New Ideas CityHello Museum

Undetectability Mapping Exercise

Cover Image:

Both angles of the lenticular cards and lightboxes produced by the New York Public Library and Visual AIDS Undetectable Flash Collective

Part of the Street Program

Antiretroviral treatments have enabled a reduction of the body’s viral load to levels that elude testing, inaugurating a lesser-known HIV serostatus: “undetectable.” This invisible presence and the disappearance of HIV/AIDS cultural history and social engagement within New York City directly relates to the Invisible City. Last spring, Visual AIDS and the New York Public Library formed a Flash Collective with artist/activist Avram Finkelstein (Gran Fury/Silence=Death). The collective created lenticular lightboxes and cards with rhetorical questions about undetectability. Finkelstein will lead a mapping exercise open to the general public, producing a visual representation of the complex issues surrounding undetectability. The lenticular cards and additional information will be distributed throughout the day.