Between 1981—when AIDS claimed its first reported cases—and 1996, there was not one drug for treating HIV. In those 15 years, as 343,000 Americans, many of them in the arts, died without hope, an historic body of art and activism emerged to demand answers, to inspire rage, and to leave behind evidence of a decimated community.

Award-winning journalist, author and filmmaker David France speaks on the achievements, in the midst of terrible necessity, of AIDS activists in art and politics.

Filmmaker David France is the director and co-writer of the Oscar-nominated and critically-acclaimed, How to Survive a Plague, the documentary and subsequent book about the early years of the AIDS epidemic. The film earned him The John Schlesinger Award (given to a first-time documentary or narrative feature filmmaker) from the Provincetown International Film Festival and the PBS Independent Lens broadcast won the Peabody Award and was nominated for two Emmys. David is also a best-selling author and an award-winning journalist whose work has appeared in national publications, such as New York magazine, Newsweek, The New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, and GQ.

The SVA Honors Program and BFA Visual and Critical Studies present this talk (and Jason Rosenberg: Lessons from the AIDS Movement, March 24) in conjunction with the joint exhibitions “WITNESS” at the SVA Flatiron Project space, 133/141 West 21st Street, curated by Peter Hristoff (BFA 1981 Fine Arts) , and “TO LOVE–TO DIE; TO FIGHT. TO LIVE. Art and Activism in the Time of AIDS” at the SVA Flatiron Gallery, 133/141 West 21st Street. Both exhibitions run Thursday, March 20 – Saturday, April 5, with an opening reception on Thursday, March 20, 6:00 – 8:00pm.

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