Ring in the shape of the AIDS virus

Andy Kurovets's "Model of AIDS" ring is a bejewelled ring in the form of the AIDS virus. Link (via Core77)

[#1 posted by danegeld , June 2, 2008 4:39 PM]

This is more than a little creepy.

[#2 posted by Herby , June 2, 2008 4:40 PM]

I am confused about how I feel about this ring. I guess the artists did a great job of bringing these emotions out. I want to say it is beautiful but I get a weird feeling in my stomach even when I am writing this. WOW.

[#3 posted by NicoleRichieVicodinRave , June 2, 2008 4:42 PM]

I'd much prefer ring worm.

[#4 posted by Herby , June 2, 2008 4:42 PM]

@Danegeld
Exactly, who has the guts to tell somebody, "Oh this ring is a Model of Aids". You look like an asshole.

[#5 posted by pauldrye , June 2, 2008 4:42 PM]

@1: Oh good, it's not just me.

"Honey, your presence in my life reminds me of an incurable infection that's killed millions and doomed sub-Saharan Africa to decades of further economic collapse."

Wotta romantic.

[#6 posted by danegeld , June 2, 2008 4:49 PM]

...but perversely, I really liked the calamari ear-rings that were posted here a few days ago. They rocked!

[#7 posted by proto opus , June 2, 2008 4:51 PM]

is one to wear it as a caveat?

[#8 posted by ckwinny , June 2, 2008 4:55 PM]

It's cool looking, but it'd get caught on everything.

[#9 posted by IWood , June 2, 2008 4:56 PM]

I dunno. If I was living with HIV long-term (which more and more people are doing)and I was marrying another long-termer (which is also happening, yay MA and CA) I could see this as being the ultimate fuck you to the unwanted virus.

But maybe I'm just a freak.

[#10 posted by ParoxAmore , June 2, 2008 5:04 PM]

Disturbing...

[#11 posted by JonKimmel , June 2, 2008 5:08 PM]

If a certain percentage of the proceeds were being donated toward research, I believe it would be more acceptable, and fashionable.

-Just my initial thought...

[#12 posted by Xopher , June 2, 2008 5:20 PM]

When the test first became available, some guys who tested poz got a big red plus sign tattoo. I could see this being used the same way.

Other than that, it's entirely repulsive. And I certainly would steer clear of anyone who wore one, because bad taste, unlike good taste, is catching.

I mean ICK. Just ICK.

[#13 posted by Donn , June 2, 2008 5:28 PM]

Appropriately clinical and sterile looking.

No thanks.

[#14 posted by sassifrassilassi , June 2, 2008 5:39 PM]

i am an hiv clinician and am intrigued by the idea of retroviral jewelry, but i am offended by the cheap gem mounting.

[#15 posted by General Specific , June 2, 2008 6:09 PM]

It's edgy, sort of pretty, and not a little repugnant.

[#16 posted by Antinous , June 2, 2008 6:10 PM]

You could put someone's eye out with that thing. Heh.

[#17 posted by Takuan , June 2, 2008 6:27 PM]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memento_mori

[#18 posted by wynneth , June 2, 2008 7:09 PM]

Screw that. How about a ring that neutralized HIV, now THAT is worth some cash. Let's not glamorize things that cause harm.

[#19 posted by Antinous , June 2, 2008 7:26 PM]

It's good to know that there's one piece of death-dealing jewelry that you can get past airport security.

A friend of mine who's had HIV for decades just views the virus as something that he's made peace with. Skulls are very common in Himalayan jewelry as a symbol of death and rebirth. I see no reason why this ring couldn't symbolize learning to live successfully with your little retroviral friend.

[#20 posted by anthropomorphictoast , June 2, 2008 9:06 PM]

Man. Now that is some Dadaist piece of jewelry there.

Model one after of Mononucleosis, and it'd give a whole new spin to the slogan "Every kiss begins with Kay"

[#21 posted by therapydoc , June 2, 2008 9:08 PM]

Oh, I'd definitely say it's a little ungapatched.

[#22 posted by RedMage13 , June 2, 2008 10:04 PM]

Quick, someone get one of these for Abbie!
http://scienceblogs.com/erv/

[#23 posted by eustace , June 2, 2008 10:19 PM]

I'd quite like a bacteriophage virus ring. Poised to inject my finger with it's DNA... emerald to emulate electron-microscope green... finding an emerald with a stringlike flaw would be quite a trick.

[#24 posted by Anonymous , June 2, 2008 11:14 PM]

Apologies for being pedantic here, but...

AIDS is not a virus, it's a syndrome.
HIV is the virus.

Thanks, Paul

[#25 posted by Evil Jim , June 2, 2008 11:22 PM]

Bling bling.

[#26 posted by eustace , June 2, 2008 11:32 PM]

This is the idea (if I'm doing this right):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24299497@N05/2546927957/

[#27 posted by poptart , June 2, 2008 11:43 PM]

Well it's certainly more thought-provoking art than Damien Hirst's diamond-encrusted skull (or most of his work, actually).

I desperately wanted a virus in my engagement ring rather than a diamond. Why should a compressed bit of carbon have cornered the market as a symbol of love. A virus is a far more appropriate and hopelessly romantic metaphor. After all, a virus is alive, contagious, and, in some cases, millions of years old.

But which virus to choose? The common cold isn't terribly exciting, but trying to get through customs would have been a mission with anything more serious. Anything to declare? Just cholera in my ring...

Unfortunately, I didn't get any further with it. My fiance declared me a morbid freak (no doubt like several posters here are about to do) and after exploring several other options including lunar rock, nanobots, petrified water and fulgurite, I ended up with the damn shiny rock.

As an aside - an AIDS activists couple I interviewed in Cape Town described their love as "an infection."

[#28 posted by Savara , June 3, 2008 3:21 AM]

Am I the only one anal enough to be annoyed by people using the phrase 'AIDS Virus' ? Admittedly it's only slightly worse than 'HIV Virus', if for slightly different reasons. (Think 'PIN Number'!)

Meh.

Yours pedantically,

[#29 posted by eustace , June 3, 2008 4:09 AM]

There might be some justification for AIDS virus, if only as imprecise shorthand for "virus implicated in AIDS". No justification for HIV virus, I'll agree.

[#30 posted by David D. , June 3, 2008 6:44 AM]

a) Ugly.

b) Horrid.

[#31 posted by Enochrewt , June 3, 2008 6:55 AM]

c)Tacky

[#32 posted by albin , June 3, 2008 9:30 AM]

There is no such thing as the "AIDS virus"... AIDS is a syndrome caused by the human immunodeficiency virus, which is the virus the ring models.

[#33 posted by gadfly , June 3, 2008 2:47 PM]

@9 (IWOOD)

The myth that only gay people get HIV/AIDS has long been recognized as offensive, inaccurate, and dangerous (for giving straight people a false sense of security). Unless some kind of time-warp is allowing you to post from the '80s, I suggest that you get a clue.

[#34 posted by woolie , June 3, 2008 2:48 PM]

HIV is a virus. AIDS is a syndrome.

[#35 posted by woolie , June 3, 2008 3:01 PM]

Poptart,

You could use a helical virus (such as tobacco mosaic virus) as a motif in a ring design, incorporate it into part of the band... or you could use an icosahedral virus inplace of a gemstone, of which the most minimal are comprised of a triangular trimer for each of 20 faces = 60 identical proteins forming an icosahedral shell, which contains the virus's nucleic acids. (e.g. satellite tobacco mosaic virus.)

[#36 posted by woolie , June 3, 2008 3:13 PM]

Retroviridae are among the most beautiful things in nature -- because they affirm, to any observer, the process of nature... the coevolution of virus and host, the dependence on the hosts's own transcription mechanisms, the use of retrotransposons to permanently integrate into the hosts' genome, high-mutation rates as a matter of design for immunological evasion, etc.... yes, AIDS is a terrible disease, but the virus itself is among the most interesting in nature.

[#37 posted by IWood , June 3, 2008 3:53 PM]

Gadfly @ #33-

Oh, gee! Sorry my language wasn't all-inclusive and precise enough for you. Unclench and lose your self-righteous assumptions, would you?

Anyway. I noticed this today--Andrew Sullivan, HIV-positive for (I think) nearly two decades at this point, had this to say about the ring:

"I know what I want for my next birthday...But I'll take it off at immigration."

[#38 posted by flipa , June 3, 2008 9:42 PM]

@ #9: A friend who is an AIDS activist got married a couple of years back; both he and his wife had been positive for quite a while before they met. Being able to make long-term plans together despite the virus, and being able to be open about their status, was a big deal. (They live in Sub-Saharan Africa and ARVs were just becoming available then.) Their rings have the red ribbon on them.

When I saw this ring, I thought that it's essentially just a flashier version of my friend's ribbon ring: a symbol of not having to hide your HIV status and of the importance of being able to get on with your life.

I think most HIV-positive people that I know (mostly activists, so not a representative sample at all) wouldn't find this ring morbid. When you know that you'll be living with the virus for the rest of your life, you can't think "horrid" every time it's mentioned. Instead, you try to take control of it in small ways like this. It's just a virus, it's smaller than you, it's ok to look at it and say "pretty".

[#39 posted by Takuan , June 3, 2008 9:53 PM]

we all must die of something

[#40 posted by poptart , June 3, 2008 11:56 PM]

@35 Woolie.

Ah, where were you a year ago when I was desperate for a virus (or virus motif)?

I settled on a mini-chunk of ethically harvested compressed carbon after ten months of exploring other options. The final wedding ring does feature skull flowers, venus flytraps, swallows, rabbits and a flaming heart laser engraved in bright pink resin. So, it turned out okay.

But a satellite tobacco mosaic virus sounds awesome.

[#41 posted by cybrspunk , June 4, 2008 6:15 PM]

Finally, a piece of jewellery that really is "to die for"!