David Wojnarowicz: A Definitive History of Five or Six Years on the Lower East Side

In February 1991, the artist David Wojnarowicz (1954-1992) and thephilosopher Sylv?re Lotringer met in a borrowed East Village apartment to conduct along-awaited dialogue on Wojnarowicz's work. Wojnarowicz was then at the peak of hisnotoriety as the fiercest antagonist of morals crusader Senator Jesse Helms--anotoriety that Wojnarowicz alternately embraced and rejected. Al

In February 1991, the artist David Wojnarowicz (1954-1992) and thephilosopher Sylv?re Lotringer met in a borrowed East Village apartment to conduct along-awaited dialogue on Wojnarowicz's work. Wojnarowicz was then at the peak of hisnotoriety as the fiercest antagonist of morals crusader Senator Jesse Helms--anotoriety that Wojnarowicz alternately embraced and rejected. Already suffering thelast stages of AIDS, David saw his dialogue with Lotringer as a chance to set therecord straight on his aspirations, his personal history, and his political views.The two arranged to have this three-hour dialogue video-recorded by a mutual friend, the artist Marion Scemama.Lotringer held on to the tape for a long time. AfterWojnarowicz's death the following year, he found the transcript enormously moving, yet somehow incomplete. David was trying, often with heartbreaking eloquence, todefine not just his career but its position in time. The subject was huge, andtranscended the actual dialogue. Lotringer then spent the next several yearsgathering additional commentary on Wojnarowicz's life and work from those who knewhim best--the friends with whom he collaborated.Lotringer solicited personaltestimony from Wojnarowicz's friends and other artists, including Mike Bildo, SteveBrown, Julia Scher, Richard Kern, Carlo McCormick, Ben Neill, Kiki Smith, NanGoldin, Marguerite van Cook, and others. What emerges from thesemasterfully-conducted interviews is a surprising insight into something art historyknows, but systematically hides: the collaborative nature of the work of any "greatartist." All these respondents had, at one time, made performances, movies, sculptures, photographs, and other collaborative works with Wojnarowicz. In thissense, Wojnarowicz appears not only as a great originator, but as a greatsynthesizer.