Monday, November 28, 2011

AIDS ACTION NOW! POSTER/virus A fusion of HIV/Art/Activism

AIDS ACTION NOW! POSTER/virus   A fusion of HIV/Art/Activism

Launch on November 30th DAY WITH(OUT) ART @ the ART GALLERY OF ONTARIO 
6pm-8:30pm

Featuring performances by Kiki Ballroom Alliance and the Ontario Aboriginal HIV/AIDS Strategy
Speakers: Allyson Mitchell/Mikiki/Jessica Whitbread/Zoe Dodd/Collin Graham 
DJs: Nik Red/Leila P.

Featuring works by: Kent Monkman/Allyson Mitchell/Daryl Vocat/John Greyson/Cecilia Berkovic/Mikiki with Scott Donald

It is 30 years into the AIDS epidemic, and we are still struggling.  New forms of AIDS-phobia, discrimination and inequality continue to emerge including the increasing criminalization of people living with HIV. In Toronto, we are still facing proposed cuts to municipal funding for essential social services to address HIV, Hepatitis C and Syphilis. Federally in Canada, the climate of fear and austerity are increasing health inequalities for us all. It is clear that now more than ever, activism and art are needed to reinvigorate the response to HIV and AIDS.

This year, AIDS ACTION NOW is working to create a different kind of dialogue around HIV, in the art world, and on the street, in ways that hasn’t happened for a long time. Join us on November 30th for the Day With(out) Art: A fusion of HIV/Art/Activism at the Art Gallery of Ontario from 6-8:30pm.

In honor of the Day With(out) Art 2011, AIDS ACTION NOW has launched a poster series created by local Toronto artists Allyson Mitchell, Kent Monkman, John Greyson, Daryl Vocat, Cecilia Berkovic, and Mikiki with Scott Donald. The posters were developed collectively with community members working to respond to HIV. The posters aim to address important issues facing our lives as people living with HIV and/or who are co-infected with HIV and Hepatitis C including sexual rights, harm reduction, criminalization of HIV exposure, and the need for political action to address the epidemics.

Through merging the worlds of art and activism we are intentionally evoking the history of creative responses to HIV.  Our aim is to provoke discussion, controversy and dialogue in a way traditional activism cannot. See the posters here (and watch as they are emerge around the city over the next 2 weeks): http://aan-poster-virus-2011.tumblr.com/

AIDS ACTION NOW!

POSTER/virus blog: http://aan-poster-virus-2011.tumblr.com/

Facebook event page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=123780651065997

Acknowledgments: We would like to thank the Ontario Aboriginal HIV/AIDS Strategy, the International Community of Women Living with HIV (ICW), the Toronto Drug Users Union, the AIDS ACTION NOW Steering Committee, Doe O’Brien Teengs, Andrew Brett, Zoe Dodd, Len Tooley, Nicole Greenspan, Tim McCaskell, Brent Southin, Allyson Mitchell, Kent Monkman, John Greyson, Daryl Vocat, Cecilia Berkovic, Scott Donald, Mikiki, the AGO Youth Council, and the York University Faculty of Environmental Studies Community Arts Program.

www.aidsactionnow.org 

Harm Reduction as an Anarchist Practice‏

presented by the Toronto Harm Reduction Task Force

Friday December 2      Speakers Series Presentation

Harm Reduction as an Anarchist Practice: a user’s guide to capitalism
and addiction in North America    2 –4 pm. @ 410 Sherbourne Street,
3rd Floor Classroom

Presenter:  Christopher Smith

In spite of its origins as an illegal, clandestine, grassroots
activity that took place either outside or in defiant opposition to
state and legal authority, there is growing evidence to suggest that
harm reduction in North America has become sanitized and depoliticized
in its institutionalization as public health policy. Harm reduction
remains the most contested and controversial aspect of drug policy on
both sides of the Canada-US border, yet the institutionalization of
harm reduction in each national context demonstrates a series of stark
contrasts.  Arguing that the founding philosophy and spirit of the
harm reduction movement represents a fundamentally anarchist-inspired
form of practice, Christopher Smith considers tactics for reclaiming
and re-politicizing the future of harm reduction in North America.

Currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at U Pennsylvania, Christopher’s
current research examines consumer involvement in the addiction and
mental health sectors, underground harm reduction interventions in
Canada and the US, and global drug user capacity building initiatives.
His forthcoming book, “ Addiction, Modernity and the City: A users’
guide to urban space” will be published in 2012