BARCELONA.- The Renaissance-style MACBA Capella showcases the work Ebb&Flow. A Onda Traz, O Vento Leva, by the Brazilian filmmaker Gabriel Mascaro, winner of the ArtAids video production Grant 2011. His is no conventional film as regards an approach to the issue of HIV, it goes far beyond the scope of any that has gone before it. The result shuns those perspectives that focus solely on pathological aspects of the disease. Mascaro (Recife, Brazil, 1981) offers a far more personal look, profoundly exploring the everyday reality of a deaf young man and the communication difficulties he has to face, day in day out.

The man’s story is full of doubts and complexities which highlight his desires and at the same time his vulnerability. But despite the silence that dominates his reality, the young man’s strength and love of life overcome his being deprived of sound. The work manages to transmit vibrations like a wave of “comings and goings”, which the artist uses to place an objective silence before us, and the concept of Aids all around us. The unveiling of this film has been produced by the ArtAids Foundation and it is presented with the collaboration of the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA) in the framework of the Screen from Barcelona event. The piece will go on to be screened in Vigo (MARCO, Museo de Arte Contemporánea) and in Madrid (La Casa Encendida).

ArtAids Foundation
ArtAids employs art in the fight against Aids by inviting leading artists to produce work dealing with Aids and related issues. These works of art are used to raise public consciousness and to encourage involvement. ArtAids furthermore initiates and supports projects aimed at preventing and fighting Aids.

The ArtAids foundation was created in 2006 by the Dutch writer and art collector Han Nefkens, owner of the H+F Collection. Nefkens’ discovery in 1987 that he was HIV positive brought about a radical change in his life. He came to realise that he was living in injury time; each moment is important to him. Han Nefkens sees the intensity of that experience reflected in the world of art, and has decided to use art to increase awareness of the Aids problem and to improve the lives of those living with HIV. Nefkens has established separate ArtAids organisations in the Netherlands, Thailand and Spain.

Now that ArtAids has a Barcelona base, regular activities will be organised in the city and elsewhere in Catalonia. HIVACAT will be the beneficiary of funds raised by the Foundation through its activities in Catalonia.