Archives of American Art

Oral history interview with Julie Ault

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.ault17
Creators:
Ault, Julie
Kerr, Theodore
Dates:
2017 November 14-16
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
6 Items
sound files (6 hr., 3 min.) Audio
digital, wav
90 Pages
Transcript
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
An interview with Julie Ault conducted 2017 November 14 and 16, by Theodore Kerr, for the Archives of American Art's Visual Arts and the AIDS Epidemic: An Oral History Project, at a studio in Brooklyn, New York.
Scope and Contents
Ault speaks of the nature of memory and giving an oral history; her skepticism of linear narratives; leaving rural Maine for Washington, DC at age 17; her family history; her interest in popular culture and commercial culture as a teenager; disco and nightclubs in Washington and New York in the late 1970's; working a variety of day jobs in New York, including a telephone answering service; meeting Tim Rollins for the first time in Maine; her interest in conversation; her relationship to questions; the formation of Group Material in 1979; her relationship with Andres Serrano; Group Material's collaborative dynamic, and its effect on her personal development; the complexities of trying to write or tell history; the shifting configurations and contexts of Group Material over 17 years of activity; mounting, and thinking critically about, individual exhibitions after Group Material; the first AIDS Timeline in 1989; the ephemerality of the Timeline; book projects as a means of depositing personal memories; her first memories of the AIDS crisis beginning in 1983; Group Material's Democracy and AIDS series at Dia in 1988; investigating the tension between art and activism in the context of HIV/AIDS; Karen Ramspacher's entry and contributions to Group Material; the initial decision to employ the form of a timeline and four arenas of research; different audience relationships and reactions to the Timeline; the collaborative process of creating the Timeline; losing NEA funding after the Timeline, amid the early '90s culture wars; Group Material's second exhibition of AIDS Timeline in 1990; her friendship with Felix Gonzalez-Torres; Group Material's third exhibition of AIDS Timeline in 1991; the Macho Man, Tell It To My Heart exhibition; and an acknowledgement of topics that could not be covered in the interview. Ault also recalls Doug Ashford, Vikky Alexander, Yolanda Hawkins, Mundy McLaughlin, Sarat Maharaj, Gertrud Sandqvist, Marybeth Nelson, Patrick Brennan, Hannah Alderfer, Peter Szypula, Sabrina Locks, Larry Rinder, Richard Meyer, Bill Olander, Marcia Tucker, Gary Garrels, Charles Wright, Frank Wagner, Martin Beck, Nayland Blake, Anne Pasternak, Mary Anne Staniszewski, John Lindell, Tom Kalin, Donald Moffett, Marlene McCarty, Jochen Klein, Lisa Phillips, Andrea Miller-Keller, Steven Evans, and others.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Julie Ault (1957- ) is an artist, writer, and curator in New York, New York. Theodore Kerr (1979- ) is a writer and organizer in New York, New York.

Administration

Sponsor
Funded by the Keith Haring Foundation.
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.
Existence and Location of Copies
Transcript is available on the Archives of American Art's website.

Digital Content


Using the Collection

System Details
Recorded on Tascam DR-100MKII R000329.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
AIDS (Disease) Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
AIDS (Disease) and the arts Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art -- Political aspects Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Authors -- New York (State) -- New York Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Curators -- New York (State) -- New York Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
History -- Philosophy Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Oral history Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Women artists Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
New York (N.Y.) -- Description and Travel Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Washington (D.C.) -- Description and Travel Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sound recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Interviews Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Political activists Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Ashford, Doug Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Alderfer, Hannah Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Alexander, Vikky, 1959- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Beck, Martin, 1962- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Blake, Nayland, 1960- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Brennan, Patrick Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Evans, Steven, (Curator) Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Garrels, Gary Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Gonzalez-Torres, Felix, 1957-1996 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Hawkins, Yolanda Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Kalin, Tom Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Klein, Jochen, 1967-1997 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Lindell, John Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Locks, Sabrina Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Maharaj, Sarat (Sarat Chandra), 1952- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
McCarty, Marlene, 1957- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
McLaughlin, Mundy Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Meyer, Richard, 1966- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Miller-Keller, Andrea Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Moffett, Donald, 1955- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Nelson, Marybeth Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Olander, William Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Pasternak, Anne, 1964- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Phillips, Lisa, 1954- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Ramspacher, Karen Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Rinder, Lawrence Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Rollins, Tim, 1955- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sandqvist, Gertrud Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Serrano, Andres, 1950- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Staniszewski, Mary Anne Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Szypula, Peter Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Tucker, Marcia Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Wagner, Frank Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Wright, Charles Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Visual Arts and the AIDS Epidemic: An Oral History Project Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
National Endowment for the Arts Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Group Material (Firm : New York, N.Y.) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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