AFTER WORDS

BY THE TIME David Wojnarowicz died of AIDS in July 1992, he had become one of the era’s definitive artists, a protean maker. His delirious, often strident work cut a path across disciplinary lines, enlisting New York’s streets and his own idle dreams and becoming a touchstone for how others could respond to domination and the cruelty of what he termed “pre-invented existence.”

This July, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York will debut the first major monographic exhibition of Wojnarowicz’s work since his 1999 retrospective at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York. To mark the occasion, Artforum invited CYNTHIA CARR, WILLIAM E. JONES, and CARLO McCORMICK to reflect on Wojnarowicz’s life, art, music, and writing. In addition, the following pages feature previously unpublished transcripts of the artist’s audio diary and a portfolio of rare images by DIRK ROWNTREE documenting Wojnarowicz’s interventions at New York’s Pier 34.