Can visual art promote harm reduction among communities at high risk for HIV? How do we talk about AIDS with audiences both over- and under-informed?
Curtis Carman & Ginger Brooks Takahashi's works were designed for LGBT club-goers in collaboration with Longwood Gallery's Do You Think I'm Disco? exhibition.
Maria Lotuffo's piece was selected from School of Visual Arts (SVA) student submissions by Visual AIDS and Joy Episalla.
Do You Think I'm Disco
Longwood Art Gallery @ Hostos January 7, 2006 - March 18, 2006
The first survey to focus on dance music culture's impact on contemporary art focuses on the complex dialogue between club culture and society, and the subsequent influence on identity politics after the U.S.-based liberation movements of the late 1960s to 1970s. Organized by Edwin Ramoran, Director/Curator, Longwood Arts Project. For a full list of artists: longwoodarts.org or (718) 618-6728.
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About the Artists
"Queers, hello! What is your safe sex? What do you choose? What are our risks and answers, together?"
Ginger Brooks Takahashi (1977) is a co-founder of both LTTR, a queer feminist art journal, and project MOBILIVRE BOOKMOBILE project, a touring exhibit of artist books, zines, and independent publications. Selected exhibitions include Artists Space, New York; La Centrale, Montreal; Cinders, Brooklyn; Space 1026, Philadelphia; Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia.
"I sought to convey a message for a younger generation of LGBT people in the hopes of further building bridges. My lover of 20 years, Jack Doroshow, and I simply asked young LGBT friends from the NYC nightclub scene what they would like to get from a 'safe sex' message. The consensus was for positive communication that promoted condom use as fun and fashionable without chastisement. I hope to convey the diversity and caring that the LGBT community so proudly exemplifies in such fierce fashion."
Recent work by Third Leg, a collaboration of Ginger Brooks Takahashi, Onya Hogan-Finaly and Logan MacDonald, featured Visual AIDS-provided condoms.
Curtis Carman lives and works in Times Square, NYC. He is completing an MFA in sculpture at Hunter College in 2006 where he received The Tom Woods Award and a Welfare Scholarship Grant. Curtis's work has been exhibited in Berlin, Philadelphia, and New York. Currently, his work is on view in the exhibit "Do You Think I'm Disco" at Longwood Art Gallery in Bronx, NY, and was recently included in the Visual AIDS web gallery (November 2005).
"My broadside isn't striking; it isn't bloody or horrible. I wasn't trying to describe disease, loss, or propagate fear. Drawing from experience, I wanted to communicate how our most intimate loving relationships present moments where we must value life more and protect it."
Maria G. Lotuffo is a 3rd year student of Advertising and Graphic Design at SVA, School of Visual Art. She was born in Ecuador and currently lives in Queens.
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Recommended Resources
For more Visual AIDS -- our blog at: http://newsgrist.typepad.com/visualaids/
Click here for Past Broadsides 2005
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