AIDS Correspondences explores the evolving temporalities of living with HIV/AIDS and the changing social attitudes towards the virus over the years. Through screenings, narration and discussion, the programme looks into the histories of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Greece and Spain, presenting artistic and activist responses that reflect on social attitudes, mostly from when infection signalled death and examining the distinctiveness of these contexts to globally dominant histories (Tuesday). The programme will then explore the contemporary temporality of living with HIV, examining the impact of antiretroviral therapies on sex, subjectivity and lived experiences, especially in gay male subcultures (Wednesday). 

AIDS Correspondences is the outcome of a series of exchanges between Panos Fourtoulakis with Aimar Arriola and with João Florêncio—correspondence as a way to connect times and places, presences and absences.

The programme consists of 2 sessions, on 27 and 28 February.

Tuesday 27th: Screening and discussion between Panos Fourtoulakis and Aimar Arriola.
Wednesday 28th: Presentation by João Florêncio followed by discussion with Panos Fourtoulakis.

Wednesday 28/2
7-8 pm

Professor João Florêncio gives a presentation on the interplay between medical technologies, sexual practices, and temporal experiences, highlighting the complex ways antiretroviral therapies reshape the lives, subjectivities, and sexual practices of gay men in the post-AIDS crisis era. The session will also explore ideas regarding the metaphorical representation of “virus”, looking into the relationships between cultural perceptions, social narratives, and biomedical responses in understanding virality.

The presentation is followed by a discussion with Panos Fourtoulakis.

Image: Las Pekinesas, Sida Da, performance documentation, still, 8:52 min, 1985.

Presented by by João Florêncio and Panos Fourtoulakis

Panos Fourtoulakis is an independent curator whose practice centers on media cultures, their ability to produce subjectivities, and the relationship of liveness and embodied presence to mediation, particularly concerning moving image practices. He studied Curating Contemporary Art at the Royal College of Art; and is currently a fellow at Onassis AiR in Athens, researching artistic responses to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Greece.

João Florêncio is Professor of Gender Studies and Chair of Sex Media and Sex Cultures at Linköping University, Sweden. A queer cultural scholar of embodiment and sexuality, his research focuses on the interfacing between the body, media technologies, and sex in contemporary culture. João’s work has appeared in The Sociological Review, Sexualities, Radical History Review, Porn Studies, and Somatechnics, among other journals and edited collections. He is the author of Bareback Porn, Porous Masculinities, Queer Futures: The Ethics of Becoming-Pig (Routledge, 2020) and co-author, with Liz Rosenfeld, of Crossings: Creative Ecologies of Cruising (forthcoming, Rutgers University Press, 2024).

AIDS Correspondences is the outcome of Fourtoulakis’ curatorial residency at LOOP, Barcelona and Matadero, Μadrid in spring 2024. Τhe programme relates to his research on artistic responses to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Greece, supported by Onassis AiR, Athens.

Language: english