Day Without Art began on December 1st 1989 as the national day of action and mourning in response to the AIDS crisis. To make the public aware that AIDS can touch everyone, and inspire positive action, some 800 U.S. art and AIDS groups participated in the first Day Without Art, shutting down museums, sending staff to volunteer at AIDS services, or sponsoring special exhibitions of work about AIDS. Since then, Day Without Art has grown into a collaborative project in which an estimated 8,000 national and international museums, galleries, art centers, AIDS Service Organizations, libraries, high schools and colleges take part.
The Office of Student Life and Development, the Student Wellness Center, and the Department of Architectural Technology have teamed together to bring Day Without Art to City Tech. This week, in locations across campus, you will see works of art shrouded in black as a reminder that HIV/AIDS continues to rob our community of people whose ideas, energy, creativity, innovation, and passion build the imaginative bridge between technology and art that benefits us all.
We have lost to AIDS such artistic lights as visual artists Keith Haring, and Robert Mappelthorpe; architects Frank Israel, Robert Ferri, and Alan Buchsbaum; filmmaker Derek Jarman; graphic designer William O. Johnston and Enno Poersch; theatrical designers Jeffrey Struckman and Ken Holamon and many, many others whose names we do not know.
What Can I Do?
Know your HIV status: get tested TODAY in the Student Wellness Center!
Also, the NYC Department of Health offers free and confidential HIV testing at locations across the five boroughs. Check out our blog for more information:
www.studentwellnessatcitytech.blogspot.org
Participate in Housing Works 24 hr. vigil of the Reading of the Names on December 1st in front of City Hall.
Encourage friends, family members and loved ones to use latex barrier protections each and every time they have sex. Come to the Student Wellness Center for testing information and free latex barrier products.
Want More Information on Day Without Art? Check out Visual AIDS for inspiration, ideas and more art activism.
