WILLIAMSTOWN, MA.- For the fourteenth consecutive year, the Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) will observe Day With(out) Art/ World AIDS Day with an exterior installation that will occupy the Museum’s front lawn. In Blind/Eyes, museum staff will blindfold the Museum’s Louise Bourgeois sculpture Eyes (2001) with red fabric.

Blind/Eyes is an overt gesture of commemoration and education. The installation honors the memory of artists lost to AIDS and encourages the public to consider how being blind to AIDS contributes to the growth of the worldwide crisis. The bold red fabric in Blind/Eyes also correlates with the annual Red Ribbon Project sponsored by Williams College.

There will be a brief explanation of the history of AIDS Day at Williams, as well as statistics about AIDS in the U.S. and abroad, accompanying the installation on the museum’s front lawn. Blind/Eyes will engage the public in a dialogue that encourages consideration and participation in the campaign to bring an end to the AIDS crisis.

WCMA has actively participated in Day With(out) Art/World AIDS Day since 1989. In the past, the Museum has coordinated with VisualAIDS and other groups in observance of this day, playing host to a wide variety of efforts to bring attention to the AIDS crisis, ranging from closing galleries to an interactive website created for AIDS Day.

Day With(out) Art/World AIDS Day is officially sponsored by VisualAIDS, a non-profit organization that strives to increase public awareness of AIDS through the visual arts. VisualAIDS initiated Day With(out) Art in 1988, with the aim of inciting action and bringing greater public attention to the AIDS crisis. At its inception, Day With(out) Art recognized the devastation wrought by AIDS on the artistic community and became a day for members of the arts community to come together to remember those lost to AIDS.

Community members are encouraged to support Day With(out) Art/World AIDS Day by visiting the installation to share in this day of collective mourning. The Blind/Eyes installation is organized by Bryan Frank, MA ’05, a graduate intern at the Williams College Museum of Art.