ACTION = LIFE Marathon Brings Queer Performance History to the AIDS Monument in West Hollywood
The ACTION = LIFE Marathon showcased queer performance history at the AIDS Monument in West Hollywood, co-presented by LACE and the Performance Art Museum. Part of the Circa: Queer Histories Festival, the event featured artists such as Jerri Allyn, Gabrielle Civil, Marcus Kuiland-Nazario, and Sheree Rose. This festival, the only of its kind in the United States, occurs each October during LGBTQ+ History Month. Performance art's evolution was highlighted, from early twentieth-century movements to influential figures like Judy Chicago and Suzanne Lacy. Ben Cuevas's knit skeletal fragments are currently displayed at the Brand Library.
Key facts
- ACTION = LIFE was co-presented by LACE and the Performance Art Museum as part of Circa: Queer Histories Festival, presented by One Institute.
- The event took place on a Friday night at the AIDS Monument in West Hollywood.
- Performers included Jerri Allyn, Gabrielle Civil, Marcus Kuiland-Nazario, Sheree Rose, Ben Cuevas, and Dacity.
- Circa: Queer Histories Festival is the first and only queer histories festival in the United States, held each October during LGBTQ+ History Month.
- Performance art emerged in the early twentieth century through Dada and Futurism; Allan Kaprow named Happenings in the late 1950s; Fluxus developed in the 1960s.
- In 1970s Los Angeles, Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro at CalArts, Womanhouse in 1972, and Suzanne Lacy and Leslie Labowitz shaped feminist performance.
- Micha Cárdenas and Elle Mehrmand performed Technesexual live at GLAMFA in 2010; Cárdenas's Becoming Dragon (2008) involved 365 hours in Second Life.
- Ben Cuevas's knit skeletal fragments are on view at the Brand Library as part of Artifacts from an Unborn Empire.
Entities
Artists
- Kristine Schomaker
- Jerri Allyn
- Gabrielle Civil
- Marcus Kuiland-Nazario
- Sheree Rose
- Bob Flanagan
- Ben Cuevas
- Dacity
- Micha Cárdenas
- Elle Mehrmand
- Allan Kaprow
- Alison Knowles
- George Maciunas
- Judy Chicago
- Miriam Schapiro
- Suzanne Lacy
- Leslie Labowitz
- Barbara T. Smith
- Felix Gonzalez-Torres
- Kevin Emilio Contreras
Institutions
- LACE
- Performance Art Museum
- Circa: Queer Histories Festival
- One Institute
- CalArts
- 18th Street Arts Center
- Highways Performance Space
- Brand Library
- GLAMFA
- ACT UP
- Gran Fury
- Art and Cake LA
Locations
- West Hollywood
- United States
- Los Angeles
- California
- Second Life