Aids Art

In the late 1980s, the AIDS pandemic was annihilating queer people, intravenous drug users, and communities of color in America, and disinformation about the disease ran rampant. Out of the activist group ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power), an art collective that called itself Gran Fury formed to campaign against corporate greed, government inaction, stigma, and public indifference to the epidemic. Jack Lowery offers a complex portrait of a collective and its members, who built solidarities with each other and whose lives evidenced the profound trauma of enduring the AIDS crisis.

'AIDS art' is essentially an American invention. It has now manifested itself in a large number of different locations, but is almost invariably based on a model of artistic activity that evolved in the United States - one that was a response to the impact made by the epidemic on sections of American society.

Welcome aboard the space vessel Vancouver. Its mission: to guard a vast shipment of grain from Earth to the planet Safenesthome. Its Captain is called Ace. She seems a little unsure of herself. In fact, some might almost think she was new to the job...Its medical officer is called simply 'The Doctor', and he's perhaps not all he seems either. When mysterious ships target the Vancouver, Ace and the Doctor are pushed to the limit. Meanwhile, there's something nasty in the grain containers. And it's not very happy....

Anfang der sechziger Jahre brach der Kanadier Michael Snow eine erfolgversprechende Karriere als Musiker ab, um sich von da an ausschließlich seinen anderweitigen künstlerischen Interessen widmen zu können. Bald darauf entstanden in New York seine ersten experimentellen Filme, die heute noch dem Nachdenken über Film entscheidende Anstösse liefern. Nicht zufällig beschäftigt sich Snow parallel zu den Filmarbeiten seit 1970 auch mit Tonaufnahmen. Diese wenig bekannten Stücke sind eine konsequente Fortsetzung der Experimente mit dem Aufnahmeverfahren Film auf akustischer Ebene.