Radiant Presence Commemorates Poz Artists

Twenty-five years ago, the art installation "Electric Blanket" was projected on the wall of Cooper Union in New York City to commemorate Day With(out) Artists/World AIDS Day. The installation was a projected slideshow of information about HIV and AIDS mixed with the work of 200 photographers. In 1990, the slideshow was projected in cities around the world.

Now, the same organization, Visual AIDS, has gone digital — and an even bigger installation will be projected on a large scale in several cities around the country.

A new slideshow, "Radiant Presence," is a collection work by HIV-positive artists in honor of this year's World AIDS Day/Day With(out) Artists. Created by nine artists, activists and curators — Bill Arning, Ian Alteveer, Chris Vargas, Rae Lewis-Thornton, Mark S. King, Allen Frame, Maria Mejia, Jack Mackenroth, and Kimberly Drew — the new slideshow exhibits images of works of art drawn from Visual AIDS's Artists+ Registry, the largest database of poz artists.

The slideshow also includes facts and statistics on the current state of the epidemic as well as addressing issues like criminalization, stigma, shifting demographics, and access to treatment.

It will be projected on a large scale in New York City, San Francisco, and Miami, along with other cities nationwide (for a full list of viewings, click here). Or, watch the whole slideshow from the comfort of home right here. 

RADIANT PRESENCE from Visual AIDS on Vimeo.