Archives of American Art

Oral history interview with Ron Athey

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.athey16
Creators:
Athey, Ron
Fialho, Alex, 1989-
Dates:
2016 June 17-18
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
2 Items
Sound recording: 2 sound files (4 hr., 40 min.)
digital, wav
68 Pages
Transcript
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
An interview with Ron Athey, conducted 2016 June 17-18, by Alex Fialho, for the Archives of American Art's Visual Arts and the AIDS Epidemic: An Oral History Project, at Athey's home in Los Angeles, California.
Scope and Contents
Athey speaks of his childhood in Pomona, California; early religious experiences; early sexual experiences; formative exposure to punk music and culture in late adolescence; developing his own punk acts; contracting HIV and seroconverting; intersections between HIV/AIDS and drug-using cultures; his body of nightclub-based performative work beginning in the 1990s; his reflections on international presentations of his work; technical aspects and design elements of his performance art and film work; changes in his lifestyle and self-care regimen after seroconverting; the role of the audience in performance art; his relationship to AIDS activism; motifs of apocalypse, nihilism, and humor in his work; his place in art history; his current work as a teacher and mentor; and his contributions to American art. Athey also recalls Johanna Went, Karen Finley, Diamanda Galas, Reza Abdoh, Cynthia Carr, Leigh Bowery, Divinity Fudge, Harold Meyerson, Lia Gangitano, Brian Murphy, Amelia Jones, and others.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Ron Athey (1961- ) is a performance artist in Los Angeles, California. Alex Fialho (1989- ) is a curator and arts writer who is the Programs Director for Visual AIDS in New York, New York.

Administration

Sponsor
Funded by the Keith Haring Foundation.
Existence and Location of Copies
Transcript is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.

Digital Content


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
AIDS (Disease) and the arts Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Performance artists -- California -- Interviews Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sound recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Interviews Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Abdoh, Reza Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Bowery, Leigh Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Carr, C. Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Finley, Karen Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Fudge, Diamanda Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Galás, Diamánda Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Gangitano, Lia, 1968- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Jones, Amelia Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Meyerson, Harold Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Murphy, Brian Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Went, Johanna Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Visual Arts and the AIDS Epidemic: An Oral History Project Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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