Last week I stepped into a time capsule that took me back to 1987.  The location was the opening of Gran Fury’s exhibition – Read My Lips at 80WSE Gallery. The AIDS activist art collective co-curated the exhibition together with the gallery’s Assistant Director, Michael Cohen to showcase 15 works, spanning from 1987 to 1995.

When I asked Michael Cohen the reason for holding this show now, he responded,

“The work seemed important to me to exhibit because it opened up a secret history to the 80's. We often get presented a version of that decade that was very elite, moneyed and remote from public discourse. However in the 80's, art, theory, and political engagement were an essential part of the mix in the NY art world. It seemed to me important to let more people (some who may not have been born when all this took place) know about this alternative art narrative.”

Visitors can check out large-scale mural reproductions of the group’s most iconic works such as “Kissing Doesn't Kill," "Welcome to America," and "Women Don't Get AIDS.” The most unsettling thing I felt about the work, was that many of the messages are still very relevant today, which shows how much still needs to be done. Feeling angry, disturbed and yet laughing while perusing the works, I had the lucky opportunity to individually interview the following artists at the opening: Avram Finkelstein, Marlene McCarty and John Lindell.  

It's been a great turnout for the opening...a diverse mix of people from all ages and backgrounds! How do you think your messages will be received by today's audience?

AF: It’s counter intuitive, but whenever I speak, it feels like there’s more interest in this material from younger artists and activists than from people who went through it. And while some of the messages might seem anachronistic, like the huge controversies that surrounded our depictions of same-sex kissing, homophobia certainly still exists: just look at the rash of LGBT suicides.

JL: No idea really.

MM: I'm not sure. I think that remains to be seen. I will say there has been a lot of press activity so there is definitely some interest, but I cannot envision how the work is viewed by someone who was born after this work was made.

Does it still have the same resonance or do you feel that its message has dissipated over the years?

AF: Some of the works are still extremely emotional for me, in particular, the Four Questions poster. I think my generation is still shell shocked, to a large degree. Sometimes I feel like a war veteran, alone with the secrets of war. Also, working again with the collective was moving in ways I hadn’t anticipated

JL: Surprisingly yes. Welcome to America unfortunately is still accurate as far as America goes.

MM: No the message has not dissipated. The sad part is some things haven't changed at all. For example with the WELCOME TO AMERICA baby billboard, the only thing that has changed is that South Africa has National Healthcare. Also the number of people infected with HIV globally has exploded since the days when this work was created. So even though much has changed too much has stayed the same.

Bono was on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on World AIDS Day talking about “… the beginning of the end of AIDS?” Agree or disagree? Do you also feel that things are getting better?

AF: What Bono is referring to is treatment access, and for those with access there are concrete advances, like the various pre and post exposure prophylaxes, and the question of the Berlin Patient. But the emphasis is still on treatment protocols. The only way to end AIDS is with a cure. The only way to fund research for a cure is through our will as a culture.

JL:  I don't know why he would say that. Transmission rates in some groups are still on the rise. Even if the last HIV transmission happened today, that still leaves millions of people living with AIDS. And that is not easy.

Do you see any similarities between Gran Fury's work and today's Occupy Wall Street movement?

AF: OWS is re-examining the role of art with very concrete experiments, like the Occuprint Print Lab project, that focus on open source strategies and practices. But New Yorkers really use the streets, and I feel like something equally as concrete might be missed by not actually communicating those ideas within the public sphere.

JL: Not enough. Occupy seems unfocused and their really good slogan or catchphrase "99%" hasn't been expanded on to give us a goal or specific knowledge.

MM: It's impossible not to draw comparisons between large groups of people coming together to demonstrate when the concept of CORPORATE GREED is a recurring theme.

You guys have years of experience working in a collaborative environment, collecting everyone's input and funneling it into a powerful, united voice. Do you have any advice for them?

AF: However frustrating collectivity might be, multiple brains are always, always better than one.

JL:  Keep it simple and stay focused on the topic, which I believe is, "end political and social favoritism for the rich."

MM: I believe this a long and very complicated topic which does not lend itself well to a one-sided exposition on a fashion blog.

What are you working on today?

AF: Aside from teaching and speaking about art and the public sphere, I’m a contributing writer for Critical Mob and Artwrit, on the Selection Committee for the Pop-Up Museum of Queer History, I’m involved with the exploratory committee for the Learning Center of the AIDS Memorial Park Project, and consulting on marketing and communications for the AIDS Community Research of America. In terms of my own work, I’m currently interested in reconsidering Social Realist vernaculars. Surprise, surprise!

JL: This exhibition and nothing more.

MM: I personally work as an artist / art director / designer. I have an exhibition of drawings that will open this fall in Dublin, Ireland and I'm in the process of opening a new design collective called HIT THE BELL.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Gran Fury: Read My Lips runs from January 31 to March 17, 2012. In addition, this project includes a Gran Fury symposium with the members of Gran Fury interviewed by noted cultural theorist Andrew Ross. The event will held at the NYU/Steinhardt Art School's Einstein Auditorium at 34 Stuyvesant Street in the East Village on Tuesday, February 28 at 6 pm.

The final aspect of the exhibition is educational. Through a series of workshops, Gran Fury will work with a select group of 15 NYU students from the Steinhardt Department of Art and Art Professions and the Gallatin Activism center, as well as five participants form the Village Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Center to think about the contemporary relationship of art and politics, and to produce activist and collective oriented art works in a manner that is strategically functional in the current decade.  The workshop participants' artworks will be exhibited in March 2012 at the Village Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Center. The location of this exhibition is particularly meaningful, as it commemorates the Center's role as the locus of the original ACT UP meetings that spawned Gran Fury.