SAN FRANCISCO—The Center for Sex & Culture has launched its first-ever Kickstarter campaign, by which it seeks to publish an exhibition catalog of some of the most notable posters from the Buzz Bense collection. Buzz was one of the founders of safer sex club Eros, and worked with CSC founders Drs. Robert Morgan Lawrence and Carol Queen on the Coalition for Healthy Sex. He amassed one of the most significant safer sex and HIV/AIDS poster collections, and donated these materials to CSC last year. As a group, they are especially stunning -- graphically, but also historically. Thirty years out from the beginning of the epidemic that changed --and ended-- so many lives, CSC wants to add this collection to the available literature, show off some of these amazing posters, supplement the information about the epidemic, and launch CSC's role in getting some of its more extraordinary materials out into the world.
The campaign link, which includes more detailed information and poster images, is here.
The campaign ends on November 5 at 6:06pm EST.
The Buzz Bense Collection of HIV/AIDS and Safe(r) Sex Posters will be published as an exhibition catalog to accompany the CSC showing of the posters from November though 31st January 2014. CSC's exhibition displaying nearly 100 of these safer sex posters opens on November 7 at 7 pm.
Many of us remember vividly the period in the 1980s and 90s when campaigns promoting safer sex practices developed, looking back on the visual materials from these campaigns has been both a moving experience of memory and an exciting new perspective of the work many of us did in that time. As these posters and other materials begin to pass in to something more like history than recent memory, we get to see them again. Thankfully, we can now see a little more of their artistry rather than only seeing the urgency that created their message.
These materials are of both cultural and artistic significance. They were often created by advertising and illustration professionals who were suddenly free to apply their best and most innovative ideas that may have been constrained by mainstream business. With the lives and health of their community at stake, and often their own, these artists brought all of their skill to bear on efforts to save lives.
The catalog will contain images of these collected materials, primarily posters, including safer sex campaigns from North America, Europe, and Oceania. We will also include an art historical essay by Alex Fialho as well as Alex's interview of Buzz Bense about the collection he accumulated, plus a foreward by CSC director Dr. Carol Queen.
CSC seeks support in producing this important volume of materials, both for the preservation of history and to communicate to the world more broadly the great power of the work so many did in desperate times. Contributions are critical to our success.
"We are halfway to our goal for our Safe(r) Sex Poster Catalog," said Gallerist Dorian Katz. "Thank you so much for your support! The responses to our fundraising efforts have been so gratifying. Your continued help in letting people know about our efforts can really make a difference. We have even added new rewards. Publishing this collection of posters and the accompanying essays is important for the preservation and understanding of our history. You don't want the history of the AIDS epidemic written by the folks who write school textbooks in Texas, do you?"
Coverage and promotional support so far:
Visual AIDS
San Francisco Arts Quarterly http://goo.gl/IM2HE1
Tantus founder Metis Black was so kind to talk about our project on OutQ: Sirius’ Derek and Romaine Show here.
Feministing
There are also articles in the works at poz.com and visualaids.org coming soon.
New reward added: One hundred dollars or more gets donors a ticket to CatalystCon. Thank you, Dee Dennis! (2 tickets available). Donors can still chose from any of our other great rewards such as copies of the poster catalog, beautiful posters (duplicates from our collection), CSC Library tote bags (it's like we are PBS, no?), and even a personalized tour of the archive guided by our curator, Dorian Katz and CSC executive director Dr. Carol Queen.
"Go ahead and get yourself some of this great stuff while preserving and spreading the history that means so much to all of us," said Katz. "Our understanding of ourselves, our formative experiences, and the events that shaped so many aspects of what our communities are today."
Buzz Bense, donor of CSC’s Safer Sex Poster Collection, commented, "These posters do more than chart the tragedy of an epidemic, of an outsider community reeling from grief, loss, and the decimation of a blooming culture of sexual liberation. The history of these posters is a story of a fight against stigma, hatred and ignorance; of a community stepping up to take care of its own; of finding a way to extinguish fear and build pride and self-esteem; and of devoted efforts of committed activists to communicate a path to health and survival."
To peruse the events calendar or learn more about the Center for Sex & Culture, go here or visit our Tumblr site here. CSC is on Facebook and tweets at @ CentrSexCulture.
