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“It seems that HIV/AIDS has become less a disease and more of a neurosis,” said filmmaker David Oscar Harvey, referencing one of the observations made in his short film “Ambivalence: On HIV and Luck.”
Harvey’s film is part of a Nov. 30 program being hosted by the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), in conjunction with Visual AIDS, for its observance of the annual Day With(out) Art, titled “Red Reminds Me…” Day With(out) Art is a national observance initiated in the ’90s to dramatize the impact AIDS was having on the artistic community. While the initial high point of the observance — the darkening of the lights of Broadway — is no longer held, the point of programs like “Red” is to serve as a reminder that HIV/AIDS has not gone away, and is still something people have to deal with in a multitude of ways.
In a press release, Visual AIDS describes “Red Reminds Me…” as “a program of seven videos reflecting the emotional spectrum of living with HIV today. Through the red ribbon and other visuals, HIV/AIDS has been long associated with the color red and its connotations — blood, pain, tragedy and anger. ‘Red Reminds Me…’ invites viewers to consider a complex range of images and feelings surrounding HIV, from eroticism and intimacy, mothering and kinship, luck and chance, memory and haunting. The commissioned artists deploy parody, melodrama, theater, irony and horror to build a new vocabulary for representing HIV today.”
Harvey got involved with “Red Reminds Me…” by responding to Visual AIDS’ open call for artists. Of the seven visual artists picked for the program, Harvey is the only Philadelphia resident. The others come from diverse international origins such as Argentina, the Philippines, Panama, Belgium, and several parts of the U.S.
Harvey says his film “Ambivalence: On HIV & Luck” tackles the disorienting experience of existing with a manageable condition that our present culture insists on representing in terms of its bleak past. Interested in figuring HIV differently, the film presents a series of visual puns merging the iconography of HIV and AIDS with popular symbols of luck.
“In many ways, we’ve got a lot to be grateful for,” says Harvey. “A diagnosis of HIV/AIDS isn’t an automatic death sentence anymore. But many people don’t realize that there’s still a lot to deal with when it comes to living with HIV.”
Not the least of which, he says, is dealing with lingering emotional ramifications. “If you’re of a certain age, if you’re old enough to have lived through that early pandemic, the impact to the community, the loss, was profound. Yes, the community came together for support — but the grief was deep. So, even though things have gotten better, it’s still hard to live with that degree of loss.”
“Ambivalence” is not the first time Harvey has tackled the subject of HIV. His essay film on HIV criminalization, “Red Red Red,” has screened at film festivals and art spaces internationally.
The other filmmakers explore the emotional ramifications of living with HIV today from a diverse perspective, which is understandable, given the international composition of the program. One video reflects a pursuit of sexual justice and autonomy for women living with HIV. Another asks what it means for an HIV+ person. Who carries the history of the AIDS crisis in their DNA, to foster new life? And one artist constructs a collage of poetry and archival images that trace memories and sensations of an AIDS past that continue to haunt the present.
“Day With(out) Art 2024: Red Reminds Me…” will be presented 2-4 p.m. on Nov. 30, at the Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, 118 South 36th St. For more information, visit icaphila.org.