AIDS Quilt Displayed at UC San Diego
in Recognition of World AIDS Day

November 12, 2009

By Pat JaCoby

World AIDS Day will be recognized by the University of California, San Diego with a number of events and programs, including a public viewing of portions of the AIDS Memorial Quilt in the Price Center East Ballroom from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 1. The event is free and open to the public.

The UC San Diego display will showcase three sections of the Quilt that have emerged from San Diego organizations and individuals as they have responded to the AIDS crisis, from the early years of the epidemic through the present day.  The AIDS Memorial Quilt is a powerful tool for use in preventing new HIV infections, and the largest ongoing community arts project in the world.

In conjunction with the Quilt display, a candlelight vigil will be held from 7 to 9 a.m. at the Price Center East Ballroom for private reflection and remembrance. Sound and Silence: A Listener’s Reflection on the Quilt will concurrently take place in the Price Center East Ballroom.  The series includes numerous musical performances by UC San Diego affiliates beginning at the top of each hour for 45 minutes, followed by 15 minutes of silence.  Included will be the San Diego Women’s Chorus at noon and a Drum Circle at 3 p.m. All are invited to come and listen to the performances throughout the day, and to participate in the Drum Circle.

On display at the event will be Jae Hansen’s photography exhibit, Survivors, a moving photo series that showcases long-term survivors of HIV and AIDS – those who have surpassed a 10 year mark since their original diagnosis and are considered survivors of the epidemic disease.

A Wall of Remembrance within the Price Center East Ballroom will be available for members of the community to personally reflect on the effects of HIV/AIDS on their own lives and those close to them. Similar to other walls, pictures and artifacts placed on or near the Wall of Remembrance by attendees cannot be returned.

At 11:55 a.m., Scott Paulson, University Carillonneur, will play  original music especially written for the day. Concurrently, members of the University community will participate in a die-in, conceived of for this day by Ricardo Dominquez, assistant professor at UC San Diego in the Visual Arts Department.  Dominguez is a co-founder of The Electronic Disturbance Theater (EDT), a group who developed Virtual-Sit-In technologies in 1998 in solidarity with the Zapatista communities in Chiapas, Mexico. He is co-director of Thing (thing.net) an ISP for artists and activists.  As the carillon plays, participants in the die-in will drop to the ground, “dead” for the length of the performance and through the tolling of the 12 bells marking the noon hour. This performance vividly showcases the death the majority of HIV infected individuals in the world experience without access to medication.

At 2 p.m. at the Triton Steps in front of the Price Center East, Eric Geiger, a lecturer in the Theater & Dance Department, will perform works originally developed for the recent show Investigating Motion, a dance performance benefiting the UC San Diego AIDS Research Institute.

Michael Trigilio, assistant professor in Visual Arts, has taken the lead on programming Terry Allen’s 1986 Installation, Trees, part of UC San Diego’s Stuart Collection.  Both the literary tree and the music tree will be programmed. A red ribbon will be on the silent tree in front of Geisel Library.

Red ribbons and condom "roses" will be distributed at UC San Diego’s Library Walk throughout the day, in addition to prevention information and other educational materials.  A large red ribbon will fill the green above Price Center Plaza, as well as on the steps leading to Price Center East in front of the Triton Fountain.

Throughout the day at the Cross-Cultural Center Communidad Room there will be a number of presentations, beginning at 11 a.m. with the film A Powerful Noise. This film takes you inside the lives of three women--a girls' education crusader from Mali, an HIV-positive widow from Vietnam, and a peacemaking survivor of the war in Bosnia--who each overcome seemingly insurmountable odds to bring lasting solutions to their communities.

At 12:30 p.m. in the Cross-Cultural Center Communidad Room, a panel of Latino community members will share their powerful stories around HIV/AIDS. Both service providers and members of the community affected by HIV/AIDS will speak, and there will be time for questions and answers at the end of the presentation.

The San Diego County Office of Public Health, in conjunction with World AIDS Day, will provide free, anonymous rapid HIV testing on Library Walk to UCSD staff, faculty and students from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nov. 23. The rapid HIV test detects HIV via oral swab; no blood sample is needed.  Counseling services and further testing will be available for those with preliminary positive results.  Appointments last 20-30 minutes.  Most appointments for the rapid HIV tests on World AIDS Day at UCSD will be on a first-come, first-served basis.  However, a limited number of reservations for appointment times are available at http://studenthealth.ucsd.edu/hivrapidtest.shtml

These events are co-sponsored by a number of organizations and departments at UC San Diego, including the LGBT Resource Center, the Student Health Center, Student Health Advocates, Associated Students (AS), the LGBT Staff & Faculty Association, the HIV Neurobehavioral Research Center (HNRC), the Anti Viral Research Center (AVRC), Arusha Project, the Owen Clinic, Health and Safety, University Centers, Face AIDS, Housing*Dining*Hospitality, Counseling and Psychological Services, the UC San Diego Bookstore, OASIS, Equal Opportunity/Staff Affirmative Action, the UCSD Libraries, the Women's Center, the Cross-Cultural Center and many committed individuals throughout the University community. 

For more information on this event, please go to http://worldAIDSday.ucsd.edu.

For more information about the quilt, visit http://aidsquilt.org.

Media Contacts:
Shaun Travers, LGBT Resource Center, 858-822-3493 or stravers@ucsd.edu
Pat JaCoby, University Communications, 858-534-7404 or pjacoby@ucsd.edu