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Carpenter Center Exhibit Recognizes Art Activism
ACT UP Now!
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Today, the AIDS epidemic is a well–publicized, well–funded, governmentally supported cause. But little more than two decades ago the disease, and those affected by it, were ostracized, discriminated against and had little voice in the mainstream media or political realms with which to speak of their plight. But in those troubled times, a group of graphic designers, artists and advertisers, as well as others directly affected by AIDS formed The AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP), and hit the streets of New York City with a guerilla awareness campaign like none seen before. On street lamps, sidewalks, city buses, and billboards, New Yorkers in the 1980’s were faced with graphic art that spoke the truth about the thousands dying from the new disease.
ACT UP New York: Activism, Art, and the AIDS Crisis, 1987–1993, currently being shown at the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard University, is an exhibition containing art and graphics created at the time, as well as educational exhibits about the AIDS epidemic and movement as a whole. Included is a wall of concurrent timelines displaying the history of the epidemic and the acts of the coalition, a vast compilation of buttons, posters and installations of the street art displayed at the time, and a looping screening of the ACT UP Oral History Project, a film containing interviews with over 100 activists of the time.
Along with the exhibition, Harvard will be host to a series of speakers, educational lectures, workshops and film screenings throughout the exhibition’s tenure at the Carpenter. The exhibition will be housed at the Carpenter until December 23rd, 2009. For more information on the exhibition, accompanying events and the Carpenter visitation information, please visit http://www.ves.fas.harvard.edu/ACTUP.html.