Archiving the Contested Public Spaces of Gran Fury

Dublin Core

Title

Archiving the Contested Public Spaces of Gran Fury

Subject

AIDS (Disease)--Public opinion;
Art and state--Censorship;
Gay activists;
Public health posters;
ACT UP (Organization)

Description

Promotional material, legislative documents and documentary photographs concerned with Gran Fury’s 1989 campaign “Kissing Doesn’t Kill”. The collection attend to the overlap of queer art-activism, public health discourse and governmental action relating to the epidemic of AIDS and the ways in which public spaces were transformed into envisioned sites for struggle, resistance, and visibility.

Creator

Bin Ni (Curator)

Source

New York Public Library; United States Senate; Gran Fury Archive

Date

2026

Contributor

Gran Fury (Collective)

Rights

Educational Use Permitted. Copyright of individual items belongs to their respective creators and holding institutions.

Relation

"Know Thy Self" Digital Exhibition

Format

Digital Collection

Language

EN

Type

Collection, Exhibition

Coverage

United States, 1989-1990

Collection Items

"Kissing Doesn't Kill: Greed and Indifference Do"
A Benetton-inspired layout of horizontal postcard. Shows three couples kissing on a white background. Black and red sans-serif text overlay. The back of the paper includes a hotlines for AIDS information sponsored by Verso.

Congressional Record, Senate Floor Amendment No. 420 (The Helms Amendment)
Legislative Transcript, Senate Floor Amendment No. 420 7-26-89. It provides the specific language of Senator Jesse Helms’ viscous speech against the ‘Kissing Doesn’t Kill’ campaign that inserted the strident language on NEA funding and…

Vandalized "Kissing Doesn't Kill" Billboard, Chicago
Graffitied large-scale billboard of “Kissing Doesn’t Kill” campaign in Chicago, featured in documentary photograph. This image grounds the visceral dangerousness of the artwork; its aesthetics found purchase within a violently contested public…
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