Art, AIDS and Activism in Chicago

Reception: 5:30pm

Program: 6:30pm

How was art used to speak out about the AIDS pandemic, advocate for its victims, and critique public response to this health crisis? Drawing on two exhibitions on view in Chicago—ArtAIDSAmerica at the Alphawood Gallery and One day this kid will get larger at the DePaul Art Museum—this presentation examines artists who participated as activists during the AIDS crisis of the 1980s and 90s and contemporary artists responding to that time and ongoing HIV health issues. Moderated by Joseph Varisco, Alphawood Foundation program coordinator and founder of “Queer, Ill, and Okay,” panelists will include:

John Neff – Main presenter and panelist, artist and lecturer at SAIC
Mary Patten – SAIC professor, artist, activist, and a founder of ACT-UP/Chicago
Oli Rodriguez – artist and founder of the Papi Project
Alisa Swindell – Gallery 400 Curatorial Assistant, activist, and Ph.D. candidate in art history at University of Illinois at Chicago

Major support for Out at CHM comes from the Exelon Corporation with additional support from Robert Kohl and Clark Pellett and the Richard L. Ohlhausen Education Fund.

For more information visit The Chicago History Museum

Purchase tickets here- $20, $15 for members