Michael Stipe reads: ”Postcards from America: X Rays from Hell” by David Wojnarowicz, published for Witnesses: Against Our Vanishing, Artists Space,1989.
i decided to read this piece by david wojnarowicz to illuminate and contextualize the frame of mind that prevailed during the very difficult end of the 1980’s; a political regime and administration that refused to recognize the aids crisis, a hostile and frightened public, and a community desperate to be heard, cared for, acknowledged. the piece resonates as strongly now as then, and the question is how much of this has changed or improved over the past 21 years.
the piece includes harsh language and describes harsh situations; discretion is advised. thank you for listening.
-michael stipe
december 2010
Please click HERE to listen.
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Recorded by Andy LeMaster
é 1989 David Wojnarowicz; Post Cards from America: X-Rays from Hell cannot be excerpted without express permission from the David Wojnarowicz Estate.
Artists Space and Michael Stipe support the Andy Warhol Foundation in their demand to The Smithsonian to restore the censored work of David Wojnarowicz as part of the exhibition Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture immediately.
Thank you to: The Estate of David Wojnarowicz at Fales Library New York University, PPOW Gallery, and Andy LeMaster.