Where to begin a web tour? Already I am compiling a tour-on-the-run. The proximity of World AIDS Day, December 1, means that I am combining an impersonation of a headless chicken with a dog chasing its tail and the proverbial blue-.......ed-fly. (Cluck, cluck, woof, woof, bzzzzzzz.) My attention is single-mindedly focussed on Visual AIDS national program Day With(out) Art, this year celebrating its 10th anniversary.

Not wanting to blow our own horn too much (I keep thinking of a big red London double-decker bus, the 273 from Stoke Newington to Oxford Circus) but I am particularly proud this year of Visual AIDS' new project "A Day in the Life...", a journal project with entries from around the world by people with HIV/AIDS, physicians, artists, AIDS service workers, caregivers and people who have lost a loved one which attempts to personalize the impact of the virus globally. "A Day..." can be seen on Visual AIDS' new site hosted by thebody.com - perhaps the largest gathering of AIDS Service Organizations in any one location - along with our new web gallery which invites an artist/curator and an AIDS worker each month to select images from our Archive to exhibit on the web, outlining their thoughts on the work and why they chose it. The first month is curated by Robert Heglar, an intern in the Social Medicine Program in Family Practice at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx and Ricardo Morin, an artist living with AIDS. Both projects are designed by the wonderful Ron Wakkary of Stadium best known for their innovative projects with artists such as Lawrence Weiner, Louise Lawler, Allan McCollum and Maciej Wisniewski (unfortunately Maciej's site does not work with AOL).

The past few months everyone at Visual AIDS has been researching intensively on the web, checking statistics and researching new data for World AIDS Day. The CDC has proven invaluable, if a little mind-blowing. Although the design is no-frills, the organizational listings on thebody.com can be incredibly useful, with links to ASO's such as People With AIDS Healthgroup, Treatment Action Group, GMHC, National Minority AIDS Council and Community Research Initiative on AIDS (CRIA). We also use the internet to research drug treatment options and information, particularly as most people with HIV/AIDS on triple combination therapies - the protease "cocktail" - experience dramatic and debilitating side-effects, such as nausea, chronic diarrhea, neuropathy, depression - you name it - these toxic drugs give it to you.

We have many, many debates with our members about "quality of life" issues. The medications prolong life and reduce viral load, but for some the drug regimens, coupled with the disheartening and seemingly never-ending side-effects, raise questions such as "how long can I do this for?", "how can I maintain a positive attitude", "what herbal or other remedies will alleviate the painful side-effects from taking these drugs?", "what other combinations might work better for me", "what new products are currently going through trials?", "can I get on a trial?", "how can I find a support network to help me through this?".

Nearly half of all people taking triple combination therapies have developed resistance, rendering the drugs useless - the latest developments/research is an ongoing debate which we must stay up-to-date with if we are to be able to help our members. Sites such as IAPAC and the Harvard AIDS Review provide useful information, articles, and up-to-the-minute accounts of global developments and the findings of doctors/researchers working in the field.

One unusual site http:// www.posnet.co/uk/public/discuss.htm found in my web wanderings is geographically located in Camden, London (UK), home of many a good pub and club, as well as the famous Camden market.

[Ticket Inspectors note: the way of all web sites it seems, this url is temporarily out of action. However, as it is such an important site we have left it in for the time being, in the hope that it will be reolved in the near future. In the meantime, sites such as www.erowid.org/entheogens/x/x_info1.shtml give similar, if less detailed information about the realities of mixing medication with recreational drugs, as does www.ecstasy.org/q30.html - although you need to be a scientist to get your head around the last one!]

Hosted, surprisingly by the Camden Council, it gives information on the implications of taking various recreational drugs for people taking retroviral medications. You may immediately dismiss this recommendation as irresponsible on my part, but I feel that we should face the facts. Having HIV does not mean your life stops - as many would have us believe. Equally - face these facts - if you are taking up to 60 tablets a day, every day, on an extremely restricted food regimen detailing exactly when you can eat and drink, how much fat content you eat at what time, experiencing miserable side-effects, even apart from the psychological effects of living with a life threatening disease - it sometimes happens that you rebel, wilfully impose denial, and have "a night off" whether its drinking, smoking, clubbing or, worst of all, skipping medications (this is absolutely dangerous for someone on the protease cocktail and cannot be stressed enough).

Don't get me wrong, I am not recommending "wild nights on the town", but I am advocating increased support, a greater understanding of the new medications and what it's like to take them every day. When you're taking medications, for HIV or anything else, it is vital to know the contra-indications of any additional drug you take and to know exactly what the implications are for your body. This site is interesting to anyone who will, or who has, taken recreational drugs in their time. Be warned, you will worry about the state of your liver after going there! Its particularly interesting to me that the site is funded by a UK state agency - the local council. Can you imagine this happening in the US? Would Guiliani allow New York to distribute such useful, and potentially life - saving information? In Europe, yes, in America, no. Our loss. Thank God for the web.

On the subject of clubbing, I have to recommend my favorite two underground or "pirate" radio stations, both "transmitting" from the UK. While both do live sets every Tuesday, the night I tune in in order to "meet" all my old club - friends from the UK in their chat-rooms, they also record their sessions and do broadcasts on other nights. Check out Eddie Richards from DYNAMIX on  www.gaialive.co.uk on Tuesday, 1-12pm UK time (5 - 7pm US Eastern) and T-J and LE Bass on www.pirate-radio.co.uk from 1 - 2.30 am UK time (8 - 9.30 pm US Eastern). Eddie's set from November 17th is a particularly good one and is recorded - play it while you work!!

Finally a very quick tour of some of my favorite art sites. www.artnet.com is a great research tool, providing links to a wide range of art sites, galleries, museums, non-profits and publications. The Thing has an amazing list of artists who have all done projects for the web. Bullseye Art, is a totally funky adventure involving strange landscapes with weird sounds, jumping bunnies and cows, and spirals that lead to odd places!!! Jeff Instone's The Word Beyond Speech at Camerawork (London, UK) is a playful commentary on the web and computer interfaces. Thundergulch gives great debates and archival documentation of all those lunchtime@the wall's you felt guilty about missing. ArtAIDS , again based in the UK (what do you mean, you've realized that I'm not an American?) is a dedicated website "commemorating and celebrating the fight against AIDS" has some interesting projects undertaken for previous Days Without Art.

Also, I have to recommend The Estate Project for Artists With AIDS' "Virtual Collection" the first digital database showing over 3,000 images of work by artists with HIV/AIDS drawn primarily from the Archive Project of Visual AIDS, and also showcasing work from the archives of Visual AIDS (San Francisco), Visual AIDS Boston and the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center. If you're reading this, I assume you've already looked at Creative Time's Banner Project 1998. If you haven't already selected a banner for your own site, I recommend a U-turn to do this immediately.

And finally I have to put in a word for the sadly defunct äda 'web - one more wonderful project loses its funding base. All power to Benjamin Weil and Vivian Selbo for the great projects they completed.

---

© 1998 
Day Without Art Web Action Project 212/206-6674 x201 staff@creativetime.org

dwa archives





x