BARBIE+KEN=HIV+

ongoing project © 1996

1996 Original Homepage I Concept I 1997 Censorship Mattel I Press Release I Julian Nida-Rümelin

In BARBIE+KEN=HIV+ Franz Wassermann addresses the stigmatisation of people who are HIV-positive or suffer from Aids. The artist asks people concerned to gift him personal objects to work with. He collects these objects in bags of clear film and combines them with calls for devotion like e.g.: “love me”, “hit me”, “despise me”. Furthermore, Wassermann adds a green dot which is used in his hometown Innsbruck to mark the files of HIV-positive people in hospitals or jails. In the following, Wassermann exhibits this collection of objects in the whole of Austria in public space. When presenting his work online Wassermann is threatened with legal action by the toy manufacturer Mattel. Nevertheless, BARBIE+KEN=HIV+ was continued in London, Munich and Burghausen.


In cooperation with: all Austrian AIDS Service Organisations,  AIDS Service Organisation Munich, Health-Center London and self-help groups in Austria, Munich and London.

photos: Gernot Schwendinger

1996 Österreich

1998 London

2000 München