Care: Refusal and Response

Gift of the Artist

In the early 1990s, computers frequently received warnings about the threat of being infected by the nVIR computer virus. Geeks obsessed about vaccinating their computers, immunity, etc. It infuriated Sherer that this computer virus was threatening to upstage the AIDS epidemic that was wiping out his generation.

Sherer created a poster about it by overlapping DaVinci’s Proportions of Man with the nVIR warning. He obsessively photocopied and distributed the poster for over a year. Recently he rediscovered the image and turned it into a blood silkscreen. He then added linear information of anti-submarine mines, diving bells, the AIDS virus, satellites, an echo of fathoming the depths of the epidemic.

Bibliography

Fox, Ann M., Rosemary Gardner, Lia Newman, & David R. Wessner. Re/Presenting HIV/AIDS. Davidson, North Carolina: Van Every/Smith Galleries, Davidson College, 2014.

REVEAL DIGITAL: Representations of HIV/AIDS: Exhibition Synopsis | Co-curators: Ann Fox & Dave Wessner