Visual AIDS Collective reports that a forthcoming book will look at the "Day without Art" Initiative, which since 1989 has mobilised arts institutions and sympathetic artists to engage in acts of activism predominantly by closing and removing artworks to show and underline the impact of the AIDS Crisis on creative communities.

Conceived amid the culture wars of the late 1980s, Day Without Art marked a decisive shift in how art institutions understood their social and political responsibilities, calling on them to confront the AIDS crisis publicly. What began as a call for institutions to close or remove artworks—using absence to give presence to the losses of the AIDS crisis—quickly evolved into a networked platform for socially engaged art, ranging from posters and stickers to net art, public projections and national television broadcasts.

Spanning more than 300 pages, the new publication brings together a chorus of critical essays, firsthand reflections and previously unpublished archival material documenting three decades of Visual AIDS’ artistic commissions and institutional collaborations. Together, these contributions offer long-overdue recognition of the labor and political negotiation behind the program, demonstrating the significance of Day Without Art within histories of institutional critique and social practice.

More information on the book and pre-ordering details are available at https://visualaids.org/.

Why not order your copy through and independent, LGBTQIA or community bookstore, which keeps LGBTQIA literature vibrant and relevant.