Love's Body -Art in the age of AIDS

This is an exhibition that examines social issues common all over the world, like aids and sexuality, and throws them into relief through artistic expression. From the late 1980’s to the early 1990’s, when the AIDS panic spread, there were many artists who lost their lives to the disease, and many art works were born within the environment of social prejudice and discrimination which existed at the time.

This exhibition focuses on eight artists, both from Japan and abroad, and is made up of 78 works drawn from the 1980s up until the present time, and includes some new works. One of the contributing artists, AA Bronson, worked in the artists’ group General Idea with Jorge Zontal and Felix Partz, who both died of AIDS. He lost his close artistic collaborators, and afterwards, amongst the people he met, a child was born. The photograph he took soon after the birth of this new life is on display in the exhibition. Among the eight artists represented, four of them - Peter Hujar, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Hervé Guibert and David Wojnarowicz – passed away following AIDS-related complications, or of suicide after the onset of the disease. All of the artists involved either had AIDS, or were close to people with it, and it is really worth taking yourself to the museum to see how they faced the disease and expressed their feelings through their art.

During the exhibition, from 2pm on October 8th and 22nd, and November 12th and 26th, there will be a special guided lecture by the exhibition’s curator. You can participate if you have your exhibition ticket stub (only those stamped with the same day).