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On August 22, 2013, Visual AIDS along with the Pop Up Museum of Queer History and the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies, held a public forum entitled, (re)Presenting AIDS: Culture and Accountability. The event was recorded and transcribed. Panelists we invited to present a short statement about their work related to AIDS, art, and representation. Below, curator Kris Nuzzi speaks about her experience working with Sur Rodney (Sur) in curating NOT OVER.
My name is Kris, I am an independent curator and recently curated NOT OVER for Visual AIDS along with Sur Rodney (Sur) who could not be here today but has given me lots to say to you all.
I am going to start by sharing a few things I have learned a long the way curating NOT OVER. We were asked to do this and the first thing that came into our heads: this is a anniversary show but how do we make this not a celebration, even though there is so much to celebrate, to kind of remember that this is an ongoing crisis. For us it was important to blend the past, present, and also the future of the ongoing AIDS crisis. So we met with - it seems like a hundred artists - but probably twenty to thirty artists, and I think the biggest thing I learned (is) the amount of exhibitions that have been curated on this subject are kind of endless. Even tonight, just hearing Kia speak, I want to curate another show. You are always going to exclude someone, or find out about someone afterwards, but I think that is what makes it most exciting, there are these endless subjects.
I think another thing we decided, that was interesting, was not to just create this historical exhibition that outlined the history of Visual AIDS, but instead work with artists that were born in the ‘70s and ‘80s that were affected by the AIDS crisis and continue to be inspired by either the work of the past, or their own struggles today. We worked with a lot of artists who created work specifically for the show, hand in hand, and explored subjects of today that were relevant for people to see.
Not being so rigid in our interpretation, and not being afraid to contradict ourselves and put a lot of faith in artists, helped us to create what we feel was an honest exhibition that explored the intergenerational expression of AIDS and art.
Download the full transcript at: (re)Presenting AIDS transcript