Visual AIDS Day With(out) Art

Free with Museum admission.
Today, the RISD Museum joins more than 8,000 art institutions, colleges, libraries, and other organizations in commemorating World AIDS Day and Visual AIDS' 26th-annual Day With(out) Art.
This year, Visual AIDS has worked with nine influential artists, activists, and curators to create RADIANT PRESENCE, a digital slide show with images from the Visual AIDS's Artist+ Registry, the largest database of works by artists with HIV/AIDS. The RISD Museum screens RADIANT PRESENCE in a continuous loop from 10 am to 5 pm.
At this point in the AIDS epidemic, more than 39 million people have died of AIDS-related causes. The nature of the crisis has changed, however, so that nearly just as many people—36 million—are living with HIV today. In this context, RADIANT PRESENCE focuses on the resilience and vitality of Visual AIDS' artist members and their work, preserving the radiance of those who have passed while provoking dialogue about the needs and experiences of people living with HIV.
RADIANT PRESENCE is inspired by the 25th anniversary of Electric Blanket, an large slide show about AIDS created by photographers Nan Goldin, Allen Frame, and Frank Franca for Visual AIDS. The slide show interspersed the work of more than 200 photographers with slide texts that include demographics, data, and slogans about AIDS worldwide. It was initially projected on the facade of Cooper Union on December 1, 1990, and was later projected on public walls and buildings internationally.
RADIANT PRESENCE is organized by nine artists, activists, and curators: Bill Arning, director, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston; Ian Alteveer, associate curator in the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art; artist Chris Vargas; artist Rae Lewis-Thornton; author Mark S. King; artist and writer Allen Frame; author Maria Mejia; Jack Mackenroth, senior communications officer, The Global Forum on MSM and HIV; and Kimberly Drew, founder of the website Black Contemporary Art.
Learn more about the artists involved in RADIANT PRESENCE and Visual AIDS.
Follow Day With(out) Art on social media: #RadiantPresence / #DayWithoutArt / @visual_AIDS