United By Aids

The appearance of HIV/AIDS in the early 1980s and its subsequent rapid spread left deep marks on society. Artists and activists across the world responded to both the illness itself and its effects with moving work that reflects on loss, remembrance, and activism in art.

United by AIDS sheds light on the multifaceted and complex interrelation between art and HIV/AIDS from the 1980s to the present. Published to accompany an exhibition at Zurich’s Migros Museum of Contemporary Art, it looks at the blurred lines between art production and HIV/AIDS activism and showcases artists who played—and still play—leading roles in this discourse. Alongside fifty illustrations of important works, including many in color, the book includes brief texts on the featured artists and essays by Douglas Crimp, Alexander García Düttmann, Raphael Gygax, Elsa Himmer, Ted Kerr, Elisabeth Lebovici, and Nurja Ritter.
 

Heike Munder is a curator and director of the Migros Museum of Contemporary Art in Zurich.

Raphael Gygax is a Zurich-based writer, art historian, curator, and director of the BA Program in Art and Media at Zurich University of the Arts. He was a curator at Migros Museum of Contemporary Art in Zurich through 2019.