Short Memory No History: AIDS, Art, Activism2000

AIDS and queer activism conveyed by their erasure from mainstream points of reference. This video examines the development of a cultural trend; the emergence of a lesbian and gay culture that evolved out of political activity in the late '80s sparked by the advent of the AIDS epidemic in America. The video explores the premise that history serves to solidify only that which is most efficacious to the preservation of the standards that perpetuate the status of the power elite. The past is revealed through the recollections of four activists who worked in different areas of the movement: Art (Robert Pacheco Vazquez, Gran Fury); Media (Sandra Elgear, Testing The Limits); Activism (Sarah Schulman, Lesbian Avengers); and Agitprop (Esther Kaplan-Cheap Art). All intersect as components or derivations of ACT-UP New York, the landmark socio-political mechanism that set the tone for a global revision of public perception of medicine, politics, and culture, but whose central operatives, historical origins, and current state of affairs is largely forgotten . The present is represented by an overview and crowd interviews at the Millennium March 2000 for Lesbian and Gay Equality, a largely promotional event, begging the question: is marketing the new form of activism?