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From ACT UP Archivist Deb Levine:

Hello Friends,

Join me while I view the entire ACT UP Oral History Project from start to finish -- a performance project I call "ENDURING ACT UP."

Some of you know that I went back to graduate school four years ago to get my PhD. in Performance Studies. I am writing about ACT UP for my dissertation, focusing on how collectively people took care of each other – during meetings, demonstrations, in committees and affinity groups, and especially as members became ill. I am most interested in the ways in which those relationships became an ethical and political practice -- a topic that is not often foregrounded in other histories of the organization.

As part of my research I have been watching the interviews recorded by the ACT UP Oral History Project. Sarah Schulman and Jim Hubbard have most generously made the archive accessible to me for the past few years, but every time I watch a tape, I have an overpowering urge to turn to someone next to me and debate many of the points made, add information to the story or just get someone else's reaction. It feels wrong to watch this archive by myself and then try and get in touch with some of you to discuss your interviews.

Please watch this archive with me. I will begin on May 30, 2008 at 10 am, and watch each interview, in order, everyday, for approximately 12 hours each day, until I have seen everyone recorded to date. Stay as long as you'd like. See yourself, watch someone else, come alone or bring as many people as you desire. Invite others, invite strangers. Forward this invitation to anyone you think would like to attend (especially people who are ACT UP-curious) and post it on the internet. Come often. Keep me company. Bring food and drink. Bring anything you have in your archives that you think I should see or read (don't leave originals with me – but I will take a copy of anything you think is important). I want to hear your comments– this is a chance to respond to the archive. I will have a computer available so you can jot down your thoughts on a blog set up for these screenings.

Each day's series of screenings will begin at 10am and end around 10 pm for seventeen days, from May 30th to June 15th in Manhattan at NYU, 721 Broadway, 6th floor in the Performance Studies department. You can check the Enduring ACT UP blog: http://deblevine.blogspot.com/ for the approximate time and day of a particular interview. Plan to attend specific interviews about or just come and randomly watch with me if you have some free time. Everyone is welcome. To get to the 6th floor, enter the building in the lobby and show the guard a picture identification. If you have any questions, please contact me at debra.levine@nyu.edu. I look forward to watching with you.

Cheers!

Deb Levine


ENDURING ACT UP: SCHEDULE
All Screenings are at 721 Broadway, 6th Floor Room 611.

Friday May 30
Robert Vasquez 10am; Moises Agosto 12:30pm;
Gregg Bordowitz 3pm; Jean Carlomusto 7pm

Saturday May 31
Patrick Moore 10am; Ming Ma 11:30am; Alex Juhasz 2pm; Dudley Saunders 5pm; Maria Maggenti 7pm

Sunday June 1st
Ann Philbin 10am; Mark Harrington 11:30am; Aldo Hernandez 2pm; Michael Nesline 4pm; Karen Timor 7pm

Monday June 2nd
Anne-Christine D'Adesky 10am; Bill Snow 11:30am; Karl Soehnlein 1:30pm; G'dali Braverman 4:30; Michael Petrelis 7:30

Tuesday June 3rd
Russell Prichard 10am; Rick Loftus 11:30am; Emily Nahmanson 12:30pm; Kendall Thomas 2pm; Lei Chou 4pm; Iris Long 6pm

Wednesday June 4th
Ann Northrop 10am; Richard Deagle 12:30pm; Michelangelo Signorile 4pm; Mary Dorman 6:30pm; David Z. Kirschenbaum 8pm

Thursday June 5
Ron Goldberg 10am; Frank Jump 1pm; Roma Baran 3:30pm; Larry Kramer 5:30; Joy Episalla 8:30pm

Friday June 6
Jamie Leo 10am; Ron Medley 12:00pm; Karen Moulding 3pm; Steve Quester 5:30pm; Gregg Gonsalves 8pm

Saturday June 7
Tom Kalin 10am; Maxine Wolfe 1pm
Marlene McCarty 5:30pm; Andy Velez 7:30

Sunday June 8
James Wagner 10am; Jim Eigo 12pm; Amy Bauer 2:30pm; Eric Sawyer 4:30pm; Peter Cramer 6:30pm; Elias Guerrero 8:30pm

Monday June 9th
Kate Barnhart 10am; Dan Keith Williams 11:30am; Jay Blotcher 1:30pm; Neil Broome 4pm; Andrew Miller 6:30pm

Tuesday June 10
Jose Fidelino 10am; Sandy Katz 11:30am; MaxZine Weinstein 2pm; Spree (Timmy Vance) 3:30pm; Nettles (Yaron Schweitzer) 4:30pm; Stephen Shapiro 6pm

Wednesday June 11
James Lyons 10am; Vincent Gagliostro 12pm; Bill Dobbs 2:30; Jim Fouratt 5pm; Peter Staley 8pm

Thusday June 12
George Carter 10am: Heidi Dorow 1pm; Marion Banzhaf 4pm; Catherine (Saalfield) Gund 8pm

Friday June 13
Richard Elovich 10am; David Barr 2pm; Douglas Crimp 6pm; Gerri Wells 8:30 pm

Saturday June 14
Terry McGovern 10am; Mark Milano 12pm; Ken Bing 4pm; Bob Huff 5:30; Garance Franke-Ruta 8pm

Sunday June 15th
Matt Ebert 1pm; David Robinson 3pm; Michael Perelman 6pm; Patricia Navarro 8pm
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