Oral history interview with Ron Athey
name: label: Interviewee
content: Athey, Ron
label: Interviewer
content: Fialho, Alex, 1989-
label: Names
content: Visual Arts and the AIDS Epidemic: An Oral History Project
label: Names
content: Abdoh, Reza
label: Names
content: Bowery, Leigh
label: Names
content: Carr, C.
label: Names
content: Finley, Karen
label: Names
content: Fudge, Diamanda
label: Names
content: Galás, Diamánda
label: Names
content: Gangitano, Lia, 1968-
label: Names
content: Jones, Amelia
label: Names
content: Meyerson, Harold
label: Names
content: Murphy, Brian
label: Names
content: Went, Johanna
topic: label: Topic
content: AIDS (Disease) and the arts
label: Topic
content: Performance artists -- California -- Interviews
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Athey, Ron
label: Interviewer
content: Fialho, Alex, 1989-
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Ron Athey (1961- ) is a performance artist in Los Angeles, California. Alex Fialho (1989- ) is a curator and arts writer who is the Programs Director for Visual AIDS in New York, New York.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 2 Items (Sound recording: 2 sound files (4 hr., 40 min.), digital, wav)
label: Extent
content: 68 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2016 June 17-18
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.athey16
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Interviews
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Transcript is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview with Ron Athey, conducted 2016 June 17-18, by Alex Fialho, for the Archives of American Art's Visual Arts and the AIDS Epidemic: An Oral History Project, at Athey's home in Los Angeles, California.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Athey speaks of his childhood in Pomona, California; early religious experiences; early sexual experiences; formative exposure to punk music and culture in late adolescence; developing his own punk acts; contracting HIV and seroconverting; intersections between HIV/AIDS and drug-using cultures; his body of nightclub-based performative work beginning in the 1990s; his reflections on international presentations of his work; technical aspects and design elements of his performance art and film work; changes in his lifestyle and self-care regimen after seroconverting; the role of the audience in performance art; his relationship to AIDS activism; motifs of apocalypse, nihilism, and humor in his work; his place in art history; his current work as a teacher and mentor; and his contributions to American art. Athey also recalls Johanna Went, Karen Finley, Diamanda Galas, Reza Abdoh, Cynthia Carr, Leigh Bowery, Divinity Fudge, Harold Meyerson, Lia Gangitano, Brian Murphy, Amelia Jones, and others.