The first Day With(out) Art was organized in 1989 by a group of artists in New York in response to the disease's devastating toll on the artistic community. In commemoration, museums and galleries closed their doors or draped their artworks, and theaters were dark. The "loss" of art on this day begs the question "what would the world be like without art?" and stresses the need to find a cure for HIV/AIDS. Since 1989 the focus has shifted away from removing art from the public. Instead, through cultural and arts-related programming, institutions use the day to educate about the disease, and eventually, parentheses were added to demonstrate the refocusing of the day onto the inclusion of art. UMMA will commemorate Day With(out) Art by provoking conversations about the history and current state of AIDS.