Patrick Michael Baird The Artist as Social Critic December 15, 2003
Gran Fury: Utilizing the Power of Art to Exploit
the Limits of Popular Culture.
The White House, the Capitol building, and the Supreme Court are not the only venues for political activity. Cultural production also occurs on socially and politically inflected terrain. All art is political, but some announces its orientation or position more overtly. Inevitably every artwork advocates something, whether a political position or a type of descriptive system – even art that presents itself as an autonomous aesthetic object advocates viewing it that way. The processes by which art is taught, made, distributed, financed, shown, and used are not neutral, but are shaped by historical, economic, and social dynamics.
Julie Ault
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The gay and lesbian activism movement of the 1970’s unified a large
population of gay men and lesbian women to facilitate protesting repression,
police entrapment, and other forms of discrimination that have been transformed
by the AIDS epidemic. The onset of the AIDS epidemic, which devastatingly
struck the gay community in the 1980’s, called for collective action to challenge
the incorrect information being spread by the mass media and to break the
silence of the United States government.
The AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT-UP) was founded in New York
City in March 1987 as a diverse, nonpartisan group of individuals united in anger
and committed to direct action to end the AIDS Crisis. The main goals of ACT-UP
are to challenge those who, by their actions or inactions, hinder the fight against
AIDS, or prevent adequate funding or leadership of AIDS research, health care,
or housing for people with AIDS. ACT-UP also works to challenge anyone who
blocks the dissemination of life-saving information
about safer sex, clean needles, and other AIDS
prevention. (ACT-UP, NYC – Mission Statement.)
The first activist artwork created by about thirty
members of ACT-UP was featured in the New
Museum of Contemporary Art. ‘Let the Record
Show…’ was a site-specific installation made for the
window of the New Museum in Soho. The installation
featured a blue neon sign that stated
‘Let the Record Show…’ Installation view from outside the New Museum for Contemporary Art, 1987.
‘Let the Record Show…’
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‘SILENCE=DEATH’ below a pink neon
triangle1, an LED sign, a photomural of
the Neuremberg trials, and a series of
six cardboard cutouts representing
public figures who had aggravated the
AIDS crisis according to ACT-UP.
Beneath each cardboard silhouette was
a concrete slab that was inscribed like
a headstone with a quote relating to the
AIDS epidemic.
Gran Fury originated in 1988 as
an artist collective open to any
members of ACT-UP. When the
collective first began, it acted as ACT-
UP’s propaganda office. Gran Fury
quickly spawned into an independent
entity, separating from ACT-UP even
though Gran Fury members remained
ACT-UP members. Gran Fury’s
decision to detach from ACT-UP was in
response to their need of constantly regrouping because, while it was a part of
ACT-UP, their membership was constantly in flux. Having to regroup seemed
1 The SILENCE=DEATH Project was another group that predated Gran Fury. Gran Fury, however, created the Pink Triangle/SILENCE=DEATH emblem.
‘Let the Record Show…’ (ACT-UP, 1987)
William F. Buckley, Conservative Columnist.
‘Everyone detected with AIDS should be tattooed in the upper forearm, to protect common-needle users, and on the buttocks, to prevent the victimization of other homosexuals.’
Cory Servass, Presidential AIDS Commission.
‘It is patriotic to have the AIDS test and be negative.’
Anonymous Surgeon ‘We used to hate faggots on an emotional basis. Now we have a good reason.’
Jesse Helms, U.S. Senator.
‘The logical outcome of testing is a quarantine of those infected.’
Jerry Falwell, Televangelist.
‘AIDS is God’s judgment of a society that does not live by his rules.’
Ronald Reagan, U.S. President.
(Intentionally left blank to show his silence and inaction during a time of crisis.)
Installation detail, ‘Let the Record Show…’, 1987.
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counterproductive to the goals of the collective. Gran
Fury’s name was both a reference to the automobile of
choice used by the New York City Police Department, as
well as a description of the collective’s anger, frustration,
and rage. The primary members of Gran Fury were
Richard Elovich, Avram Finkelstein, Tom Kalin, John
Lindell, Loring McAlpin, Marlene McCarty, Donald Moffett, Michael Nesline, Terry
Riley, Mark Simpson, and Robert Vasquez.
Gran Fury’s initial interests were in graphically presenting information and
statistics from the Nation Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and New York’s
Department of Health as well as critiquing the United States Government for their
‘mismanagement of the AIDS crisis2’. Gran Fury’s approach to combining
imagery and text was a response to the extremely limited imagery found in
newspapers, magazines, and on television. The media often offered only images
of emaciated AIDS ‘victims’ or ‘disease carriers’ and often through rhetoric
2 As stated in the ACT-UP Capsule History 1987, http://www.actupny.org/documents/cron-87.html.
Regarding the ‘Let The Record Show…’ exhibition at the New Museum, activist and New Museum curator, William Olander published a response to those who wondered ‘But is it art?’ – he wrote: 'Not all works of art are as ‘disinterested’ as others, and some of the greatest have been created in the midst, or as a result, of a crisis. Many of us believe we are in the midst of a crisis today. Let the record show that there are many in the community of art and artists who chose not to be silent in the 1980s.’
Gran Fury, 1988.
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framed these people as ‘innocent’ or ‘guilty.’ Hemophiliacs and children were
often framed as ‘innocent’, while gay men and IV drug users were ‘guilty.’
The first AIDS related imagery to be found in galleries and museums were
often similar to media related portrayals. Photography has historically been
considered an effective means to confront media imagery and show ‘alternative
realities’ lacking within mainstream media. Many artists of the 1980’s failed to
adequately challenge and confront the criminalizing imagery found in mainstream
media. The difficulty in challenging mainstream imagery of PWA’s3 originates in
the difficultly of trying to portray a syndrome lacking visual characteristics. (What
does AIDS look like?) Early photographers and artists produced mostly portraits
of PWA’s in the decline of their health and images of PWA’s living with the HIV
disease. In the words of Gran Fury member Marlene McCarty, ‘There was no
way we were going to make victim photography’ or extend ‘the dominant
representation of AIDS as pathetic images of people dying in hospital beds.’
(Meyer, p56.)
Gran Fury’s aesthetic was an adaptation to popular culture and the
advertising industry. Gran Fury utilized the advertising venue as a space to
initially confuse the viewer into thinking that what they were looking at was
actually an advertisement, despite the fact that they were actually attempting to
increase awareness of the AIDS crisis. ‘Kissing Doesn’t Kill’ was one of Gran
Fury’s early billboard works, and emulates the style used in many United Colors
of Benetton ads.
3 People with AIDS.
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‘Kissing Doesn’t Kill’ was Gran Fury’s entrance into the art world, and
marks a milestone in the blurring of boundaries between the art eco-system and
activism. ‘Kissing Doesn’t Kill’ was created for Art Against AIDS On the Road,
which was a public art projected organized as a benefit for the American
Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) in 1989 and was selected to be
displayed in advertising space on public transportation in San Francisco,
Washington, D.C., and Chicago. Barbara Kruger, Cindy Sherman, and Robert
Mapplethorpe were among some of the high-profile artists also selected to
participate in Art Against AIDS On the Road. (Meyer, p56.)
Gran Fury had great difficulty in focusing its activist roots while entering
the contemporary art world. Despite amfAR’s progressive agenda, Gran Fury
was forced to censor themselves in order to participate in Art Against AIDS on
the Road, they were forced to remove a portion of the text that read: ‘Corporate
Greed, Government Inaction, and Public Indifference Make AIDS a Political
Crisis.’
Gran Fury’s self-censorship was still not enough for the Illinois State
Senate, which passed a bill in 1990 outlawing the public display of ‘any poster
showing or simulating physical contact or embrace within a homosexual or
lesbian context where persons under 21 can view it.’ This bill was later defeated
The uncensored ‘Kissing Doesn’t Kill’, 1989.
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in the House of Representatives. In August 1990, ‘Kissing Doesn’t Kill’ made its
appearance on Chicago buses and subway platforms, but within twenty-four
hours of their installation, vandals defaced nearly all the panels. Both local and
national press failed to report on the defacing of these public transportation
panels. (Meyer, p59.)
Despite going against the foundations of Gran Fury’s existence, censoring
‘Kissing Doesn’t Kill’ still allowed the collective to utilize the contemporary art
world as a venue for spreading their message and as a source of funding.
‘Kissing Doesn’t Kill’ played a crucial role in Gran Fury’s invitation to participate in
the Venice Biennale.
Choosing to participate in the Venice Biennale was a difficult decision for
Gran Fury to make. Gran Fury was dedicated to getting their message out in the
public sphere and on the street rather than in interior art spaces. Gran Fury
recognized that most people involved in the contemporary art world were aware
of the AIDS crisis because of the pervasive nature of AIDS among the lives of
many artists.
The Venice Biennale, however, would allow for the collective to critique
the Catholic Church on their home territory. Gran Fury’s contribution to the
Venice Biennale was the juxtaposing of two billboards entitled ‘The Pope and the
Penis’ (also referred to as ‘The Pope Piece’). One billboard size print, organized
as a triptych (referencing the traditional Roman Catholic altarpiece format)
featured a picture of the pope with text declaring:
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‘The Catholic Church has long taught men and women to loathe their bodies and to fear their
sexual natures. This particular vision of good and evil continues to bring suffering and even death
By holding medicine hostage to Catholic morality and withholding information which allows people
to protect themselves and each other from acquiring the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, the
Church seeks to punish all who do not share its peculiar vision of human experience and makes
clear its preference for living saints and dead sinners. It is immoral to practice bad medicine. It is
bad medicine to deny people information that can help end the AIDS crisis. Condoms and clean
needles save lives as surely as the earth revolves around the sun. AIDS is caused by a virus and
a virus has no morals.’
The second billboard size print featured a picture of a penis along with the text:
‘Sexism rears its unprotected head. Men use condoms or beat it. AIDS kills women.’
When the director of the Biennale first saw Gran Fury’s billboards, he
declared that their contribution was not a work of art and vowed to resign if it
were exhibited. Italian officials at the Venice airport refused to release the
billboards from customs. Gran Fury, infuriated by the confiscation of their
Biennale contribution, held a press conference in their exhibition stall. The press
found text painted on the walls where ‘The Pope and The Penis’ should have
been hung. The text read:
‘Two billboards by Gran Fury are being held in Italian Customs. One billboard, with a picture of
the Pope, criticizes the Catholic Church’s position on condoms and AIDS education. The other
billboard, with a picture of an erect penis, mandates that men use condoms to prevent the spread
of the AIDS virus. The director of the Biennale, Giovanni Carandente, has threatened to resign if
the billboards are exhibited. The Biennale officials refuse to intervene to secure the work.’
Gran Fury’s contribution was quickly labeled the ‘Scandalo alla Biennale’.
Gran Fury exploited the threat of censorship in the case of the Biennale as a
strategy in its activism tactics. The controversy was well acknowledged by the
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press and negative publicity was created in regards to the international art
festival. Donald Moffett stated, ‘the strongest thing was not the object [the
billboard] itself, but the discussion the object generated… it allowed us to break
outside the cloistered territory of the Biennale.’ (Meyer, p77.)
The Venice Biennale was a pivotal moment in making or breaking the
collectives acceptance into
the international
contemporary art world.
Gran Fury’s activist tactics
and strategies exemplified
their commitment to their
artwork, which reinforced
their acceptance into the art
community and allowed for the funding of many future projects. Most importantly,
the Biennale caused quite the disruption in the international art eco-system, and
opened many discussions regarding AIDS and censorship in the arts.
The dissolution of Gran Fury was a slow and frustrating process for many
of its members. According to member Michael Nesline, ACT-UP had three
primary goals, to publicize the AIDS crisis, to get drugs into bodies, and to end
the AIDS crisis. According to Nesline, Gran Fury and ACT-UP ‘accomplished two
of the three, the third still remains to be achieved.’ The common reason among
Gran Fury members for its dissolution were changes in personal politics and as
John Lindell stated in an Artforum (April 2003) interview with Douglas Crimp, ‘We
‘Welcome to America’, 1990.
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stopped because there were questions that we wanted to address that we
couldn’t find a means to address. Toward the end we talked about doing
something about the fact that after nearly ten years of AIDS awareness the
infection rates for gay men were still going up. We found that our way of working
was inadequate to the situation, and we couldn’t change our way of working.’
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The activist artwork created by Gran Fury has undeniably influenced
future artists, politics, and most importantly increased awareness of the AIDS
epidemic. Sadly enough in the Artforum interview, Donald Moffett’s realization
that (in 2003) the ‘rhetorical neglect coming out of the White House is very similar
to where we were fifteen years ago’ and Douglas Crimp’s example that ‘ADAP
[AIDS Drug Assistant Program] funding is being cut all over the country. And
when was the last time any of you saw prevention information in, say, a gay bar?’
only reinforces the need for artists to continue increasing awareness of the AIDS
epidemic and to continue to educate the masses.
Good Luck… Miss You, Gran Fury, 1995. Gran Fury’s last collective work.
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Works Cited
Atkins, Robert. How to Make Art in an Epidemic.
http://www.artnet.com/magazine/features/atkins/atkins2-11-00.asp. Retrieved
December 2003.
Atkins, Robert. AIDS: Making Art & Raising Hell. http://www.queer-
arts.org:80/archive/show4/forum/atkins/atkins.html. Retrieved December 2003.
Atkins, Robert. Off the Wall: AIDS and Public Art.
http://www.artistswithaids.org/artery/centerpieces/centerpieces_offwall.html.
Retrieved December 2003.
Ault, Julie. Cultural Activism.
http://www.guggenheimcollection.org/site/concept_Cultural_Activism.html.
Retrieved December 2003.
Critical Art Ensemble. Collective Cultural Action: The Critical Art
Ensemble. Variant. Volume 2, Number 15. Summer 2002.
Krach, Aaron. Far Enough Away. Media Watch. July 2003.
Knight, Christopher. Fury + Political Attack = Graphic AIDS Message. The
Los Angeles Times. March 6, 1991.
Snow, Shauna. NY Artists’ Collective Vents Its Rage in L.A. Art: Gran Fury
Plasters bus shelters with AIDS posters. The Los Angeles Times. March 6, 1991.
Gran Fury. Good Luck… Miss You – Gran Fury.
http://www.actupny.org/indexfolder/GranFury1.html. Retrieved December 2003.
Kaczorowski, Craig. AIDS Activism in the Arts.
http://www.glbtq.com/arts/aids_activism_art.html. Retrieved December 2003.
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Crimp, Douglas. Gran Fury Talks to Douglas Crimp. Artforum. April 2003.
Kastor, Elizabeth. Fear and Fury; AIDS in the Arts; The Content; Political
Paints, Plays that Plead. The Washington Post. May 20, 1990.
Felshin, Nina. But is it Art? The Spirit of Art as Activism. Seattle: Bay
Press, 1995.
Meyer, Richard. Outlaw Representation. Censorship and Homosexuality in
Twentieth-Century American Art. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Perchuk, Andrew and Helaine Posner. The Masculine Masquerade.
Masculinity and Representation. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1995.