Resisting the Commodification of Memory

AIDS Memorial Culture in Félix González-Torres’ Candy Works

Abstract

At the center of this paper lies a pile of candy whose properties can inspire resistance against the commodification of memory. As popular media discourses often historize and depoliticize the immediacy of HIV/AIDS, the candy piles of Félix González-Torres manage to do the opposite. It practices remembrance of the pandemic in the 1980s, while resisting state control over remembrance narratives, and rejuvenation of the discourse on HIV/AIDS. This paper wants to interrogate the particular methods of González-Torres' work that realize remembrance on its own terms. Partly through embracing the themes of ephemerality, queerness, loss, illness, and transience.

Keywords: memory, queerness, ephemerality, visual arts, HIV/AIDS