The growing resurgence in ACT UP, this summer's International AIDS conference, and the growing conversation around HIV Criminalization made 2012 a watershed year for HIV re-emerging in the American public’s consciousness. Over a few blog posts Visual AIDS will look back at pivotal moments of AIDS in culture 2012. Email us what you think at info@visualaids.org.

AIDS: United in Anger

For Day With(out) Art, Visual AIDS distributed United in Anger: A History of ACT UP around the world to over 35 locations. The film is a visceral people-fueled portrait of the diverse characters, and intense moments during some of the earliest and headiest days of the AIDS crisis. For Visual AIDS, one of the honors of working on United in Anger has been creative response to the film. Below is some information and links about some of the highlights:

• United in Anger is vital film within the AIDS Crisis Revisitation moment we are in. For Indie Wire Peter Knegt wrote about the wave of new films in his article, "Why Do We Need to Watch...?" and artist and writer Dan Fishback wrote about United in Anger in relation to another documentary entitled How to Survive a Plague in a post called, "How I See, 'How to Survive A Plague'”.

• “Yesterday was my birthday. I turned 29. This year will mark 10 years that I have lived with HIV” started the birthday card visual artist and arts worker Vincent Chevalier wrote himself the day before he presented United in Anger at Artspace in Peterborough ON. Canada. Fellow artist Karen Elaine Spencer used the text of the card to create a poster. You can see it all here.

• Amazing posters for the screenings were made. Including work by AIDS ACTION NOW, Demian Dine’Yazhi, and Columbia’s GSAPP!

• The ICA in Philadelphia worked with twitter and tumblr to create a sea of red online by hashtaging red ribbon photos. Check it out:ICA Red Ribbon
  

• This summer OCCUPY and ACT UP co-hosted a screening of the film which writer Christa Orth wrote about on our Visual AIDS blog.

• After the film played, many communities engaged in conversation including in Washington DC where Housing Works and Metro Teen hosted a discussion at the Corcoran. You can view it here.
  

• We ourselves at Visual AIDS also continue to be inspired by the film. We created a tumblr and zine entitled WISDOM IN BEING UNITED IN ANGER in which we share powerful moments from the film. Thebody.com made a slide show of their favorites, which you can see here:The Body!