, invariably contributing to the timeless relevance of the work. (read more here)

Equality to End AIDS: Oct 10 Rally & Vigil

As tens of thousands of LGBT Americans and their allies converge on Washington next month to march for equal rights,  they also will remind the nation and the LGBT community that the AIDS epidemic is not over as well as remember the more than half a million Americans who have died from the disease.

The Equality To End AIDS rally and vigil will take place Saturday, October 10, the day before the massive Equality March.  Equality To End AIDS will be held from 5:30 to 8:30 pm on the Ellipse, in front of the White House, and feature an inspiring roster of speakers and performers (mostly HIV+), culminating in a candlelight vigil.

For more information visit: www.campaigntoendaids.org

A World First: Vaccine Helps Prevent HIV Infection

From the New York Times

BANGKOK (AP) -- For the first time, an experimental vaccine has prevented infection with the AIDS virus, a watershed event in the deadly epidemic and a surprising result. Recent failures led many scientists to think such a vaccine might never be possible.

The World Health Organization and the U.N. agency UNAIDS said the results ''instilled new hope'' in the field of HIV vaccine research.

The vaccine -- a combination of two previously unsuccessful vaccines -- cut the risk of becoming infected with HIV by more than 31 percent in the world's largest AIDS vaccine trial of more than 16,000 volunteers in Thailand, researchers announced Thursday in Bangkok.

Even though the benefit is modest, ''it's the first evidence that we could have a safe and effective preventive vaccine,'' Col. Jerome Kim told The Associated Press. He helped lead the study for the U.S. Army, which sponsored it with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

The institute's director, Dr. Anthony Fauci, warned that this is ''not the end of the road,'' but said he was surprised and very pleased by the outcome.

''It gives me cautious optimism about the possibility of improving this result'' and developing a more effective AIDS vaccine, Fauci said. ''This is something that we can do.'' (read more here)

Pete Wyman at LabourLove Gallery

LabourLove Gallery @ Golden Belt - Downtown Durham

Pre-Pride Art Show: "Body and Soul" - Works by Kelly Cross and Pete Wyman

Friday, September 25th from 6pm-9pm

LabourLove is kicking off NC Pride weekend with a gallery reception for local artists Kelly Cross and Pete Wyman. This weekend long show will get your blood racing and you imagination soaring.

Niccolo Cataldi in ¡Aquí! (Here) at NoMAA

¡Aquí! (Here):  An Uptown Latino Art Exhibition

Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance (NoMAA)
178 Bennett Ave, 3rd Floor, NY

September 25 - December 30, 2009
Reception:Thursday, September 24, 6-9pm

¡Aqui! (Here) is the first group exhibition of this kind at NoMAA's newly inaugurated gallery space in Washington Heights. ¡Aqui! (Here) exposes works by local artists depicting their creative experiences within our neighborhoods, as well as celebrate Latino arts and cultures uptown from September (Hispanic heritage month) through December 2009.  A panel of jurors selected the fifteen artists exhibiting in the show whose work was curated by Rocío Aranda-Alvarado, Special Projects Coordinator at El Museo del Barrio.

NoMAA on facebook

From The Guardian.co.uk

The world's deadliest viruses and bacteria – from HIV to swine flu have been reconfigured as delicate glass sculptures by Bristol artist, Luke Jerram. With the help of virologists and glassblowers, Jerram has created a series of works designed to challenge the way viruses – which are naturally transparent – are presented in the media in bold colour for dramatic effect. An exhibition of the glass renderings opens at the Smithfield gallery, London, on 22 September until 3 October.

Image: Luke Jerram, HIV virus, glass

Robert Mapplethorpe: Perfection in Form

via flavorwire.com

There have been copious shows of Robert Mapplethorpe’s photography in the years since his AIDS-related death in 1989, but none of those exhibitions has reached the grandeur of Perfection in Form at the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence, Italy. Home to Michelangelo’s magnificent statue of David and other great Renaissance works of art, the Accademia opens its sacred galleries to contemporary art and photography for the very first time.

Inspired by a conversation between musician and artist Patti Smith — Mapplethorpe’s first companion and muse — and art historian Jonathan K. Nelson, co-curator of the show, Perfection in Form mixes the sculptures and drawings of Michelangelo with Mapplethorpe’s formalist nudes, portraits, and still lifes. Nelson and Franca Falletti, director of the Galleria dell’Accademia, have assembled more than 100 works by the two artists to construct a conversation between the past and present — and what Smith describes as a “realization of Robert’s dream.”  (read more here) 

Robert Mapplethorpe: Perfection in Form, which is accompanied by a comprehensive catalogue, published by teNeues, is on view at the Galleria dell’Accademia Sept 27 through January 10, 2010.

image:Robert Mapplethorpe, Derrick Cross, 1985, gelatin silver print, 16 x 20 in (40.6 x 50.8 cm), © Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation.

Maison 24 donates proceeds to Visual AIDS

Beginning today and continuing until December 1, 2009, Maison 24 will donate a percentage of sales of their artistic acrylic globes to support educational efforts surrounding World AIDS Day. Maison 24 is spotlighting four artistic, acrylic globes and donating 10 percent of the sale of each globe to Visual AIDS to assist in the dissemination of AIDS prevention messages via the arts community, culminating in World AIDS Day on December 1st. 

Details on the globes are available online at www.maison24.com.

Stop HIV phobia - video series

Back in the Closet - video