Videos from Memories That Smell Like Gasoline: Reading David Wojnarowicz

Alongside his work as a visual artist, David Wojnarowicz was a prolific and influential writer. In particular, the urgency of his writing about the AIDS epidemic as a social and political crisis in the United States has had a lasting impact on artists and activists.

This evening devoted to Wojnarowicz’s written work included readings and performances by artists who were engaged with Wojnarowicz during his lifetime, or who have been inspired by his example. Taking its title from his final collection of stories Memories That Smell Like Gasoline (1992), this program highlighted the passion and rage of Wojnarowicz’s singular voice.

Readers included Dennis Cooper, Timothy DuWhite, Karen Finley, Chitra Ganesh, Camilo Godoy, Miguel Gutierrez, Carmelita Tropicana, Jack Waters and Peter Cramer with their band NYOBS.

This program was organized in collaboration with the Whitney Museum of American Art.