Kissing Doesn't Kill: Greed and Indifference Do.
Date1989
Designer
Gran Fury
(active 1988–1995)
Publisher
ACT UP
(founded 1987)
MediumOffset lithograph
Dimensions11 1/4 × 37 in. (28.6 × 94 cm)
Credit LineGift of Lucinda and David Pollack, 2020
Object number2020-60
On View
Not on viewClassificationsPRINT
Label TextGran Fury was an AIDS-activist artist collective that grew out of ACT UP—AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power—in 1987. The group took its name from the Plymouth Gran Fury, the automobile used by the New York City Police Department in the 1970s and 1980s. Gran Fury created provocative graphics for the public sphere designed to draw attention to the AIDS crisis. These campaigns developed out of a need to address the crisis at a time when information was lacking, misleading, or inadequately shared. This particular political art action, Kissing Doesn’t Kill, was supported by the New York-based arts organization, Creative Time, as part of a large public art project called Art Against AIDS On the Road. Postcards featuring the design were mailed, followed by a campaign that saw posters installed in buses throughout New York City, San Francisco, and other cities around the United States. The campaign combines the look of popular fashion brands like Benetton with an important message countering uncertainty in 1989 about how the virus was transmitted.
