Day Without Art

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About

The MacKenzie Art Gallery is proud to partner with Visual AIDS for Day With(out) Art 2024 by presenting Red Reminds Me…, a program of seven videos reflecting the emotional spectrum of living with HIV today.

Red Reminds Me… will feature newly commissioned videos by Gian Cruz (Philippines), Milko Delgado (Panama), Imani Harrington (USA), David Oscar Harvey (USA), Mariana Iacono and Juan De La Mar (Argentina/Colombia), Nixie (Belgium), Vasilios Papapitsios (USA).

Through the red ribbon and other visuals, HIV and AIDS have been long associated with the colour red and its connotations—blood, pain, tragedy, and anger. Red Reminds Me… invites viewers to consider a complex range of images and feelings surrounding HIV, from eroticism and intimacy, mothering and kinship, luck and chance, memory and haunting. The commissioned artists deploy parody, melodrama, theatre, irony, and horror to build a new vocabulary for representing HIV today.

The title is drawn from the words of Stacy Jennings, an activist, poet, and long-term survivor with HIV, who writes: “Red reminds me, red reminds me, red reminds me…to be free.”* Linking “red” to freedom, Jennings flips the usual connotations of the colour and offers a new way of thinking about the complexity of living with HIV. Just as a prism bends and refracts light, Red Reminds Me…, expands the emotional spectrum of living with HIV. It shows us that while grief, tragedy, and anger define parts of the epidemic, the full picture contains deeper, nuanced, and sometimes contradictory feelings.

The MacKenzie will present this all-day program on December 1, 2024. All are welcome.

Visual AIDS is a New York-based non-profit that utilizes art to fight AIDS by provoking dialogue, supporting HIV+ artists, and preserving a legacy, because AIDS is not over.

Video Trailer

Video Stills

In a vibrant, purple-lit studio, a person in a red morph suit kneels as someone in a white shirt and glasses balances on their back. Nearby, an individual with overalls holds coiled rope while another smiles with a colorful bat. This playful scene captures the spirit of Day Without Art through joyful creativity.

Milko Delgado, El Club del SIDA

A person with light hair lies on a bed beside two children, one in striped shorts and the other in a pink outfit, resting on a patterned blanket. A small inset image captures them in a pensive outdoor pose, evoking the contemplative spirit of Day Without Art.

Nixie, it's giving

A person in a white shirt and glasses gazes thoughtfully at the large, historic

Gian Cruz, Dear Kwong Chi

Multiple hands reach out to touch a person's back, creating a layered and textured effect reminiscent of Day Without Art. The scene is bathed in warm, orange lighting, adding a surreal and intimate atmosphere.

Mariana Iacono and Juan De La Mar, El VIH se enamoró de mi

A bearded person with messy hair and a teal streak stands shirtless against a pink, wood-textured background. In honor of Day Without Art, colorful, patterned lights are projected onto their face and upper body.

Vasilios Papapitsios, LUCID NIGHTMARE

A person is drawing on a piece of paper with a pen, surrounded by various items like books, markers, and paperclips on a table. The image's black-and-white setting evokes the reflective spirit of Day Without Art, adding an extra layer of nostalgia and artistry to the scene.

Imani Harrington, Realms Remix

A fantasy gnome in a green hat and red shirt with

David Oscar Harvey, Ambivalence On HIV & Luck