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Survivor's Remorse

A.K. Burns

2018 00:20:11 United StatesEnglishB&W and ColorStereo16:9HD video
Tags:
Activism , AIDS/HIV , Art History , Body , Health

Description

Originally commissioned by the Harvard Art Museums in response to the life and work of David Wojnarowicz, Survivor’s Remorse looks at how both art and bodies are maintained and the socio-economic influences that create a chasm between the value of things and people. This work examines the resources dedicated to the maintenance and care of artworks versus (artists) lives, especially those marginalized by illness or identity.

Installations of the work are displayed on a synced grid of nine flat screen monitors. One of the monitors has been removed from the wall with the cords (or guts) exposed and is viewed from an open shipping crate. Evoking a sarcophagus, the crate represents the archive and the postmortem value of art. The Video Data Bank offers this work for screening in educational contexts. Contact us for inquiries about gallery exhibition.

 

About A.K. Burns

A.K. Burns is an interdisciplinary artist and educator based in New York. Using video, installation, sculpture, drawing, and collaboration, Burns explores systems of value and the body as a contentious domain wherein socio-political issues are negotiated. A.K. Burns has exhibited internationally including recently at Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France; MMK Museum of Modern Art in Frankfurt, Germany; FRONT International: The Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art in Cleveland, OH; The Harvard Art Museums in Cambridge, MA; and Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, in Portland OR. Burns is a 2021 Guggenheim Fellow, was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters 2021 Art Purchase Program, was a 2018 NYSCA/NYFA Fellow in Interdisciplinary Art, a 2016 Radcliffe Fellow at Harvard University, and a 2015 Creative Capital Foundation Visual Arts Award recipient. A frequent collaborator, Burns was a co-founder of Working Artists in the Greater Economy, an advocacy organization focused on sustainable economic practices between artist and arts institutions.

A.K. Burns is currently a Distinguished Lecturer at Hunter College, Department of Art & Art History and serves as faculty in the Bard MFA Program. Burns is represented by Michel Rein Gallery, Paris/Brussels.