VisualAIDS

Call for films, performance and installations related to HIV/AIDS

 

Call for projects

VIHsion
An HIV/AIDS film festival
2nd edition
november 2010

VIHsion is in search of short films addressing issues related to HIV/AIDS for its 2nd edition, which will be held in November 2010 in Montreal, Théâtre Ste-Catherine, 260 rue Ste-Catherine Est. All formats and genres are welcome.

Also this year, we are looking for performances, installations and conferences addressing the issue to HIV/AIDS. Feel free to submit your projects.

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION EXTENDED November 8th 2010
procedure and form for submission

Questions or comments/Contact
[email protected]

Through Positive Eyes

Through Positive Eyes gives photographic voice to people living with HIV in major cities around the world. It is based on the belief that HIV-positive people should pick up their own cameras and make their own artistic statements. In doing so, they create powerful tools for combating stigma, which is one of the most formidable barriers in reducing the spread of AIDS today.

Through Positive Eyes has been produced in Mexico City (August 2008), Rio de Janeiro (June 2009), and Johannesburg (March 2010). Next, the project will travel to Chennai, Kiev, and New York City.

The project is co-directed by London-based South African photographer and AIDS activist Gideon Mendel, who has been chronicling HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa since 1993. Since then his groundbreaking work on the issue has been widely recognized. Through magazine publications, multimedia web and video presentations, and his book, A Broken Landscape, Mendel has been commended for empowering his subjects rather than representing them as objects of pity.

Click here to find out more and watch the videos.

Love's Body (art in the age of AIDS)

Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography
〒153-0062　Yebisu Garden Place, 1-13-3 Mita Meguro-ku Tokyo

October 2 - December 5, 2010

AA Bronson, Peter Hujar, Hervé Guibert, Sunil Gupta, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, David Wojnarowicz, William Yang, Akira the Hustler/Cho Yukio

Love's Body (art in the age of AIDS) will aim to present more clearly the problems created by contemporary representations of the body.

AIDS is a problem common to every country throughout the contemporary world.  From the late eighties to early nineties AIDS became more than just an incurable disease that took the lives of numerous artists, it also provided photography and art with the opportunity to carry out a fundamental reassessment of social problems such as prejudice or discrimination.  In their work, the many artists who were infected with AIDS confronted not only the disease itself, but also these 'social sicknesses', treating them as personal issues and creating numerous works that forced us to address these problems.  Even today, new possibilities of expression that force us to consider transformations of sexuality or expressions of others, representations of the body or questions of art and politics continue to be produced. 

This exhibition will present works that are powerful enough to have influenced aspects of art and photography while reappraising and redefining their meaning. 

image: David Wojnarowicz 《Untitled(Falling Buffalo)》1988-89
Courtesy of the Estate of David Wojnarowicz and P.P.O.W Gallery, New York NY

Call for Artists: Positive Inspirations

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is currently seeking artistic submissions from individuals interested in donating their talent to the POSITIVE INSPIRATIONS project.

POSITIVE INSPIRATIONS is the exciting and upcoming publication designed to raise the level of global HIV awareness through artistic expression. The publication will showcase the talent from individuals around the world who are committed to our fight against the HIV pandemic and the HIV-related stigma.

Whether you are a beginner or a seasoned professional, you do not want to miss this opportunity to gain worldwide recognition and enhance your portfolio by joining in our fight against HIV.

Art is the universal language that has the power to bring together many diverse people to hear an important message. Artistic expression has the ability to educate, motivate, and empower people to affect meaningful change. This project is about inspiring others through your creativity to make a positive change. YOUR ART CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

For more information, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org/PositiveInspirations or contact Steven Smith at: [email protected].

Please help us to spread the word about this important project. Pass this information along to anyone whom you think would be interested in participating in POSITIVE INSPIRATIONS.

We look forward to your participation!

Together We Can Make A Difference!
Together We Remain Strong!

After Dinner Mints

via American Journal of Nursing

Like the rest of Thongleum Damviengkum's artwork on display at Cabbages and Condoms (www.pda.or.th/restaurant/default.asp), a restaurant in Bangkok, Thailand, this sign is made largely from out-of-date birth control pills and condoms. The nonprofit restaurant was founded by a nongovernmental organization, the Population and Community Development Association, to help empower the poor and fund sex and AIDS education. Safer-sex posters adorn the walls; out-of-date birth control pills and condoms have been crafted into quirky outfits for "greeter" mannequins and decorations for lamp shades and flowerpots. Asked about his work, the artist says, "There are people working here who have AIDS and everyone knows it and it creates no problems. Outside, however, there is much prejudice and stigma. Maybe my work will help get rid of the stigma. Maybe my work will make people think seriously about using condoms. . . . Humor is important if you want people to listen. Maybe someday people will be able to talk as freely about condoms as they do about cabbages."

Upcoming: Mark Morrisroe – Retrospective

Mark Morrisroe – Retrospective
November 27, 2010 to February 13, 2011

Fotomuseum Winterthur
Grüzenstrasse 44 + 45
CH-8400 Winterthur (Zurich)
www.fotomuseum.ch

The extraordinary work of the American art photographer Mark Morrisroe (1959–1989) has barely ever been exhibited in Europe; mostly it appears in connection with his famous colleagues Nan Goldin and David Armstrong, since, like the latter, Morrisroe documented his circle of friends, reflecting punk and bohemia. He finished his studies at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston a few years after they had and died as a result of AIDS at the young age of thirty. His short period of creativity in the nineteen-eighties was astonishingly productive and stands out because of its very individual aesthetic. In painterly portraits and nude photographs, he captured his friends; the Polaroid camera became a mirror of his own body, reflecting illness and decay as well. During the three years leading up to his death, he transferred his photographic experiments more and more to the dark room, where he used pages from porno magazines and X-ray images of himself as negatives. The exhibition will show many unknown works: from the tumultuous beginnings in a punk style to the sandwich prints produced through extensive laboratory work, the graininess and muted colors of which are reminiscent of Pictorialism. An exhibition by the Fotomuseum Winterthur in collaboration with the Ringier Collection.

image: Mark  Morrisroe, No title, c. 1988, The Estate of Mark Morrisroe (Collection Ringier) at Fotomuseum Winterthur

UNAIDS Survey request

Each year, the NGO Delegation to the UNAIDS governing body (called the Programme Coordinating Board or PCB) submits a report to the Board. This is an important opportunity for to present the unique perspectives of civil society on the developments and issues around the AIDS pandemic. Broad input from civil society informs the NGO report, particularly regarding key issues on the agenda, but also regarding persistent or emerging issues “on the ground.” 

The June 2010 board meeting will include agenda items such as non-discrimination; men who have sex with men (MSM); and a thematic focus on sexual and reproductive health services linked to HIV.

Please take a few minutes to complete this anonymous questionnaire, which is divided into three sections. The first section asks general information about you. The second section asks about how stigma and/or discrimination are impeding access to prevention, treatment, care and support. The third section asks about the programming of UNAIDS’ (including the ten Cosponsors) to tackle stigma and/or discrimination in your country or region. 

The Survey is currently also available in Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian and French. It will soon be made available in Thai, Burmese, Swahili and Arabic. The deadline is March 15, 2010. 

Link to English Survey <http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/YVMZN62> 
Link to Portuguese survey <http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/YVSMGV8> 
Link to Russian survey <http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/YVTCZXJ> 
Link to Spanish Survey <http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/YVTRQHG> 
Link to French Surve <http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/YVMSYDV> y
Link to Chinese Survey <http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/YVXG88Y> 

Call for Papers: Drawing the Line Against AIDS

Drawing the Line Against AIDS

February 4-5, 2010
Adelaide, Australia

Paper abstracts are sought for 'Drawing the Line Against AIDS', an
interdisciplinary and international conference concerning the history and
impact of cultural production surrounding HIV/AIDS to be held in Adelaide,
Australia. The conference will explore the past, present, and future of AIDS
art, AIDS activism and AIDS prevention, and the connections between them.

Deadline for submission of paper abstracts is December 1, 2009.

For further information about the conference and how to submit a paper, click here, or contact Dr Paul Sendziuk at [email protected]

Jack Smith: Cologne 1974

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)