message from the editor
In Motion
Ron Athey
Photo: Catherine Opie 		Estate Project/Artery Exhibition & Panel

Catherine Opie and Ron Athey may be the perfect photographer/subject duo: She's a consummate portraitist and city-scapist, he's the pierced-and-tatooed, HIV+ performance artist whose controversial work involves ritual, religiosity, and blood (they've also performed together). The Estate Project commissioned Opie's large-format Polaroids of Athey, and proceeds from them will benefit the Estate Project and the Ron Athey Company. The portraits receive their premiere at a public opening at Thread Waxing Space, 476 Broadway, New York, on Thursday, May 18, from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.

A few weeks later,on June 7, Artery and the Estate Project present a panel discussion, "Art and Activism--A Redefinition." Moderated by Estate Project director Patrick Moore, the panel consists of Robert Atkins, editor of Artery; Catherine Gund, a member of the AIDS activist video collective, DIVA TV, and director of "Hallelujah," a documentary about Ron Athey; Barbara Hunt, executive director of Artists Space and Jack Waters, a choreographer, performer, film- and videomaker. Hear their thoughts about new models of art-activism--and share your own. On June 7 at 7 pm, at Thread Waxing Space, 476 Broadway, New York.
Your Daily Dose (Creative Time's Daily Dispatch)


If this is December 1, then it must be Day Without Art, the artworld's day of mourning and action in response to the AIDS crisis. But what about the other 364 days of the year? Three cheers for Creative Time www.creativetime.org the New York experimental public-arts producer. The innovative organization that regularly sponsors the annual "Art in the Anchorage" housed in the bowels of the Brooklyn Bridge, recently extended its web-based, Day Without Art (DWA) activities to span the entire year.

Aptly titled "The Daily Dispatch," this multi-media, online publication features the contributions of two correspondents each month. The "Dispatch" launched last December 1 with the work of Steve Hart and Jordan Fried. Hart's moving photo-essay chronicles the story of a Bronx family with two HIV+ parents who died of AIDS-related causes. Simple texts by Hart also describe his complex role in this family nightmare. Fried's project is a lively account of his experiences filming a documentary about a Ugandan group called Traditional and Modern Healers Working Together Against AIDS that juxtaposes lighted hearted description and sobering stories of the AIDS-ridden country. In general, the serial nature of the dispatch form favor forms the photo-essay, the journal or the postcard.

The project is extremely impressive for the diversity of its correspondents and their dispatches. March correspondents Timothy Burton writes about his experiences with the National AIDS Vaccine Trials, while Suzanne Rosentswieg writes about her late husband Gerry's collection of miniature buildings. Don't miss these vivid reports from the AIDS front, visit the site or subscribe there and the dispatches will arrive daily in your email box. The year is still young!

-Yelena Gluzman


Chris Hogan 		Meet Chris Hogan - the New Director of Visual AIDS

Artery: Congratulations on your very recent appointment as the new Executive Director of Visual AIDS. Can we begin by briefly talking about your background?

Chris Hogan: Thanks! And yes, of course. I last worked for Jobs for the Future, a non-profit in Boston. But the relevant big picture is my interest in arts and theater education. How can we use the arts for teaching? Traditional educational only feeds the passive assimilation of information. I believe that art engages people in learning on much deeper levels.

A: Visual AIDS was founded in 1989 by a group of New York arts professionals and later artists as a kind of consciousness-raising, media awareness group. More recently it's moved toward raising funds to provide direct services to artists. All these activities are educational, of course, but will education per se begin to play a larger role in Visual AIDS's mission than in the past?

CH: Well, I'm only a few weeks into the job, but before I arrived Visual AIDS was starting to look at formal educational initiatives directed at adolescents, and we have a few projects already underway. I'm excited that students from the Arts Benefit All Coalition alternative school are curating a show from our archive of AIDS-artworks, which will be at the Thread Waxing Space in Soho. It's too early, though, to know the precise direction Visual AIDS will take in terms of a larger educational program.

A: What about your AIDS background?

CH: I came out [as a gay man] post-AIDS. I was an activist in college and helped found ACT UP Western Mass in 1990-91. And in Boston I worked with Project Achieve, the vaccine test study. In fact, experimental vaccines are coursing through my blood as we speak. I've also done lots of volunteering.

A: Visual AIDS is probably best known for two projects initiated nearly a decade ago, Day Without Art, and the Red Ribbon. I read recently that the group will stop formally organizing or promoting Day Without Art this coming year. Why?

CH: Well, like the Red Ribbon, we're not abandoning it. We'll still be committed to it. The big issue is: How can we share ownership with the groups that participate in it? Visual AIDS created Day Without Art and oversaw it closely through its early years. Then there was a recent, late rebellious phase when the name was changed to Day With(out) Art. Now it's grown up and ready to leave home. With thousands of arts groups participatipating internationally it doesn't make sense anymore for one to try to organize the whole thing.

A: What do you see as Visual AIDS's greatest strengths and weaknesses?

CH: I see the state of the organization as very strong. It's healthy that all the former directors are on the board. Throughout its history Visual AIDS has been very responsive to the AIDS community. For instance, "The Bodies of Resistance" exhibition that Visual AIDS organized responds to the international crisis that AIDS has become and it will be shown this summer in Durban, South Africa at the International AIDS conference. Combining support for artists and promoting public awareness is critical.

A: And weaknesses?

CH: The national complacency about AIDS. Everyone from [Republican AIDS-activist] Mary Fisher on down complains about it.

A: What can we do about it?

CH: At the risk of sounding redundant, I'd say this gets back to education--and not just in schools. Certainly schools are important, especially given the alarming infection rates amoung young people, but we need to reach out to every community--particularily those who have been underserved in terms of AIDS education and services.

A: Do you think the most effective education takes place among peers? Won't 18-year-olds probably listen to each other more carefully than to thirty-something, AIDS-prevention professionals?

CH: Exactly. But how can we facilitate that process? We know, for example, that it's crucial to increase women's awareness of issues around HIV. So Visual AIDS is trying to be more proactive about including more women artists in our archives. By promoting their work, we hope to make their lives more visible. And that's one thing Visual AIDS can do: Help people share their stories about HIV/AIDS through their art.