PRE ORDER
304 pp, hardcover, 12 x 9.5 inches
ISBN: 9798988981749
Co-published by [NAME] Publications in collaboration with Visual AIDS, this volume resurfaces the history of Day Without Art, an annual day of action and mourning observed across thousands of museums, universities, and galleries since 1989. Conceived during the intense culture wars of the late 1980s, the initiative 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 organizations to close or remove artworks—using physical absence to bring visibility to loss—rapidly expanded into a networked platform for socially engaged art, encompassing sticker and poster campaigns, net art, public projections, and national television broadcasts.
Spanning more than 300 pages, the book brings together a chorus of critical essays, firsthand reflections, and previously unpublished archival material documenting three decades of artistic commissions and institutional partnerships. By illuminating the extensive organizing labor and political negotiations that sustained these efforts, the collection provides long-overdue recognition of the significance of Day Without Art within the histories of institutional critique and social practice.
Edited with text by Kyle Croft, Risa Puleo. Preface by Robert Atkins. Foreword by Esther McGowan. Text by Douglas Crimp, Ariel Goldberg, Roderick A. Ferguson, Claire Grace, Cait McKinney, Theodore (ted) Kerr, Elizabeth Koke. Conversations with Amy Sadao, Nelson Santos, Alex Fialho, Alexandra Juhasz, Vivian Crockett, Jawanza James Williams.
Designed by Practise
Published by Visual AIDS and [NAME] Publications, 2026