DUETS book launch with Ben Cuevas, Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens at LAABF

To launch DUETS: Ben Cuevas & Annie Sprinkle in Conversation, a volume in Visual AIDS’ DUETS publication series, artists Ben Cuevas, Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens engaged in a conversation at the Los Angeles Art Book Fair, moderated by Esther McGowan for Visual AIDS. The conversation covered topics ranging from art, knitting, postporn, ecosex, HIV, love, loss, risk, activism, feminism, go-go dancing, orgasms, humor, death and more.

As a queer, male-bodied, HIV-positive artist, Cuevas' work challenges viewers’ fears of HIV and helps revive a queer culture lost to AIDS and gentrification. Annie Sprinkle and her collaborative partner Beth Stephens join the conversation to discuss their longterm work at the forefront of art and performance, provoking sex-positive practices and activism as well as pollinating ecosexual art and theory around the planet.

DUETS is a series of publications that pairs artists, activists, writers, and thinkers in dialogues about their creative practices and current social issues around HIV/AIDS.