Monday, March 10, 2025—New York, NY—School of Visual Arts (SVA) Academic Affairs and the Office of the Provost present “TO LOVE–TO DIE; TO FIGHT. TO LIVE. Art and Activism in the Time of AIDS,” an exhibition honoring all forms of art-based activism amid the AIDS crisis, 40 years after the idea for the iconic AIDS Quilt was conceived. Organized by alumnus and SVA Academic Affairs operations manager Michael Severance (BFA 2011 Fine Arts, MFA 2013 Art Practice) in collaboration with the New York City AIDS Memorial, the exhibition will be on view Thursday, March 20, through Saturday, April 5, 2025, at the SVA Flatiron Gallery, 133/141 W 21st St, New York, NY.

“TO LOVE–TO DIE; TO FIGHT. TO LIVE. Art and Activism in the Time of AIDS” honors those who fought hard for their survival, dignity, and respect in a time when activism and art collided into spectacular actions. The show will be comprised of multiple large “blocks,” each containing eight AIDS quilt panels, courtesy of the National AIDS Memorial, San Francisco; historical posters and advertisements from the AIDS activist artist collective Gran Fury, as well as period and contemporary Visual AIDS broadside takeaways from past Day Without Art events; and archival SVA AIDS crisis posters created between 1988 and 1994 courtesy of the SVA Archives. It will also include the films How to Survive a Plague (David France, 2012); United in Anger: A History of ACT UP (Jim Hubbard, 2014); Unfinished film (with sequence in memory of Peter Hujar) (David Wojnarowicz, 1987) courtesy of the Estate of David Wojnarowicz and P·P·O·W, New York; Red Reminds Me, seven contemporary works from Visual AIDS’ Day Without Art 2024 commission; and Surviving Voices, a series of mini-documentaries with stories from women, Black/African American, Latinx, API, transgender, and substance use and recovery communities that bring HIV/AIDS into contemporary context, courtesy of the National AIDS Memorial, San Francisco.

As part of the exhibition, the SVA BFA Visual and Critical Studies program and the adjacent Flatiron Project Space will concurrently present “WITNESS,” curated by faculty member and alumnus Peter Hristoff (BFA 1981 Fine Arts). A collection of multidisciplinary works created in response to the AIDS crisis by SVA community members—alumni, faculty and staff, and including four people lost to the epidemic—“WITNESS” is a powerful testament to the impact of HIV/AIDS on the art world. Artists include Steve Defrank (BFA 1990 Fine Arts), Bil Donovan (BFA 2001 Fine Arts), JP Forrest (BFA 1991 Media Arts; MFA 2000 Fine Arts), Juan Gonzalez, Dan Halm (BFA 1994 Illustration; MFA 2001 Illustration as Visual Essay), Keith Haring (1979 Fine Arts), Frank Holliday (BFA 1980 Fine Arts), Peter Hristoff, Carlos Pisco (BFA 2000 Advertising), Eric Rhein (BFA 1985 Fine Arts; MFA 2000 Fine Arts), John Ruggeri (BFA 1984 Media Arts; MFA 1986 Illustration as Visual Essay), Kenny Scharf (BFA 1981 Fine Arts), John Sex (BFA 1980 Media Arts), Jo Shane, Gil Stone, George Towne (BFA 1990 Media Arts; MFA 1997 Illustration as Visual Essay), Anthony Viti, and Tony Whitfield. A fully illustrated catalog for “WITNESS” will be available to the public, free of charge, while supplies last.

Though the inaugural display of the AIDS Quilt did not take place until October 11, 1987 during the Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, its origin was a 1985 candlelight vigil led by Cleve Jones in honor of the many people who had lost their lives and on the anniversary of the assassinations of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk. Jones and a group of activists taped poster-sized placards with names of the dead onto the outside walls of San Francisco City Hall in a display that resembled a quilt. By 1987, the Names Project had been officially founded by Jones, Mike Smith, and volunteers Joseph Durant, Jack Caster, Gert McMullin, Ron Cordova, Larkin Mayo, Steve Kirchner, and Gary Yuschalk, and one of the largest community art projects in history was born. The quilt that day was composed of 1,920 panels—each six feet by three feet to represent the size of a grave—and covered roughly the size of a football field. By 1996 the AIDS Quilt would cover the entire length of the National Mall from the Washington Monument to the Capital.

Decades later, in 2022, Hristoff was one of 20 artists invited by the New York City AIDS Memorial and textile design studio Maharam to participate in a series of free, public quilt-making workshops at the Whitney Museum of American Art, resulting in the creation of dozens of new panels and cross-generational engagement with the historic project. As part of this tribute, SVA has partnered with the New York City AIDS Memorial to host a second series of free and open-to-the-public quilt-making workshops led by artist Daniele Frazier in conjunction with the exhibition. During the two-day workshops, artists, students, faculty, and the public are invited to observe and participate in the panel-making process. Together, we will design and stitch several new panels honoring the lives of creative New Yorkers, including several SVA alumni, continuing the intention of the activists who first imagined the Quilt—to inform, to share, and to build community.

Additional programming:

Saturday, March 29 & Sunday, March 30, 2025, 10:00am – 6:00pm | SVA Flatiron Gallery

Community AIDS Memorial Quilt-making Workshops

Quilt-making workshops honoring artists, designers, and other members of the creative community lost to the AIDS epidemic are organized by the New York City AIDS Memorial alongside artist Daniele Frazier with support provided by the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development and the National AIDS Memorial, San Francisco with materials courtesy of Materials for the Arts, Todd Oldham Studio, the David Wojnarowicz Foundation, and Maharam.

Monday, March 31, 2025, 6:30 – 8:00pm | 133 West 21st St, Room 101C

David France–Surviving a Plague: Art and Activism in the Time of AIDS

Award-winning journalist, author, and filmmaker David France, director and co-writer of the Oscar-nominated and critically-acclaimed How to Survive a Plague, will speak on achievements of AIDS activists in art and politics.

Wednesday, April 2, 2025, 10:00am | SVA Library West, 133/141 West 21st St

In the Archives with Visual AIDS Community Archivist, Jacs Rodriguez

Join Jacs Rodriguez, community archivist at Visual AIDS for a demonstration on conducting art historical research in the archive. Rodriguez will explore finding Visual AIDS artists files and institutional records, while highlighting the organization’s collections and history. Organized by Catie Moore, Librarian, and Bridget O’Keefe, Reference Librarian, SVA Library.

“TO LOVE–TO DIE; TO FIGHT. TO LIVE. Art and Activism in the Time of AIDS” is generously sponsored by SVA Academic Affairs and the Office of the Provost; SVA Archives and the Milton Glaser Design Study Center and Archives; SVA BFA Advertising and Design; SVA BFA Film; SVA BFA Visual and Critical Studies; SVA Humanities and Sciences; SVA Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; SVA Galleries; Visual AIDS, and New York City AIDS Memorial.  

School of Visual Arts has been a leader in the education of artists, designers and creative professionals for seven decades. With a faculty of distinguished working professionals, a dynamic curriculum and an emphasis on critical thinking, SVA is a catalyst for innovation and social responsibility. Comprising 6,000 students at its Manhattan campus and over 43,000 alumni from some 130 countries, SVA also represents one of the most influential artistic communities in the world. For information about the College’s 30 undergraduate and graduate degree programs, visit sva.edu.

Founded as a grass-roots advocacy effort in early 2011, the New York City AIDS Memorial organization is now a 501(c)(3) corporation with the mission to honor the more than 100,000 New Yorkers who have died of AIDS and to acknowledge the contributions of caregivers and activists who mobilized to provide care for the ill, fight discrimination, lobby for research, alter the drug approval process, and ultimately change the trajectory of the disease. Today, the organization maintains the Memorial as a highly visible and architecturally significant landmark and a community space for reflection and remembrance. It bears witness to the lessons of the epidemic by extending its reach through regular, free, public community-centered educational, arts, and cultural programming.