HIV Isn’t Over: Art —> Activism, with Guillaume Dustan and Rafael Sánchez

This screening includes video work by Guillaume Dustan (1965-2005) and Rafael Sánchez (b 1960), with commentary from Sánchez and curators Julien Laugier, Exx Nottage and Olga Rozenblum.

What political factors conspire to make an illness incurable? The works in this program examine how practices of self-study are transformed into acts of activism under conditions of political neglect. When artists make work about the body—and that body is HIV-positive—public perception shifts. Autobiographical artwork becomes activist practice when it depicts a roadmap to a life that a dominant culture tells us is impossible to live.

The artworks in this program engage themes of gender variance, promiscuity, chronic illness, housing insecurity, work absenteeism, issues of love, and drug use.

Though these experiences are often dismissed as aesthetic conceits, the challenges depicted in these artworks are real, lived, and ongoing. The boundary between art and activism blurs when life itself is at risk. And when the political imperatives of these practices go unaddressed, the result too often is early disability, ostracization, and the death of the artist.

In a world where the ongoing HIV crisis remains incurable and continues to spread, it's worth asking what demands do these artworks make on our public health system today?

This screening is a preview event for HIV Isn’t Over: Art —> Activism (Art Becomes Activism), an exhibition forthcoming in 2026.

Program: 7-9pm

Extended Screening: 9-10pm