Andy and Me (It’s Not Real and It’s Not Fiction)

Abstract

This chapter charts the influence of Andy Warhol on filmmaker Tom Kalin and provides an overview of Kalin’s films as well as his activism. From experimental videos such as They are lost to vision altogether (1989) to his features, Swoon (1992) and Savage Grace (2007), Kalin has drawn on Warhol’s cinematic language and bold sexual and gender politics. The chapter also depicts Kalin’s work with the activist collectives ACT UP and Gran Fury. Gran Fury formed to give voice to the political issues surrounding AIDS in America. This eleven-person collective devised appropriation strategies to simultaneously utilize and critique Madison Avenue vernaculars, and circumnavigate questions of access. Named for the automobile used by the New York City police (and also sounding like “big anger”), Gran Fury created public works that drew attention to medical, moral, and political issues related to AIDS.