A red poster with a white swirl like the Coca-Cola logo and the words “Enjoy AZT.” At the bottom, smaller text reads, “IS THIS HEALTH CARE OR WEALTH CARE?” Above the question, in fine print, it reads, “The U.S. government has spent one billion dollars over the past 10 years to research new AIDS drugs. The result. 1 drug-AZT. It makes half of the people who try it sick and the other half it stops working after a year. Is AZT the last, best hope for people with AIDS, or is it a short-cut to the killing Burroughs Wellcome is making in the AIDS marketplace? Scores of drugs languish in government pipelines, while fortunes are made on this monopoly.”

Vincent Gagliostro

Enjoy AZT (ACT UP)

Maker

Vincent Gagliostro (American, b. 1954)
Avram Finkelstein (American, b. 1952)

Title

Enjoy AZT (ACT UP)
YOUR HOUSE IS MINE

Year

1989-1991

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Dimensions

Image/sheet: 50.5 x 59.3 cm (19 7/8 x 23 3/8 inches) (each)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

signed and editioned by artist

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Georgianna Sayles Aldrich Fund

Object Number

2013.91.3.30

Type

Exhibition History

Variance
Making, Unmaking, and Remaking Disability
Feb 01, 2022 – Oct 09, 2022

Label copy

Appropriating Coca-Cola advertising, activists and artists Avram Finkelstein and Vincent Gagliostro made this broadside for a “die-in” protest that took place at the National Institutes of Health on May 21, 1990. In 1987, azidothymidine (AZT) became the first drug approved by the FDA to treat HIV/AIDS. While AZT prolonged life, it also came with sometimes extreme and life-threatening side effects. The 1990 protest decried the drug’s side effects and cost, helping lead to the release of new regimens of medication in 1996. These policy and regulatory changes were due in part to the AIDS activism of groups including ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) and Gran Fury, of which Finkelstein was a member.

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Public Domain This object is in the Public Domain and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

Vincent Gagliostro (American, b. 1954)
Avram Finkelstein (American, b. 1952)
Enjoy AZT (ACT UP); YOUR HOUSE IS MINE, 1989-1991
Screenprint on vellum paper
Image/sheet: 50.5 x 59.3 cm (19 7/8 x 23 3/8 inches) (each)
Georgianna Sayles Aldrich Fund 2013.91.3.30

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