AIDS: Cultural Analysis/Cultural Acitivsim

[Introduction] Author(s): Douglas Crimp Source: October, Vol. 43, AIDS: Cultural Analysis/Cultural Activism (Winter, 1987), pp. 3-16 Published by: The MIT Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3397562 . Accessed: 18/01/2014 10:15 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. . The MIT Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to October. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 128.151.244.46 on Sat, 18 Jan 2014 10:15:49 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions AIDS: Cultural Analysis/ Cultural Activism DOUGLAS CRIMP "I assert,to begin with,that 'disease' does not exist. It is thereforeillusory to thinkthatone can 'develop beliefs'about it to 'respond' to it. What does exist is not disease but practices." Thus begins Francois Delaporte's investigationof the 1832 cholera epidemic in Paris.' It is a statementwe may find difficultto swallow,as we witnessthe ravages of AIDS in the bodies of our friends,our lovers,and ourselves.But it is neverthelesscrucialto our understandingof AIDS, because it shattersthe mythso centralto liberalviewsof the epidemic: thatthere are, on the one hand, the scientificfactsabout AIDS and, on the other hand, of those factsstandingin the way of a rational ignorance or misrepresentation follow I will therefore Delaporte's assertion:AIDS does not existapart response. fromthe practicesthatconceptualizeit,representit,and respond to it. We know AIDS only in and throughthose practices. This assertiondoes not contest the existence of viruses,antibodies, infections,or transmissionroutes. Least of all and death. What it doescontestis does it contestthe realityof illness,suffering, the notion that there is an underlyingrealityof AIDS, upon which are constructed the representations,or the culture, or the politics of AIDS. If we recognize that AIDS existsonly in and throughthese constructions,then hopefullywe can also recognizethe imperativeto knowthem,analyze them,and wrest controlof them. Within the arts, the scientificexplanation and management of AIDS is largelytakenforgranted,and it is thereforeassumed thatculturalproducerscan respondto the epidemicin onlytwo ways:byraisingmoneyforscientificresearch and serviceorganizationsor by creatingworksthatexpress the human suffering and loss. In an article for Horizon entitled "AIDS: The Creative Response," David Kaufmanoutlinedexamples of both,includingbenefitssuch as "Music for Life," "Dancing for Life," and "Art against AIDS," togetherwithdescriptions 1. FranCoisDelaporte, Disease and Civilization:The Cholerain Paris, 1832, trans. ArthurGoldhammer,Cambridge, Massachusetts,and London, England, MIT Press, 1986, p. 6. This content downloaded from 128.151.244.46 on Sat, 18 Jan 2014 10:15:49 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 4 CRIMP of plays, literature,and paintingsthat take AIDS as their subject.2 Regarding these latter "creative responses," Kaufman rehearses the cliches about art's "expressingfeelingsthatare not easilyarticulated,""shar[ing]experiencesand values throughcatharsisand metaphor," "demonstratingthe indomitabilityof the human spirit,""consciousnessraising." Art is what survives,endures, transcends; art constitutesour legacy. In this regard, AIDS is even seen to have a positivevalue: Kaufmanquotes Michael Denneny of St. Martin'sPress as saying, "We're on the vergeof gettinga literatureout of thisthatwillbe a renaissance."3 In July 1987, PBS's McNeillLehrerNewshourdevoted a portionof its program to "AIDS in the Arts." The segment opened with the shibbolethabout "homosexuals" being "the lifebloodof show businessand the arts," and wenton to note the AIDS-related deathsof a numberof famousartists.Such a pretextfor a special reporton AIDS is highlyproblematic,and on a numberof counts: First, it reinforcesthe equation of AIDS and homosexuality,neglectingeven to mention the possibilitythat an artist,like anyone else, mightacquire AIDS heterosexuallyor throughshared needles when shootingdrugs. Secondly, it suggests that gay people have a natural inclinationtoward the arts,the homophobic flip side of whichis the notion that "homosexuals controlthe arts" (ideas perfectly parallel withanti-Semiticattitudesthat see Jews as, on the one hand, "making special contributionsto culture," and, on the other, "controllingcapital"). But most perniciousof all, it impliesthat gay people "redeem" themselvesby being artists,and thereforethat the deaths of other gay people are less tragic.4The message is that art, because it is timelessand universal,transcendsindividual lives,whichare time-boundand contingent. Entirelyabsent from the news report (and the Horizon article) was any mention of activistresponses to AIDS by cultural producers. The focus was instead on the dramaticeffectof the epidemic upon the art world, the coping with illnessand death. Extended interviewswithchoreographersBill T. Jones and his lover Arnie Zane, who has been diagnosed withAIDS, emphasized the "human face" of the disease in a waythatwas farmore palatable than is usual in broadcasttelevision,simplybecause itallowed the positiveself-representations of both a person withAIDS and a gay relationship.Asked whetherhe thought"the David Kaufman,"AIDS: The Creative Response," Horizon,vol. 30, no. 9 (November 1987), 2. pp. 13-20. 3. Denneny is the editor of Randy Shilts'sAnd theBand PlayedOn, a discussionof whichappears in my essay "How to Have Promiscuityin an Epidemic," pp. 237-271. 4. Redemption,of course, necessitatesa prior sin-the sin of homosexuality,of promiscuity,of drug use-and thusa programsuch as "AIDS in the Arts" contributesto the media's distributionof innocence and guilt according to who you are and how you acquired AIDS. Promiscuousgay men and IV drug users are unquestionablyguiltyin this construction,but so are all people frompoor minoritypopulations.The special attentionpaid to artistsand other celebritieswithAIDS is neverthelesscontradictory.While a TV programsuch as "Aids in the Arts" virtuallybeatifiesthe stricken artist,for personalitiessuch as Rock Hudson and Liberace the scandal of being found guiltyof homosexualitytarnishesthe halo of theircelebritystatus. This content downloaded from 128.151.244.46 on Sat, 18 Jan 2014 10:15:49 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions AIDS: CulturalAnalysis/ CulturalActivism 5 artsare particularlyhit by AIDS," Zane replied, "That's the controversialquestion this month,right?"but then went on to say, "Of course I do. I am in the center of this world, the art world. ... I am losing my colleagues." Colleen Dewhurst, president of Actors Equity, suggested rather that "AIDS-related deaths are not more common among artists,only more visible,"and continued, "Artistsare supposed to representthe human condition . . ." (a conditionthat is, of course, assumed to be universal). "Art liveson forever"- thisidealistplatitudecame fromElizabethTaylor, National Chairman of the American Foundation for AIDS Research, shown addressingthe star-studdedcrowdat the gala to kickoff"Art againstAIDS." But strangelyit was Richard Goldstein,writerfor the VillageVoiceand a committed activiston the subjectof AIDS, who contributedthe broadcast'smostunabashed statementof faithin art's transcendenceof life: "In an ironicsense, I thinkthat AIDS is good for art. I thinkit will produce great works that will outlast and transcendthe epidemic." It would appear from such a statementthat what is at stake is not the survivalof people withAIDS and those who mightnow be or eventuallybecome infectedwith HIV, but rather the survival,even the flourishing,of art. For Goldstein,thisis surelyless a questionof hopelesslyconfusedpriorities,however, thanof a failureto recognizethe alternativesto thisdesirefortranscendence- a failuredeterminedby the intractability of the traditionalidealistconception of art, which entirelydivorces art fromengagementin lived social life. Writingin the catalogue of "Art againstAIDS," Robert Rosenblumaffirms this limitedand limitingview of art and the passivityit entails: By now, in the 1980s, we are all disenchantedenough to knowthatno workof art,howevermuch it mayfortify the spiritor nourishthe eye and mind,has the slightestpower to save a life. Only science can do that.But we also know thatart does not existin an ivorytower,thatit is made and valued by human beings who live and die, and thatit can generate a passionate abundance of solidarity,love, intelligence,and most important,money.5 There could hardlybe a clearer declaration of the contradictionsinherentin aestheticidealism than one which blandlyaccepts art's inabilityto intervenein the social and simultaneouslypraises its commodityvalue. To recognize thisas contradictoryis not, however,to object to exploitingthat commodityvalue for the purpose of fundraisingfor AIDS research and service. Given the failureof governmentat every level to provide the funding necessary to combat the epidemic,such effortsas "Art against AIDS" have been necessary,even crucial to our survival.I want, nevertheless,to make three caveats. 5. Robert Rosenblum,"Life Versus Death: The Art World in Crisis," in ArtagainstAIDS, New York, American Foundation for AIDS Research, 1987, p. 32. This content downloaded from 128.151.244.46 on Sat, 18 Jan 2014 10:15:49 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions CRIMP 6 and 1. Scientificresearch,health care, and education are the responsibility an of and not of so-called purpose government "private initiative," ideological termthat excuses and perpetuatesthe state's irresponsibility. Therefore, every ventureof thisnatureshould make clear thatit is necessitatedstrictlybecause of criminalnegligence on the part of government.What we find,however,is the veryopposite: Confrontinga man-madeevil like the war in Vietnam,we could assail a governmentand the people in charge. But how do we confronta diabolicallyprotean virus that has been killingfirstthose pariahs of grass-rootsAmerica, homosexuals and drug addicts, and has then gone on to kill, with far less moral discrimination,even women, children,and heterosexualmen?We have recourseonlyto love and to science, which is what ArtagainstAIDS is all about.6 2. Blind faithin science,as if it were entirelyneutraland uncontaminated by politics,is naive and dangerous. It must be the responsibilityof everyone contributingto fundraisersto know enough about AIDS to determinewhether the beneficiarywillput the moneyto the best possibleuse. How manyartistsand dealers contributingto "Art against AIDS," for example, know preciselywhat kindsof scientificresearchare supportedby the AmericanFoundation forAIDS Research?How manyknow the alternativesto AmFAR's researchagenda, alternatives such as the CommunityResearch Initiative,an effortat testingAIDS treatmentsinitiatedat the communitylevel by PWAs themselves?As anyone involved in the struggleagainst AIDS knows fromhorrendousexperience, we cannot affordto leave anythingup to the "experts." We mustbecome our own experts.7 3. Raising money is the most passive response of culturalpractitionersto social crisis,a response that perpetuates the idea that art itselfhas no social function(aside from being a commodity),that there is no such thing as an engaged, activistaestheticpractice.It is thisthirdpointthatI wantto underscore 6. Ibid., p. 28. I hope we can assume that Rosenblum intendshis remarksabout "pariahs" and "moral discrimination"ironically,although this is hardly what I would call politicallysensitive reproduces what is writtenin the writing.It could easilybe read withoutirony,since it so faithfully press virtuallyevery day. And the implicationof the "even women" in the categorydistinctfrom "homosexuals" is, once again, that there's no such thingas a lesbian. But can we expect political fromsomeone who cannot see thatAIDS is political?thatscienceis political?It was science, sensitivity afterall, thatconceptualizedAIDS as a gay disease-and wasted precious timescrutinizingour sex lives,theorizingabout killersperm,and givingmegadoses of poppers to mice at the CDC-all the whiletakinglittlenoticeof the otherswho were dyingof AIDS, and thusallowingHIV to be injected into the veinsof vastnumbersof IV drug users,as well as of hemophiliacsand otherpeople requiring blood transfusions. I do not wish to cast suspicionon AmFAR, but ratherto suggestthatno organizationcan be 7. seen as neutralor objective.See, in thisregard,the exchange of letterson AmFAR's rejectionof the CommunityResearch Initiative'sfundingapplicationsin the PWA CoalitionNewsline,no. 30 (January 1988), pp. 3-7. This content downloaded from 128.151.244.46 on Sat, 18 Jan 2014 10:15:49 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions AIDS: CulturalAnalysis/ CulturalActivism 7 by insisting,againstRosenblum,thatart doeshave the power to save lives,and it is thisverypower thatmustbe recognized,fostered,and supportedin everyway possible. But ifwe are to do this,we willhave to abandon the idealistconception of art. We don't need a culturalrenaissance;we need culturalpracticesactively participatingin the struggleagainst AIDS. We don't need to transcend the epidemic; we need to end it. What might such a cultural practice be? One example appeared in November 1987 in the window on Broadway of New York's New Museum of ContemporaryArt. EntitledLet theRecordShow . . . , it is the collectiveworkof ACT UP (the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power), which is-I repeat what is statedat the beginningof everyMonday nightmeeting-"a nonpartisangroup of diverseindividualsunited in anger and committedto directaction to end the AIDS crisis." More precisely,Let theRecordShow . . . is the work of an ad hoc committeewithinACT UP thatresponded to the New Museum's offerto do the window installation.The offerwas tendered by Curator Bill Olander, himselfa participantin ACT UP. I firstbecame aware of ACT UP, like manyotherNew Yorkers,when I saw a poster appear on lower Broadway with the equation: SILENCE=DEATH. Accompanyingthese words, sited on a black was a background, pink triangle-the symbolof homosexual persecutionduringthe Nazi period and, sincethe 1960s, the emblemof gay liberation.For anyone conversantwiththisiconography,therewas no question that this was a poster designed to provoke and heighten awareness of the AIDS crisis. To me, it was more than that: it was worksof art thathad yetbeen done which among the mostsignificant was inspiredand produced withinthe arms of the crisis.8 That symbol,made of neon, occupied the curved portionof the New Museum's arched window.Below it,in the background,and bathed in soft,even light,was a photomuralof the NurembergTrials (in addition to prosecutingNazi war criminals, those trialsestablishedour present-daycode of medical ethics, involving such thingsas informedconsentto experimentalmedical procedures).In frontof thisgiantphoto are six life-size,silhouettedphotographsof "AIDS criminals"in separate,boxed-inspaces, and below each one the wordsby whichhe or she may be judged by history,cast- literally-in concrete. As the lightgoes on in each of these separate boxed spaces, we can see the face and read the words: Bill Olander, "The Window on Broadway by ACT UP," in On View(handout), New York, 8. New Museum of ContemporaryArt, 1987, p. 1. The logo thatOlander describesis not the workof ACT UP, but of a designcollectivecalled the SILENCE=DEATH Project,whichhas lentthe logo to ACT UP. This content downloaded from 128.151.244.46 on Sat, 18 Jan 2014 10:15:49 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions ACT UP. Let the Record Show . . . (detail). 1987. (Photo:TomKalin.) The logical outcome of testingis a quarantine of those infected. -Jesse Helms, US Senator It is patrioticto have the AIDS testand be negative. -Cory Servaas, PresidentialAIDS Commission We used to hate faggotson an emotional basis. Now we have a good reason. anonymous surgeon AIDS is God's judgment of a societythat does not live by His rules. -Jerry Falwell, televangelist Everyone detected withAIDS should be tattooed in the upper forearm, to protectcommon needle users,and on the buttocksto prevent the victimizationof other homosexuals. -William F. Buckley,columnist And finally,there is a blank slab of concrete, above which is the silhouetted photographof PresidentReagan. We look up fromthisblank slab and see, once again, the neon sign: SILENCE=DEATH. But there is more. Suspended above this rogues' gallery is an electronic informationdisplayprogrammedwitha runningtext,portionsof whichread as follows: Let the record show . . . William F. Buckley deflects criticism of the government'sslow responseto the epidemicthroughcalculations:"At most three years were lost . . . Those three years have killed approx- imately15,000 people; ifwe are talking50 milliondead, thenthe cost of delay is not heavy . . . Let the record show . . . The Pentagon spends in one day more than the governmentspent in the last five years for AIDS research and education . . . Let the record show . . . InJune 1986, $47 million was allocated for new drug trialsto include 10,000 people withAIDS. One year later only 1,000 people are currentlyenrolled. In that time, over 9,000 Americanshave died of AIDS. Let the record show . . . In 1986, Dr. Cory Servaas, editor of the SaturdayEvening Post, announced that after working closely with the National Institutesof Health, she had found a cure forAIDS. At the time,the National Institutesof Health officialssaid that theyhad never heard of Dr. Cory Servaas. In 1987, President Reagan appointed Dr. Cory Servaas to the PresidentialAIDS Commission. This content downloaded from 128.151.244.46 on Sat, 18 Jan 2014 10:15:49 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 5___t^ /1 I -t.. A - ,,,,'':~ - ''f-t: -~-' -0s?^-i.'S,>~? A om %-r'* r14a * i. , L;---~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ )Si~~~~~~~\~ r ,,,V~ ?- ~~ ~ ~ ~ , '?I~Lt ~ ~ ~ ' o e A ..;?r .R T Sti3 This content downloaded from 128.151.244.46 on Sat, 18 Jan 2014 10:15:49 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions - ~~~~~*- ?-^; lSr*' swil ;A t1 J. . l . This content downloaded from 128.151.244.46 on Sat, 18 Jan 2014 10:15:49 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions ACT UP. Let the Record Show . . . 1987. (Photo:RobinHolland.) Let the record show . . . In October of 1986, $80 millionwas allocated for public education about AIDS. 13 monthslater there is still no national education program. In that time,over 15,000 new cases have been reported. Let the record show . . . 54% of the people withAIDS in New York Cityare black and Hispanic. The incidenceof heterosexuallytransmitted AIDS is 17 times higher among blacks than whites, 15 times higher among Hispanics than whites. 88% of babies with AIDS are black and Hispanic. 6% of the US AIDS education budget has been targetedfor the minoritycommunity. And finally: By Thanksgiving 1981, 244 known dead . . . AIDS . . . no word fromthe President. By Thanksgiving1982, 1,123 knowndead . . . AIDS . . . no word fromthe President. The text continues like this, always with no word from the President, until finally: By Thanksgiving 1987, 25,644 known dead . . . AIDS . . . President Reagan: "I have asked the Departmentof Health and Human Servicesto determineas soon as possiblethe extentto whichthe AIDS virus has penetratedour society." Aftereach of these bits of information,the sign flashes,"Act Up, Fight Back, Fight AIDS," a standard slogan at ACT UP demonstrations.Documentary footagefromsome of thesedemonstrationscould be seen in the videotape Testing theLimits:New York,programmedat the New Museum simultaneouslywiththe windowdisplay.The video about AIDS activismin New York Cityis the workof a collective (also called Testing the Limits) "formed to document emerging formsof activismarisingout of people's responsesto governmentinactionin the global AIDS epidemic." The SILENCE=DEATH Project,the group fromACT UP who made Let theRecordShow . . . , and Testing the Limitsshare importantpremisesthatcan teach us much about engaged art practices. First,theyare collective endeavors. Second, these practicesare employedby the collectives'membersas an essential part of theirAIDS activism.This is not to say that the individualsinvolvedare not artistsin the more conventionalsense of the word; many of these people work withinthe precinctsof the traditionalart world and its institutions.But involvementin the AIDS crisishas not lefttheirrelationto thatworld unaltered. AftermakingLet theRecordShow . . . for the New Museum, for example, the group fromACT UP reconvened and decided to continue theirwork. Among This content downloaded from 128.151.244.46 on Sat, 18 Jan 2014 10:15:49 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions CRIMP 12 the general principlesdiscussed at their firstmeeting, one was unanimously voiced: "We have to get out of Soho, get out of the art world." The New Museum has been more hospitablethan most art institutionsto sociallyand politicallycommittedart practices,and it was verycourageous of the museumto offerspace to an activistorganizationratherthanto an artist.It is also veryusefulthatthe museum has a windowon lower Broadway thatis passed by manypeople who would never set foot in an art museum. But ifwe thinkabout art in relation to the AIDS epidemic-in relation,that is, to the communities mostdrasticallyaffectedby AIDS, especiallythe poor and minoritycommunities where AIDS is spreading much fasterthan elsewhere-we will realize that no workmade withinthe confinesof the art world as it is currentlyconstitutedwill reach these people. Activistart thereforeinvolves questions not only of the nature of culturalproduction,but also of the location,or the means of distribution, of that production. Let theRecordShow . . . was made for an art-world location,and it appears to have been made largelyforan art-worldaudience. By providinginformationabout governmentinactionand repressiveintentionsin the context of shocking statistics,its purpose is to inform-and therebyto mobilize-its presumablysophisticatedaudience (an audience presumed, for example, to be able to recognize a photographof the NurembergTrials).9 Such informationand mobilizationcan (contra Rosenblum) save lives; indeed, untila cure for AIDS is developed, onlyinformationand mobilizationcan save lives. In New York City,virtuallyeveryofficialcampaign of highlyvisiblepublic informationabout AIDS-whether AIDS education in schools, public service announcementson TV, or postersin the subways-must meetwiththe approval of, among others, the immenselypowerful and reactionaryCardinal John J. O'Connor. This has resultedin a murderousregime of silence and disinformation that virtuallyguarantees the mounting deaths of sexually active young people - gay and straight--and of IV drug users,theirsex partners,and their children,mostof themfrompoor, minoritypopulations.Recognizingthis,small coalitionsof culturalworkers,includinga group calling itselfthe Metropolitan Health Association and the ACT UP committee that created Let the Record Show . . . , have takento the streetsand subwaysto mounteducation campaigns of theirown. Employingsophisticatedgraphicsand explicitinformation, printed in English and Spanish, these artistsand activistsare attemptingto get the unambiguousword out about how safe sex and clean workscan protectpeople fromcontractingHIV. Even apart fromthe possibilityof arrest,the difficulties faced by these people are daunting.Their workdemands a total reevaluationof the nature and purpose of culturalpracticesin conjunctionwithan understand- 9. Whetheror not the audience was also presumedto be able to see a connectionbetweenLet the RecordShow . . . and the proceduresand devices of artistssuch as Hans Haacke, JennyHolzer, and Barbara Kruger is an open question. This content downloaded from 128.151.244.46 on Sat, 18 Jan 2014 10:15:49 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions HealthAssociation.Clean works Metropolitan New YorkCitysubways.1988. informationfor (Photo:Diane Neumaier.) ing of the politicalgoals of AIDS activism.It requires,in addition,a comprehenand means of prevention,as wellas sive knowledgeof routesof HIV transmission to culturalspecificity-to, say,the streetlanguage of Puerto Ricans a sensitivity as opposed to that of Spanish-speakingimmigrantsfrom Central or South America. Even havingadopted new prioritiesand accumulated new formsof knowledge, the task of culturalproducers workingwithinthe struggleagainst AIDS will be difficult. The ignorance and confusionenforcedby governmentand the and immiserationof manyof the peodominantmedia; the disenfranchisement ple thus far hardesthit by AIDS; and the psychicresistenceto confrontingsex, disease, and death in a societywhere those subjects are largelytaboo-all of theseconditionsmustbe faced byanyone doing workon AIDS. Culturalactivism is only now beginning;also just beginningis the recognitionand supportof this work by art-worldinstitutions. apart fromthe New Museum, I want to mention Among those institutions, and credittwo. Due to momentumgatheringamong studentsand facultyat the California Instituteof the Arts in the previous year, the school developed a programof AIDS-related activitiesfor 1987-88. These included a course entitled "Media(ted) AIDS" givenbyJan Zita Groverand open to the entirestudent This content downloaded from 128.151.244.46 on Sat, 18 Jan 2014 10:15:49 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions CRIMP 14 body; an agreementby the facultyto spend one-tenthof the overall budget for visitingartistsand lecturerson presentationsabout AIDS-related work; a commitmentby the libraryto spend one-quarterof its video acquisitionbudget on tapes about AIDS; and the inclusionof AIDS informationin the monthlystudent newsletter(this informationwas also regularlysilkscreenedonto the school's walls). The value of such a coordinatedprogramis thatstudentscan both receive (but also generate) informationthat can help them personally and begin to reconsidertheirroles as artistsworkingin a momentof social crisis. To date, a majorityof culturalproducers workingin the struggleagainst AIDS have used the video medium.There are a numberof explanationsforthis: Much of the dominantdiscourseon AIDS has been conveyedthroughtelevision, and thisdiscoursehas generateda criticalcounter-practicein the same medium; video can sustaina fairlycomplex arrayof information;and cable access and the widespreaduse of VCRs providethe potentialof a large audience forthiswork.'0 In October 1987, the American Film InstituteVideo Festivalincluded a series entitled"Only Human: Sex, Gender, and Other Misrepresentations,"organized by Bill Horrigan and B. Ruby Rich. Of eight programsin the series,three were devoted to videotapes on AIDS. Among the more than twentyvideos, a full range of independentworkwas represented,includingtapes made forbroadcast TV (AIDS in theArts),AIDS education tapes (Sex, Drugs,and AIDS, made forthe New York Cityschool system),and "art" tapes (NewsfromHome,by Tom Kalin and Stathis Lagoudakis); music videos (The ADS Epidemic,by John Greyson), documentaries(TestingtheLimits),and critiquesof the media (A Plague on You, by the Lesbian and Gay Media Group). The intentionof the programwas not to select work on the basis of aestheticmerit,but ratherto show somethingof the of AIDS. As B. Ruby Rich range of representationsand counter-representations stated it in the catalogue: To speak of sexualityand the body,and not also speak of AIDS, would be, well, obscene. At the same time, the peculiarly key role being played by the media in this scenario makes it urgent that counterbe created and articulated.To thisend, images and counter-rhetoric we have grouped the AIDS tapes togetherin threespecial programsto allow the dynamicof theirinteractionto produce itsown discourseand to allow the inveterate viewer to begin making the aesthetic diagnosisthat is quicklybecoming everybit as urgentas (particularly in the absence of) the medical one.11 10. For a good overviewof both commercialtelevisionand independentvideo productionsabout AIDS, see TimothyLanders, "Bodies and Anti-Bodies:A Crisisin Representation,"TheIndependent, vol. 11, no. 1 (January-February1988), pp. 18-24. 11. B. Ruby Rich, "Only Human: Sex, Gender, and Other Misrepresentations,"in 1987 American Film InstituteVideoFestival,Los Angeles, 1987, p. 42. This content downloaded from 128.151.244.46 on Sat, 18 Jan 2014 10:15:49 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions AIDS: CulturalAnalysisI CulturalActivism 15 The preparationof thisOCTOBER publicationon AIDS stemmedinitially from my encounters with several works both in and about the media: Simon and theMedia; Stuart MarWatney's book PolicingDesire: AIDS, Pornography, shall's video BrightEyes,made for Britain's Channel 4; and the documentary about AIDS activismin New York, TestingtheLimits.In addition,I learned that Amber Hollibaugh, of the AIDS DiscriminationUnit of the New York City Commissionon Human Rights,was at workon The SecondEpidemic,a documentaryabout AIDS-related discrimination.From the beginningmyintentionwas to show, throughdiscussionof these works,that there was a critical,theoretical, activistalternativeto the personal,elegiac expressionsthatappeared to dominate the art-worldresponse to AIDS. What seemed to me essential was a vastly expanded view of culture in relation to crisis.But the full extent to which this viewwould have to be expanded onlybecame clear throughfurtherengagement withthe issues. AIDS intersectswithand requires a criticalrethinkingof all of culture:of language and representation,of science and medicine,of health and illness,of sex and death, of the public and privaterealms.AIDS is a centralissue for gay men, of course, but also for lesbians. AIDS is an issue for women generally,but especiallyforpoor and minoritywomen,forchild-bearingwomen, forwomen workingin the healthcare system.AIDS is an issue fordrug users,for prisoners,for sex workers.At some point, even "ordinary" heterosexual men will have to learn that AIDS is an issue for them,and not simplybecause they mightbe susceptibleto "contagion." The unevennesswith which these questions are addressed in this publication, the prioritygiven to gay issues (and to gay writers),reflects,in part, the historyof organized response to AIDS in the US. Gay men and lesbiansjoined the strugglefirstand are stillon its frontlines. The unevennessis compensated, however, by the involvementof these people (and, increasingly,of straight women) in all the issues raised by AIDS, a developmentthat is reflectedin the work published here. (A gay friendabout to embark on a poster campaignusingthe recentlyreleased statisticthatone in sixty-onebabies born in New York City are HIV positive-spoke of the irony of a bunch of faggots tryingto educate heterosexualsabout safe sex practices.)'2 But there are lacunae that I regret,the most importantof which is attentionto the cataclysmicproblem of AIDS in the Third World, a problem about which one hears only a deafening silence in the dominantmedia in the US. 12. An even more profoundironyis the factthatoftenonly gay people are willingto act as foster parentsfor HIV-positive children,and at a time when gay parentingis increasinglycoming under attackby both federal and state governments.A special commissionof the Reagan Administration has recommendedagainst lesbiansand gay men as potential fosterparents,and several stateshave passed laws explicitlyforbiddinggay people to adopt children. In addition, gay parents are often refusedcustodyof theirnatural childrensolely on the grounds of sexual orientation. This content downloaded from 128.151.244.46 on Sat, 18 Jan 2014 10:15:49 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 16 CRIMP It has taken the work of manypeople to make thispublicationwhat it is. I want to thank all of the contributors,both those who turned their attentions fromusual concernsto thinkand writeabout AIDS and thoseactivistswho found the extra timeand energyto writeforan academic publication.The People with AIDS Coalition in New York generouslyput the fullrun of theirNewslineat my disposal and granted me a free hand in makingselectionsfromit. Information, leads, and illustrationalmaterialswere provided by the Gay Men's Health Crisis, Jan Zita Grover,Isaac Julien,Tom Kalin, Diane Neumaier,JimSteakley,Frank Wagner, and Michael Wessmann; and Terri Cafaro, Joan Copjec, and Cathy Scott helped withvarious aspects of production. My own education about AIDS was made considerablyeasier by the agreement of membersof my reading group to spend several monthsdiscussingthe subject and looking at videotapes, and I thereforewant to acknowledge the participationof Terri Cafaro, Carlos Espinosa, Martha Gever, TimothyLanders, Eileen O'Neill, and our short-termguests Lee Quinby and Jane Rubin. Attendance at the regular Monday night meetings of ACT UP provided me with informationand helped clarifymany issues. Finally,I want to up-to-the-minute acknowledge the sustainedinvolvementof Gregg Bordowitz,who has helped in countlessways. This content downloaded from 128.151.244.46 on Sat, 18 Jan 2014 10:15:49 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions