Day With(out) Art
December 1 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
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Opening Talk & Screening: Monday, December 1st, 2025ā | 6 – 8 PMā
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Looping Screening: December 2 – 4, 2025ā | 10 AM – 5 PMā
š DARCās Microcinema | 67 Nicholas Stā
DARC andĀ @qu.art.ottawaĀ are proud to partner withĀ @visual_aidsĀ for Day With(out) Art 2025 by presenting Meet Us Where Weāre At, a program of six videos that forefront the experiences of drug users and harm reduction practices as they intersect with the ongoing HIV crisis. ā
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The program features new work by Camilo Tapia Flores, Camila Flores-FernĆ”ndez, HoĆ ng ThĆ”i Anh, Kenneth Idongesit Usoro, JosĆ© Luis CortĆ©s, and Gustavo Vinagre & Vinicius Couto.ā
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A day of mourning and action that uses art to respond to the ongoing HIV and AIDS crisis, Day With(out) Art encourages museums, universities, and art institutions to present related programming on or around December 1, World AIDS Day. Because AIDS is not over!ā
Commissioned videos by artists in Puerto Rico, Brazil, Nigeria, Germany, and Vietnam journey across a range of spaces, revealing the complexity of drug use. Several videos document the visible world of drugsāa harm reduction program in a Berlin park, a night out during Rioās Carnivalāwhile others reveal private, often hidden spaces where safety is found: bedrooms, underground clinics, and moments of connection between lovers.
Meet Us Where Weāre At speaks not only to the variety of physical locations where contemporary harm reduction is practiced, but also to a broader shift: centering drug users as authors of their own experiences. Rooted in the philosophy of meeting people at their personal reality without judgment, the program affirms the full context of drug useāits pleasures, its risks, and its role in how people survive, care, and connect.
Harm reduction has long been central to the AIDS movement through practices like needle exchange and safe injection sites, and people who use drugs have been affected by HIV since the earliest days of the epidemic. This program brings their perspectives to the forefront, amplifying the voices of drug users as storytellers, cultural producers, and essential participants in the global response to HIV.
As this is a program centering harm reduction, it will contain depictions of sexual activity and drug use.
Visual AIDSĀ is a New York-based non-profit that utilizes art to fight AIDS by provoking dialogue, supporting HIV+ artists, and preserving a legacy, because AIDS is not over.
Keynote Speaker Ahmed Muslimani
Ahmed Muslimani is a community health leader, actor, and advocate whose work brings together harm reduction, HIV and sexual health, and newcomer support. As Director of Community Programs at MAX Ottawa, they support initiatives that strengthen access to culturally responsive care for queer, trans, and non-binary communities across Ottawa. Ahmed has worked closely with LGBTQ+ refugees and newcomers, supporting them as they navigate settlement, safety, and the early stages of community-building. Their background as a performer shapes their belief in storytelling as a practice that builds connection and helps people make sense of their experiences. Ahmed also serves on the Board of Directors of the Ontario HIV Treatment Network. They are committed to approaches rooted in dignity, lived experience, and the everyday ways people care for one another.
Special thanks toĀ MAX OttawaĀ for their support!
