Four Scenes From a Harsh Life
Artist: Ron Athey
Year: 1994
Date of Action: July 1994
Region: North America
Location: Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
Subject: Nudity, Political/Economic/Social Opinion, Sexual/Gender Orientation
Medium: Performance Art
Confronting Bodies: Public Health Officials, Elected Officials
Description of Artwork: In the performance art piece, Ron Athey, performs rituals which represent and are related to issues of AIDS, body image, and homophobia. He carves patterns into the back of another performer, Darryl Carlton. He then blots the incisions on Carlton's back with paper towels and are then put onto clothes lines which are suspended over the audience. He creates his own religion out of the rituals and symbols of being H.I.V. positive. Athey claimed that Carlton was H.I.V. negative and that he was not contaminating his audience with H.I.V. positive blood, but this was never fully confirmed.
The Incident: Audiences were extremely disturbed by this piece of performance art for a number of reasons. It's content was undeniably provocative, but reports that audience members who attended the performance were exposed to H.I.V. positive blood were extremely frightening to the public.
Results of Incident: The disturbed public lead health officials and senators to get involved.In July of 1994, North Carolina Senator, Jesse Helms, proposed an amendment which was purposed to prevent NEA from funding art that involved "human mutilation or invasive bodily procedures on human beings dead or alive; or the drawing or letting of blood." Although the National Endowment for the Arts contributed a mere $150 to the performance, months after Athey's show, their budget was cut by 2 percent and new rules and regulations were implemented regarding who is allowed to apply and acquire government funding for art works.
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