ABSTRACT
This chapter concentrates on the AIDS crisis and on performances created by people bereaved by the disease. It looks at allopathographic performance, which is an interesting inflection of autopathographic performance and arguably an underexplored area of research. It thus sheds light on what happens when artists do not seek to convey their own experiences of illness and treatment, but those of other people. The examples chosen for this chapter are Mark Ravenhill’s pool (no water) (2006), Felix Gonzales-Torres’ Untitled (Portrait of Ross in L.A.) (1991) and Karen Finley’s Written in Sand (1992-ongoing). This chapter argues that especially if the performances concern someone very close to artists – like a friend or lover – there are ethical issues that need to be considered, for instance in regard to artistic creation, such as the danger that one might actually be mining and thereby misappropriating other people’s experiences.
