The Municipal Archives Industry City location houses a humble set of 8.5 x 14" manila folders whose contents extend far beyond their confines. The “Day w/o Art” series in the Mayor Dinkins subject files consists of news clippings, mayoral proclamations, notes and letters that speak to the urgency of the AIDS epidemic during the late 80s-early 90s, merging creative and symbolic gestures into direct actions. Beginning at the margins, making way toward the center of larger institutions (both within government and the arts), through the organizing efforts of art workers and activists in NYC, A Day Without Art began in 1989 spearheaded by the collective Visual AIDS who formed just a year earlier. As arts communities were being devastated by the virus, the collective sought to bring national attention to the crisis, represent loss, mourn and honor with action the artists who had died. So, on December 1, 1989, A Day Without Art was born and continues to this very day to be celebrated across the globe (known now as: A Day With(out) Art. It has pivoted to focus on artists living with HIV while continuing to highlight and support art projects that concentrate on the AIDS pandemic).

Coinciding with the World Health Organization’s second annual World AIDS Day, galleries and institutions like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), Artists Space, and the Whitney Museum participated, with more than 1,000 arts organizations joining across the US.[1] Museums, arts organizations and galleries would either temporarily remove or cover works of art or close their doors for the day as a sign of solidarity. Others held memorials, exhibitions, performances, and programs showcasing the works of artists battling HIV and those who had died of AIDS.

These events and actions raised awareness and educated the public on all aspects of the HIV/AIDS crisis and its dire effect on the arts. Artists like Paul Thek made a series of honest and vulnerable drawings/paintings from the mid-late 80s that moved through deeply personal feelings approaching death using universal symbols and themes (time, water, spirituality). Robert Farber sought to demonstrate loss via conceptual means in his work “Every Ten Minutes.” In a letter to Governor Cuomo in 1990, Phillip Yenawine writes: “We wanted the art to provide unique insights into the experience of AIDS and to move such art into arenas which might effect change. There is an assumption here that art has the power to effect change, which we can see that it does… we must count and mourn our losses, learn from them, and call with rage and love for action and change. We ask this as a memorial to and celebration of the achievements of too many men and women of all colors and sexual orientation. To name a few who have affected the course of art and who are known to you all: there is Gregory Kolovakos, a committed activist for human rights and champion of the art of writing; Keith Haring, who with full knowledge of his own failing health, never failed to embrace the job of living and the need to communicate; Arnie Zane, who made dances that opened countless eyes and hearts to new expressive content in movement; William Olander, whose impeccable eye and great generosity helped bring the work of innumerable emerging, marginalized artists to museum audiences; Robert Mapplethorpe, who showed us that in the beauty and dignity of humanity, there are both whips and flowers.” They are but a few amidst a field of creative beings who lost their lives to AIDS.

The fight for HIV/AIDS visibility and care in the early 80s was a struggle. Demands for a cure and accurate representations were often dismissed, silenced or incredibly misinformed. President Ronald Reagan only uttered the word AIDS in 1987 although the disease had already been, taking lives at a rapid pace since 1981.[2] Media coverage often turned AIDS into a social and moral issue, stigmatizing folks living with HIV and those who had died from its transition into AIDS. Some identity groups, like women, cis/straight folks, middleclass suburbanites and people who possess a multitude of identities were completely uncounted as misinformation about contracting HIV was widespread. The earliest falsehood being that HIV/AIDS was only a “white gay male” issue or an “IV drug users” issue. These inaccurate statements circulated amongst the public and ultimately kept most individuals in the dark about transmission and testing, stalling access to treatment and/or finding a cure.

This video from our WNYC digital collections is an episode of NY Hotline on “Women and AIDS” which attempted to expand narratives surrounding transmission. It highlights general misconceptions regarding women and HIV/AIDS. One can witness the overall biases and moral judgements about those who were considered most at risk. Also present is the palpable reality of all the unknowns. One caller, Dr. Wallace, begins to reveal some unknowns by approaching the potential root causes of the spread, mentioning the systemic and underlying issues that may have led to “risky” behaviors in “hot spot” areas of NYC which were mostly lower income BIPOC neighborhoods affected by the “burnout.” His point being that as these areas burned municipal services were cut, and a great displacement of these communities began, in turn causing a great loss of social support, therefore making these neighborhoods much more susceptible to drug addiction and to contracting and spreading HIV/AIDS.

HIV/AIDS is an intersectional issue, affecting many communities. That’s why Mayor David N. Dinkins’ Proclamation, was such an important gesture. The first Day Without Art was recognized by arts institutions and supported by the mayor’s office. But in 1990, Visual AIDS wanted to make a larger impact and organized an additional awareness action A Night Without Lights. The City’s willingness to turn off all lights expanded the issue to all beings. Appreciators of art or not, this event showed that AIDS affects all. Dr. Marjorie Hill, Director of the Mayor’s Office for the Gay and Lesbian Community, played a huge role in organizing support for Visual AIDS’ A Night Without Light. She became a member of the honorary committee and got owners of NYC’s most iconic buildings, bridges, monuments, and theater marquees to participate in the 15min of darkness.[3]

This black out—a void within the always lit “city that doesn’t sleep” skyline, was a message that reached beyond the arts community to touch the lives of all New Yorkers and the nation at large. Lights out!

What can we take away from these collections? As the City embraced darkness to honor lives lost due to political inaction, it additionally reminds us of all we are blind to, all we do not see in relation to our place in society. As seen with the COVID-19 pandemic, when a health crisis emerges, it highlights the structural and systemic inequities at play regarding who is most affected and who has access to care. The importance of gestures such as A Day Without Art is to remember and to be moved to act.

The Municipal Archives holds a decent number of materials spanning 1989-1993, that chronicle the beginning of these two critically historic events. Each piece of correspondence, original memos, proclamations, early promotional materials by the group Visual AIDS, news clippings and photocopies, WNYC footage from 1990 provides a first-hand look at how fear and loss was transmuted into the deepest inquiries and meaningful collaborations between artists, activists, institutions, and governmental bodies, working together to raise awareness and fight for recognition, treatment, and a cure. Having these materials in the archival collections is significant. They capture a very specific and important part of history, a history that makes itself known through the lives and legacies of those who have died and those who are living with HIV today. AIDS is still very much here, AIDS is not over, and to date there is no active cure.

[1] https://visualaids.org/projects/day-without-art

[2] There is knowledge that HIV/AIDS may have been present in the US as early as the 1971 but didn’t reach a national or international crisis state until the 80s. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/27/health/hiv-patient-zero-genetic-analysis.html

[3] https://visualaids.org/projects/night-without-light