The Estate Project for Artists with AIDS (a
project of the Alliance for the Arts) announces today three significant
advances in its Virtual Collection, an on-line visual resource and digital
archive documenting the cultural impact of AIDS.
The Virtual Collection has upgraded its technology, using an innovative new
soft-ware, and significantly expanded its site on the Internet.
A national exhibition program has been launched, with the first venue being
Parsons School of Design, a division of the New School University, of an
upcoming exhibition drawn from The Virtual Collection. The Estate Project’s
Director, Patrick Moore, said of this announcement, Our new exhibition
program will allow us to both preserve digital images of these works as
well as show the works themselves. Public exhibitions such as these allow
the art works to be enjoyed by a wider audience and continue to live.
The Estate Project is celebrating the growth of its site
www.artistswithaids.org by publishing an on-line interactive journal and
forum. The inauguration of Artery, an educational, controversial on-line
journal will serve as an interactive forum for some of today’s most
demanding issues. The Estate Project’s site is the Internet’s only central
resource for culture and AIDS.
Exhibition News on the Forefront of The Virtual Collection
Set to open at Parsons School of Design’s Manhattan galleries in December
2001, the innovative exhibition is to be assembled by Parsons’ curators from
this unique on-line source. Presenting vital work of artists who have been
lost to AIDS or who are now living with HIV, the exhibition is made possible
by the informed use of state-of-the-art digital technology. The Virtual
Collection, source of the exhibition project, is a readily accessible
digital archive of more than 3,300 artworks. With an increase in
accessibility made possible by Luna Imaging, Venice, California, The Estate
Project’s developer for the archive site, The Virtual Collection provides
access to the Project’s database, a large collection of art that might
otherwise be lost or dispersed. Confirming Parsons' curatorial adventure,
Associate Dean Tim Gunn recently addressed this innovative juncture of
technology and museum practice: This will be a fascinating process for us.
In addition to showing important art works created during the AIDS crisis,
we will be demonstrating that databases such as The Virtual Collection can
be a valuable tool for curators.
Estate Project Director Patrick Moore, comments, The Virtual Collection is
already an invaluable historical record of a time in crisis. Hundreds of
years from now, these artworks will serve as tools for historians to
understand the human impact of AIDS. Looking at the art of this period is
one way to examine the impact of the disease. Randall Bourscheidt,
President of the Alliance for the Arts, says that because of a sense of
urgency, AIDS organizations have always led the way, whether it be in
creating access to new drugs or preserving works of art. With The Virtual
Collection, we have realized our goal in the Estate Project: to ensure that
these artists and their work are not forgotten, that this and future
generations will be able to see their powerful images, and that those
artists living with HIV/AIDS will receive advice and help.
New On-line Journal: Artery
Available at the same site, The Estate Project’s
new on-line journal Artery addresses the real challenge of dealing with the
compelling issues of art and AIDS in the world since AIDS. Artery promises
to be a central presence in the debate of cultural issues at a time when the
presence of AIDS is diminishing as a vital subject of discussion in the
public arena, tossed aside like a forgotten war in some equally forgotten
country. While there is widespread concern that the epidemic seems to have
lost its immediacy through compassion fatigue, perceptions of diminished
risk, and the perceived imminence of a cure, the print and broadcast media
offer less time for in-depth coverage and analysis. Artery speaks to such
issues in an ongoing forum of participating artists, writers, and
performers. In its debut issue a regular Artery feature pulls no punches as
playwright and filmmaker Craig Lucas (Longtime Companion and The Dying Gaul)
rails against those in the driver’s seat of culture, exchanging tough
perceptions with novelist/playwright Sarah Schulman and moderator Michael
Bronski.
No stranger to arts activism, Artery’s editor, art historian and critic
Robert Atkins comments that AIDS is the Vietnam of the 80s, a legacy that
demands insight and attention at the risk of the loss of meaning. We need
places to discuss such issues and express those feelings. Artery provides
such a place. In another ongoing feature, artist and activist Gregg
Bordowitz brings up the little discussed phenomenon of art produced in the
post-protease inhibitor era. Bordowitz expresses his concern that he is
fooling himself in thinking about living longer in the face of the reality
that his course of medication may stop working, or the body may become
resistant to available treatment. On-line Artery readers respond to such
comments, to those of other Artery contributors, and to each other. Not
without humor, Artery outs contributing panelist Nancy Princenthal, an Art
in America critic, as camera shy for declining to contribute a snapshot
portrait for the occasion.
More about The Virtual Collection and Artery
The response of curators, art critics, students, and the general public to
The Estate Project’s Virtual Collection site testifies to its timeliness and
utility. The Virtual Collection is an indispensable resource for their
research and understanding of the impact that AIDS has on the arts. The
Estate Project has established an ongoing design and technology relationship
with Luna Imaging to maintain the site at the highest possible level, making
it easier to navigate and more accessible to a broader audience. The Estate
Project was the first organization to use the Luna Imaging browser version
of it’s Insight interface. With its advanced compression technology, Insight
enables visitors to access and view high-resolution digital images of The
Virtual Collection from anywhere in the world over ordinary telephone lines.
The Estate Project is the first organization to make the leap from
presenting images of artworks on-line to organizing actual exhibitions from
a digital database. The project’s debut exhibition with Parsons is expected
to be followed by exhibitions both nationally and internationally at
respected institutions. The Estate Project and Luna Imaging have created a
tool that is accessible enough for a general audience but also advanced
enough to provide a viable tool for curators and historians.
Through the latest and most advanced version of Luna’s Insight technology,
The Virtual Collection now allows visitors vastly improved capability in
viewing, retrieval, and search functions. Additionally, it will permit the
general public and individuals who regularly use on-line
collections—curators, researchers, publications staff, educators, and
students—to select and find, zoom and pan, and create and save image groups
to be used in lectures and presentations with greater clarity and ease. Most
important, this improved version of The Virtual Collection can be accessed
by all Internet operating systems (including Netscape Navigator and
Microsoft Explorer) to reach larger and more diverse audiences than ever
before.
Artery has grown organically out of The Estate Project’s work preserving
artworks created during the AIDS crisis, and is a natural extension of its
presence on the web. Artery can help viewers examine important issues raised
by the artworks in the Virtual Collection: What have we learned from AIDS?
What do today’s artistic responses, and yesterday’s, tell us about the
epidemic and ourselves? How do artists respond to crisis?
Now visible online is Artery's prototype offering, which includes the
following regularly formatted departments:
Artist in the Archives features Gregg Bordowitz, celebrated video-maker and
activist who is involved in the Estate Project AIDS Activist Video
Preservation Program.
Symposium struggles to define the current states of AIDS-related art with
critics Chris Dohse (dance), Stephen Holden (television and film), Eileen
Myles (literature), and Nancy Princenthal.
Centerpiece features include Plays, Lies and Ticket Sales, a feisty,
moderated dialogue about AIDS and theater between playwright/screenwriter
Craig Lucas and novelist/playwright Sarah Schulman with moderator Michael
Bronski.
Off the Wall: AIDS and Public Art. Robert Atkins looks at media-savvy works
that have reshaped art and activists.
Established by the Alliance for the Arts in 1991, The Estate Project has
since emerged as a vital presence in the cultural world through its
initiatives, projects and events which draw attention to the impact of AIDS
on the arts community. Whether preserving and archiving visual art through
The Virtual Collection, safeguarding AIDS activist video and independent
film, or documenting dance, The Estate Project uses the most innovative
methods and technologies to address underlying preservation issues faced by
the entire arts community.
The Virtual Collection was initially launched at the Museum of Modern Art
(MoMA) in New York and made available at other participating institutions,
including the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Getty Museum, the Los Angeles
County Museum of Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), the
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Studio Museum in Harlem, and at Harvard,
Yale and Cornell Universities. Since then, many of these institutions and
others have continued to support, utilize and promote The Virtual Collection
and its mission.
The Virtual Collection was realized through the collaborative efforts of a
number of vital organizations, including Visual AIDS (New York), Visual AIDS
Boston, Visual Aid (San Francisco), and the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian
Center. With the assistance of resources and archives from these
organizations, along with other participating institutions, The Estate
Project can now ensure continued access, preservation, and the study of the
visual arts legacy created by the arts community during the AIDS crisis.
The Virtual Collection has been made possible through the generous support
of: Robert D. Farber Foundation, Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation,
Photographers + Friends United Against AIDS, City of Los Angeles - Office of
the AIDS Coordinator, Joseph Nicholson, and Agnes Gund and Daniel Shapiro.
For further information on The Virtual Collection or other related projects,
call The Estate Project in New York at (212) 947-6340 or in Los Angeles at
(310) 652-1282.
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