HIVideo Exhibits 14 Works by International Queer Artists on World AIDS Day

Where were queer women during the AIDS epidemic of New York in the '80s and '90s? A new audiovisual work from Manchester artist Rosanne Robertson remembers their role: Be Enraged, Become Explosive, which borrows its title from the wheat-pasted activism of the Fierce Pussy collective formed in '91, premieres today on World AIDS Day—in 19 cities around the globe.

Robertson's piece found a platform in Balaclava-Q, an international queer art collective whose second annual HIVideo project is unfolding right now across three continents. A total of 14 pieces created by 19 individual artists hailing from all over the globe—Colombia, Italy, Greece, Puerto Rico, Uganda, England, and more—are compiled like a package exhibition. They’re a “franchise” of sorts delivered by Founder and Director Stiofan O’Ceallaigh, to the host cities. As diverse as these cities are the venues the film is hosted in: A theater in Norwich, England; a queer-feminist-trans-lesbian bar in Paris; a performing arts center in Bloemfontein, South Africa; the Tom of Finland Foundation in LA; and in Athens, Greece, the Alexander Sauna.

“Each venue kind of takes on its own—what we're calling—add-ons,” O’Ceallaigh explains. “So say, for example, the gay sex sauna is going to have HIV testing and a talk afterwards.” Others, he adds, are accepting charitable donations for LGBTQIA and AIDS organizations. Read more via OUT