AIDS Demo Graphics

photo/essay document of ACT UP

In what the authors call a "do-it-yourself manual, showing how to make propaganda work in the fight against AIDS," they depict a history of demonstrations, sit-ins and similar steps taken by ACT UP and other groups. The volume is illustrated with photos of the protests as well as graphics used in conjunction with them, such as a poster featuring a penis and the words: "Sexism Rears Its Unprotected Head/Men: Use Condoms or Beat It" (according to Bay Press, Arcata Graphics, the book's original printer, reneged on its contract with Bay, citing "sensitive" material). One typical entry, recounting ACT UP's civil disobedience at FDA headquarters, is accompanied by a placard saying, "Time isn't the only thing the FDA is killing." Another describes the group Gran Fury's "same-sex kiss-in," publicized with two posters: one a WW II photo of kissing sailors, the other showing a lesbian couple from a 1920s stage play. Slogans and images outnumber substantiated arguments about appropriate approaches to take regarding AIDS, and this book will best suit those already convinced of the efficacy of public and publicity-conscious protest as opposed to other forms of action. The authors are ACT UP activists; Crimp is a freelance art critic and Rolston is an architect.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

These books demonstrate how two different activist groups use an expanded concept of art to effect social change. Fifth in the Dia Art Foundation's "Discussions in Contemporary Culture" series, Democracy began as a series of events by the artists' collaborative Group Material during 1987-89. It deals with the relationship of democracy to controversial issues of education, cultural activism, elections, feminism, and AIDS. (A forthcoming companion volume will address housing, homelessness, and urban planning.) Rather than reach a conclusion, this documentation of a series of "Town Meetings" establishes a provocative dialog among such diverse contributors as Erma Bombeck, William Olander, and Noam Chomsky. The AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP), a "diverse, nonpartisan group united in anger and committed to direct action to end the AIDS crisis" with autonomous chapters in cities throughout the world, employs civil disobedience to pressure for Federal Drug Administration (FDA) drug approvals, to criticize inactive politicians, and to educate the public. The design of their best-known graphic, "Silence=Death" beneath an inverted pink triangle, made the powerful analogy between AIDS and Nazi crimes, but actually preceded the group's founding in New York in 1987. AIDS Demo Graphics documents how graphics by controversial artists including Jenny Holzer, Barbara Kruger, and the AIDS activist artist collective Gran Fury have been used by the New York chapter of ACT UP to encourage other groups to appropriate them and develop their own propaganda campaign in the war against AIDS. The interdisciplinary approach of both these books makes them important additions for all art, political science, and social science collections.
- James E. Van Buskirk, Acad . of Art Coll. Lib., San Francisco
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.