Organised by Whitechapel Gallery
Join us for a panel talk chronicling the legacies of queer visual cultures, organising histories, and how contemporary artists are dialoguing with the past and responding to HIV and AIDS in their work today.
After starting provocations from east London-based charity Positive East and Dr Rageshri Dhairyawan, in this discussion Dominic Johnson, Ash Kotak, Prem Sahib, and Simon Watney will use Hamad Butt’s practice as a starting point to interrogate how artists have used creativity to interrogate, reflect, and agitate around HIV and AIDS.
Grounding itself in the context of the 80s and 90s and attitudes towards HIV and AIDS, we will move between the cultural, medical, and socio-political impacts of the AIDS epidemic and its ongoing impact on artists and queer communities today.
Shining a light on the long legacy of artists responding to and creating dialogues around HIV and AIDS, the conversation will tease apart the relationship between art, activism, and the slippages between the two.
This event accompanies our current exhibition Hamad Butt: Apprehensions.
Attendees to this event can access an exclusive 30% discount on the accompanying catalogue to the exhibition, Hamad Butt: Apprehensions, featuring contributions and newly commissioned essays from art historians, curators, and artists that look at Butt’s encounters with science and alchemy, his relationships with diasporic and queer communities in the 1990s, and his lasting impact and legacies.
To redeem this discount, please select the “Admission + Book” option when booking your place – your catalogue will be available to collect from the info desk on the night of the event.
Supported by the Centre for Public Engagement at Queen Mary University of London