Visual AIDS

Visual AIDS, the contemporary arts organization committed to preserving and honoring the work of artists with HIV/AIDS and the artistic contributions of the AIDS movement, will use this grant of $30,000 to sustain their permanent community archivist position and annual Research Fellowship, which was funded in part by HWI in 2023 as well. The only resource of its kind, the Visual AIDS Archive Project and Artist Registry in New York, NY collects, preserves, and provides access to the personal papers, audiovisual materials, publications, and ephemera created, dealing with, or collected by artists living with HIV or those who have passed. Their archival holdings constitute the only extant historical materials for many of these artists.

The current archive includes 25,600 physical slides and over 18,600 digital images from 945 living artists and estates. Hauser & Wirth Institute’s support will allow Visual AIDS to maintain an archivist on staff, who will oversee digitization of materials, catalog accessibility, and create more robust collection management and procedures, to ensure equity in their processes.