"I have infected a nation."

The state was the victim, witness, and perpetrator of the art project
"Barbie and Ken are HIV-positive."
There was no escape.
The national territory was infected with my body - simultaneously.
The observers lived in the exhibition.

Requests for financial support were sent to:

The national bureaus of art and culture, health and social concerns, youth and education
* The provincial governments of Vorarlberg, Tirol, Salzburg, Upper Austria, Styria, Vienna
* The city governments of Bregenz, Innsbruck, Salzburg, Graz, Vienna
* Two federal ministries
* Two hundred private businesses
* All labor organizations
* All unions
* All medical associations
* The parliament: to each of the 183 parliament members
* Private persons

Simultaneous. Infection.

From April 30 to May 13, 1996, the project "Barbie and Ken are HIV-positive" was simultaneously organized in Bregenz, Innsbruck, Salzburg, Graz, and Vienna. 2000 objects and posters with the title "Barbie and Ken are HIV-positive" were installed in public space.

Places. Touched.

Bregenz:
* Tourist information billboards
- Route B 190, Reichstraße 41
- Lake promenade
* Train station
Graz:
* Tourist information billboards
- Auer von Welsbachgasse 25
- Eggenbergergürtel
- Göstingerstr. 34
- Harterstr. geg. Nr. 20
* Traminer Weinstube (pub)
* University of Graz
* Central train station
* Forum Stadpark gallery
* Cafe Stadtpark
Innsbruck:
* Innsbruck spring fair
* Tourist information billboards
Gilmstraße
- Fürstenweg 117
- Bundschuhstr. 22
- Meinhard parking garage, 2nd floor
- WIFI parking lot
* Central train station
* Hair salon Greta Kahn
- classic cuts, Bürgerstr. 13
- warehouse cuts, Viaduktbogen 18
* Parnass bookstore, Marktgraben
* University of Innsbruck
* Utopia culture center
Vienna:
* Tourist information billboards
- Third district, Erdbergergelände-Schlachthausgasse 1, near Stadionbrücke, junction highway A4
- Eleventh district, Pantucekgasse - Simmeringer, Hauptstraße 411
- Fourteenth district, route B 1, Hauptsstraße 113
- Twenty-third district: Altmannsdorferstraße 146, towards Breitenfurterstraße
* Train Station Vienna South
* Train Station Vienna South
* Anna Jeller bookstore, Margaretenstraße 35
* Tiroler Sparkasse, bank, Brandstätte 4
* U4 Nightclub, Schönbrunnerstraße 222
* Cafe Berg, Berggasse 8, ninth district
* Cafe Stein, ninth district
* Vienna city hall
Linz:
* Tourist information billboards
- Anzengruberstr.-Friedhofstr.
- Ebelsberg Reitplatz, BS 1
- Hafenstr. 35
- Paracelsusstr.
* University of Linz
* Central train station
* Stonewall discotheque
* UP-ART/RAVER store, Herrengasse 8
Salzburg:
* Metropolis theater
* Tourist information billboards
- Alpenstr. Michael Pacherstr.
- Einmündung Fürbergstr.
- BE Preimesberger
- Marktgraben Doblerweg
- Gniglerstr., BE Porschehof
* Central train station

Media. Transmitted.

* Internet
* Newspapers
* Radio
* TV

Trademarks. Threaten.

Trademarks are goods (commodities and services) whose names and images are legally protected. If an artist publicly uses a trademark in the context of his/her work (as negative metaphor, for instance), the artist's liberty is restricted by the law. A violation of this law might result in a restraining order and a financial penalty for slander. Thus, regarding the artist's liberty, society's point of view has been modified. While it used to be the church which had the power to control, it is now the economy which protects its "saints" by legislation and finance. By calling my project "Barbie and Ken are HIV-positive" I therefore risked an existential threat. The project title - a paradox and metaphor that was printed on posters and publicly displayed with the art objects - was dependent on the company's and the state's good will. And it will continue to be.

"Concrete abstraction provokes art."

"What does art have to do with AIDS?"

"But you are doing portraits, this really gets to me!"

"I find these objects nauseating."

These were some of the first public reactions to this project. Absurd, if one imagines that the "material" used were everyday commodities. By the touch of an HIV-positive person, an object becomes charged with corporeality, sexuality, sickness, death, and mortality. The usual distance disappears and cannot be reinstigated again - very unlike photography. The boundaries are blurred, I can no longer differentiate who or what I am, who or what is the other, who or what has touched me with the object. Identity blurs. A story occupies space. The touch turns the object into something else, something peculiar, something dangerous.

He demands attention.

"love me," "beat me," ...

He is provoking and irritating.

"open me," "depise me," ...

The art object makes us all the same again. THE FEAR OF PHYSICAL TOUCH. There are no real boundaries. DRAWING THE BOUNDARIES. How little it takes to become visible. The very touch that is inevitable and necessary for survival becomes a threat. The provocation by mere abstraction is no longer valid in art. I reduce the human body and its humanity to the tactile object. Concrete abstraction is provoking.

BARBIE AND KEN ARE NOT DEAD.

The desire for Barbie and Ken, their world, their implanted and styled ideals (this revival is not a concidence!) corresponds to our contemporary society. Their smoothly shaved bodies, their accessorized gender, their blank sexuality, their perfect plastic immortality, their sacred myth. I adore them. I idolize them. I love Barbie, and above all, Ken.