Michele Bertolino, VIVONO. ARTE E AFFETTI, HIV-AIDS IN ITALIA. 1982-1996 Archive, 2025

VIVONO. Art and Feelings, HIV-AIDS in Italy. 1982–1996 is an editorial project consisting of a Reader, which collects the research and texts, and a visual Archive: including health records, artists’ testimonies, articles, and part of the archival material featured in the exhibition. Composed of the voices, the images, and the lived experiences of those who shared their stories and entrusted their knowledge: it’s a collective undertaking, a first attempt—partial and unfinished—to trace the history of the HIV-AIDS epidemic in Italy through the artworks created in the country at that time. The exhibition and this publication are the outcome of long conversations, sudden turns and unforeseen divergences. These are not spaces of reconciliation, for the times of HIV-AIDS continue to unfold unevenly, shifting across latitudes.