The New York Times - Wednesday, December 2, 1992
Glenn Collins

Paintings and sculptures in museums and galleries were draped in black yesterday, bells tolled in churches and art institutions, red AIDS-awareness ribbons were given out in hundreds of buildings and the lights went dark outside cultural landmarks in a symbolic blackout of city skylines from New York to San Francisco.

These events were part of the fourth annual Day Without Art, a worldwide commemoration organized by arts organizations and AIDS health and education groups in conjunction with the World Health Organization's AIDS Awareness Day.

This year's observance included "a greater number of participants and more ambitious programming," said Patrick O'Connell, director of Visual Aids, a nonprofit group of arts professionals that has organized the event.

"And increasingly there has been a new, less self-reflective focus," he added. "People haven't just been showing how AIDS affects artists' lives, but also trying to illustrate how it has affected everyone."

Mr. O'Connell estimated that more than 3,500 cultural institutions in the United States and 1,000 others in Canada, Europe, Latin America and the Far East participated in Day Without Art, up from 1,100 in 1989.

An Urban Darkness

The most noticeable event in New York City was "Night Without Light," the dimming of Broadway marquees at 8 P.M. and the blackout of floodlights on more than 100 buildings and bridges for 15 minutes beginning at 7:45 P.M.

Other cities that dimmed their lights included Miami, Atlanta, Chicago, Boston, Austin, Tex., and South Bend, Ind.

More than 35 cable networks and satellite services signed up for Moment Without Television, a one-minute blackout at 8 P.M. to symbolize the creative loss caused by AIDS among those who work in video.

Other artists tried to engage a wider public in quirky ways. For example, performance artists held a mock auction yesterday afternoon outside Sotheby's, the auction house on York Avenue. Passers-by were asked to bid "for the unrealized work of artists who have prematurely died from AIDS," one of the group's fliers explained.

Around the world, both Day Without Art and AIDS Awareness Day were observed in solemn vigils, energetic protests and whimsical demonstrations.

Art was shrouded in museums and galleries in many cities in Europe and South America. In Russia, the Moscow Satire Theater staged a free dramatic performance and told audience members where to go for free consultations and information about AIDS.

Protesters in Rio de Janeiro gathered outside City Hall to demand more money for support for people with AIDS. And in London, demonstrators created a 17-foot representation of a condom near Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square, in a display that organizers said was intended to draw attention to the need for AIDS prevention.

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