Gay rights movement start linz

Sound constitutes an escapade — a wilful departure from mainstream debates about the western video-art and activism of ACT UP! I would like to relate the transgressive politics of ACT UP! Sound Escapade , as well as to the queer political nature of its silences Sound-Escape. Through a selection of activist and artistic works this paper seeks to analyse the possible role the soundscape of ACT UP!

These are some of the chants that left a lasting impression as I sat in the quietness of The Manuscripts and Archives Division of the New York Public Library. Born in the remoteness of the GDR in the same year AIDS became known in the United States 1 , I was suddenly confronted by feelings of pain, fear, loss, as well as anger and despair during my first visit to the archive to watch AIDS-activist videos.

Simultaneously, the audio captivated my interest, particularly as I watched the last few documentaries, which centered on the question of honouring and remembrance in the context of past and contemporary AIDS Activism. Once again, I became aware of the significance of the auditory for protest mobilisation and community formation.

Sound seems to be reworked for a form of memory activism — an activism in the fight for remembrance. Yet, what are sound characteristics of this particular memory activism? How do such sounds reflect the present moment instead of the past?

Gay rights movement: die anfänge der bewegung in linz

Are there sounds in the past, or perhaps in the present that counter or even queer those current ones? Where can we locate queer sounds in regard to AIDS activism, and how do these sounds produce new configurations and definitions of political protest as well as political art in a contemporary context?

I would like to address these questions in four sections: I will begin with a short introduction on the relation of sound and memory in three documentaries, which were each released in the last five years Thereafter, I will theorize about the relationship between noise and queerness 3 in the construction of the urban soundscape of AIDS activism.

Hoping to rethink this relationship, I would like to proceed with initial thoughts on sound-escapade — a concept aligned with my metaphorical approach to willful sounds. With the terminology of willfulness I refer to Sara Ahmed who wrote about the stubborn moments within articulations of the will Ahmed, The sound of the ballroom and so-called camp sounds are my concrete angles for discussing sound-escapade as a conceptual example for a queer theoretical analysis of sound activism and art.

Lastly, in the final section, I will discuss the role of sound-escape — the escape from sound or silence. Remembering is therefore supposed to symbolise the practice of healing the wound. To address this issue, I refer to three documentaries in which the international direct-action advocacy group AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power ACT UP!

The documentary We were here 4 David Weissman, deals with the AIDS crisis in San Francisco and displays interviews of five important protagonists during these days. Both the narrative and reflection of the US-American AIDS movement, as well as relevant self-organised structures of support that emerged in San Francisco, represent a radical transition during the moment when ACT UP!

In short, the noise of AIDS activism represented by ACT UP! United in Anger 6 Jim Hubbard, is a documentary about the history of ACT UP! Based on oral histories of members and archival footage it illuminates the efforts of ACT UP! With their evocation of pureness and even transcendence, the ambient sounds of new-age or meditation music provide the framework for the dramatic outcry of activists calling upon the government to intervene.

How might we interpret the meaning of this sound? I posit that the film sound urges us to learn about ACT UP! Simultaneously, the viewer is encouraged to connect noise with protest, and more specifically, with the achievements of a certain form of political agency — particularly, presence, street interventional protest, and public collectivity.

Thus, auditory distortion and noise function as prolongations of the anti-authoritarian statements during the liberation movements of the 60s and 70s. Here, the audience listens to a Hollywood-like orchestration, which is typical in the context of the aestheticization of violence, death, and loss Kutschke, The overwhelming, sublime mode of expression through the sound of drums and lashing violins makes the suffering almost disappear by simultaneously connoting the AIDS epidemic as an action movie in which predominately white male activists are identified as heroes.

Are we supposed to remember ACT UP!