World AIDS Day: David Wojnarowicz Films + Curator Talks
Overview
“When I was told that I’d contracted the virus, it didn’t take me long to realize that I’d contracted a diseased society as well.” —David Wojnarowicz, Postcards from America, X-Rays From Hell, 1989
On the occasion of World AIDS Day, The Broad is pleased to present a selection of films by David Wojnarowicz as well as curator-led conversations about his paintings in the galleries. David Wojnarowicz is an artist and activist of profound importance who worked in New York City in the 1980s during the years of the AIDS crisis, bravely and unapologetically making artwork about AIDS and homosexuality during a time when both were subjected to deep stigma and discrimination. Wojnarowicz died in 1992, his life tragically cut short by AIDS.
All of the paintings in the Broad collection by David Wojnarowicz are currently on view at The Broad. In the third-floor galleries are Some Things from Sleep: For Jane and Charley, 1986 and The Newspaper as National Voodoo: A Brief History of the U.S.A., 1986. The third painting, Late Afternoon in the Forest, 1986 is featured prominently on the first floor in Creature, on view from November 5, 2016 through March 19, 2017. View works by David Wojnarowicz in the Broad collection.
Wojnarowicz’s films will be shown in the Oculus Hall at 12, 2, 4, and 6 p.m. Curator talks on the Wojnarowicz works will take place in the galleries at 1, 3, and 5 p.m.
Admission to The Broad's World AIDS Day films and curator talks is included with a general admission ticket to visit on Thursday, December 1. Advance ticket reservations for December 1 are fully booked. If you would like to attend any of the talks or films, a standby line will be available at the museum.
David Wojnarowicz. A Fire in My Belly (A work in progress), 1986-87. Courtesy Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI), New York.
Films
Heroin, 1981. 16mm on digital video. Black-and-white, silent, 2:33min.
A Fire in My Belly (A Work in Progress), 1986-1987. Super 8 film on digital video. Color and black-and-white, silent, 13:06min.
A Fire in My Belly Excerpt, 1986-1987. Super 8 film on digital video. Color and black-and-white, silent, 7:00min.
David Wojnarowicz and Steve Doughton, Around Clown, 1987. Music by David Markey. Super 8 on digital video, 3:00min.
David Wojnarowicz (in collaboration with Jesse Hultberg), Beautiful People, 1988. Super 8 on digital video, silent, 34:00min.
Marion Scemama and David Wojnarowicz
Inside This Little House, 1 989. 3:16min.
What is this Little Guy's Job, 1989. 2:05min.
When I Put My Hands on Your Body, 1989. 4:09min. Music: Ben Neill. Actors: Paul Smith and David Wojnarowicz
Last Night I Took A Man, 1989. 4:33min.
After Word, 1989. 1:34min.
Super 8 on digital video. Color with sound.
Texts and Performances unless otherwise noted: David Wojnarowicz; Camera and Direction: Marion Scemama
Editing: François Pain
David Wojnarowicz and Ben Neill, ITSOFOMO (in the shadow of forward motion), 1989-1991. DVD. 22:00min
Courtesy of P.P.O.W and Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI), New York.
About World AIDS Day
World AIDS Day, designated on December 1 every year since 1988, is an international day dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection, and mourning those who have died of the disease. Government and health officials, non-governmental organizations, and individuals around the world observe the day, often with education on AIDS prevention and control.
World AIDS Day is one of the eight official global public health campaigns marked by the World Health Organization (WHO), along with World Health Day, World Blood Donor Day, World Immunization Week, World Tuberculosis Day, World No Tobacco Day, World Malaria Day, and World Hepatitis Day.
Since opening its doors in 2015, The Broad has presented annual programming for World AIDS Day to commemorate the many who have lost their lives to the pandemic, to recognize the many still living with HIV/AIDS, and to acknowledge that, globally speaking, the AIDS crisis is not over. At the height of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, artists became activists and activism grew into an art form. Prime examples of this include Broad collection artists Keith Haring and David Wojnarowicz (both of whom died of AIDS-related complications), Ross Bleckner, who started his practice dealing with the AIDS epidemic in 1980s, and Mark Bradford, Glenn Ligon, and Jenny Holzer, who continue to use their artistic voices to highlight the need for public awareness around HIV/AIDS.
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