21-26 July 2024 Munich
ATLAS2024 ‘THIS IS US’
From start to finish
Preparations for Atlas 2024 ‘this is us’ started more than a year before the start of Aids 2024; the conference in Munich where we wanted to present our exhibition with portraits of men and women from the worldwide HIV- community.
A project as large as this invariably starts with two questions: ‘Do we really want this?’ and ‘Are we going to be able to achieve this the right way? ‘
The answer to those questions is obvious, ‘Of course we can!’ It’s a lot of work and we’ll certainly encounter a hundred problems that we can’t even think of yet… but we’ll solve those problems, and all efforts will no doubt result in a wonderful and important project.’
The first months determine whether we can even start the ‘real’ work, because they are almost entirely dominated by money. How much do we need to realise our dreams? How much is enough?
In the end it hardly matters. The project has already started. With some clever tricks we can spend every dime three times. Good producers can always make a little bit more out of a little… and we’ve already proved that we’re good producers!!!
Then the real work begins. We start creating new stories. Which group from our HIV+ community do we want to portray? Which stories urgently need to be told? Which forgotten group deserves our attention?
It took some time to find them, but we did. HIV is not an easy topic to discuss in every country, In every community. But last winter we were able to create the films, the photos and the written stories.
Now, all things considered, all we can say is that we are proud of those tough men and women who dared to share their stories with us.
Preparations for our new exhibition began while creating all these new stories. We wanted to present something bigger than before, to give a place to as many men, women and trans-people from our library as possible. Visibility is an essential concept of our work – we want to show that we are here and tell all who we are! We’re nice and pleasant people. There’s nothing wrong with us except for that strange virus we carry with us.
It was an exciting time, and it became more and more exciting in those last months before we left for Munich. Would all those ideas we had result in an exhibition that would impress and inspire? Would all the hard work that our team of 10 men and women had invested actually lead to an exhibition that would help reduce the stigma that is still often attached to our community?
You can see in the video whether we have achieved all our objectives. All we can say is that we are extremely happy with this project. Proud of all those people portrayed in our work and proud of Team Atlas who has once again worked brilliantly. But not only them. We sincerely thank all participants, the financiers, all our staff and everyone who has contributed to this project in one way or another.
Without you, Atlas 2024 ‘this is us’ would not have happened.
