You Are Not Alone
Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona (Spain
1 July–18 September 2011
MARCO, Museo de Arte Contemporánea de Vigo (Spain)
21 October 2011–22 January 2012
Fundació Joan Miró
Parc de Montjuïc
08038 Barcelona
Spain
T +34 934 439 470
www.fundaciomiro-bcn.org
Han Nefkens
Founder and President of the ArtAids Foundation
The Fundació Joan Miró, MARCO, Museo de Arte Contemporánea de Vigo, and the ArtAids Foundation present You Are Not Alone, an exhibition curated by Hilde Teerlinck, Director of the FRAC Nord-Pas de Calais, Dunkerque with Irene Aristizábal, recipient of the H+F Curatorial Grant.
You Are Not Alone is intended to prompt reflection on the discrimination and stigmatisation to which, even today, people living with Aids are subject. Social and collective initiatives can overcome false perceptions and habits arising from ignorance and prejudice, and art can help to change views and attitudes.
In You Are Not Alone, fourteen artists from around the world help to fight stigmatisation by reappraising the causes, consequences and current context of AIDS as well as the ways of combating it. The works in the exhibition offer a vision of AIDS from the perspective of different geographical areas.
The ArtAids Foundation has commissioned new works specifically conceived for the exhibition from nine internationally acclaimed artists: Matthew Darbyshire, Latifa Echakhck, Elmgreen & Dragset, Antoni Miralda, Deimantas Narkevičius, Lucy + Jorge Orta, Christodoulos Panayiotou, Danh Vo, and Lorena Zilleruelo.
The newly commissioned works will be presented along with a selection of works by David Goldblatt, Otto Berchem, Sutee Kunavichayanont, Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook and Juul Hondius recently incorporated into the ArtAids collection. The documentation of two performances by Pepe Espaliú, a Spanish artist who died from AIDS in 1993, will also be shown.
Through this exhibition, the Fundació Joan Miró, MARCO of Vigo and the ArtAids Foundation wish to expressly condemn, in no uncertain terms, current prejudices towards AIDS, which contribute to the isolation of those living with the disease.
You Are Not Alone will travel to MARCO, Museo de Arte Contemporánea de Vigo (Spain), where it will be on show from 21 October 2011 to 22 January 2012.
The exhibition has the support and involves the collaboration of Mr Han Nefkens and is sponsored by Fundació Banc Sabadell. It is the second collaborative project between the Fundació Joan Miró and Han Nefkens, founder and president of the ArtAids Foundation, who previously supported Pipilotti Rist’s show Friendly Game – Electronic Feelings at the Fundació Joan Miró.
You Are Not Alone
11–16 June
Christodoulos Panayiotou will present, in preparation for its new piece Nowhere, the staging of the painting of a theatre backdrop at Estudis Gala in Barcelona (by appointment only).
1 July–18 September
Exhibition at the Fundació Joan Miró
8 September
Lucy + Jorge Orta will stage their performance 70 x 7. The Meal Act XXVI, ArtAids, a meal around a table set with the plates the artists created in 2006 for the ArtAids Foundation.
A cocktail designed by Antoni Miralda will be served before dinner.
Attendance at the event is by invitation only.
21 October–22 January, 2012
Exhibition at MARCO
ArtAids
The ArtAids Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation whose stated mission is “fighting Aids with art.” The Foundation invites outstanding artists to create works that tackle Aids-related issues. These works help to raise public awareness, to improve society’s attitude to HIV-positive individuals. ArtAids also initiates and supports medical care projects and HIV research in Thailand and Spain.
ArtAids was founded by Dutch writer and art collector Han Nefkens, owner of the H+F collection. Nefkens’ discovery, in 1987, that he was HIV positive brought about a radical change in his life. Han Nefkens sees the intensity of that experience reflected in the world of art. He has established separate ArtAids organisations in the Netherlands, Thailand and Spain.
Han Nefkens has recently been awarded the prestigious Zilveren Anjer (Silver Carnation) 2011, an award granted by the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, an organisation that acknowledges the work of people who have made exceptional altruistic contributions to Dutch culture. He will receive the award on 23 June from Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.
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