{"id":3633,"date":"2026-10-06T23:59:47","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T03:59:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/at-the-aids-monument-action-life-threads-performance-memory-and-queer-futures\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T23:59:47","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T03:59:47","slug":"at-the-aids-monument-action-life-threads-performance-memory-and-queer-futures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/at-the-aids-monument-action-life-threads-performance-memory-and-queer-futures\/","title":{"rendered":"At the AIDS Monument, “ACTION = LIFE” threads performance, memory, and queer futures"},"content":{"rendered":"

As dusk fell over the AIDS Monument in West Hollywood on Friday night, a rapid-fire sequence of five-minute performances unfolded under the open sky. ACTION = LIFE<\/strong> was co-presented by Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE)<\/strong> and the Performance Art Museum (PAM)<\/strong> as part of Circa: Queer Histories Festival<\/strong>, presented by One Institute<\/strong>. Within that charged site, the evening linked generations of practice with the urgencies of the present.<\/p>\n

Lineage, site, and the body<\/h2>\n

Performance art\u2019s roots reach back to early twentieth-century Dada<\/strong> and Futurism<\/strong>, the late 1950s Happenings<\/strong> named by Allan Kaprow<\/strong>, and the 1960s experiments of Fluxus<\/strong>\u2014from Alison Knowles<\/strong> making a salad in a gallery to George Maciunas<\/strong> declaring that art could arise from anything. In Los Angeles, the 1970s feminist movement reframed the field with projects at CalArts<\/strong> by Judy Chicago<\/strong> and Miriam Schapiro<\/strong>, the transformation of Womanhouse<\/strong> in 1972<\/strong>, public actions by Suzanne Lacy<\/strong> and Leslie Labowitz<\/strong>, and Barbara T. Smith<\/strong>\u2019s Feed Me<\/em> in 1973<\/strong>, demanding recognition of specific needs.<\/p>\n

The AIDS Monument itself carries histories of loss and mobilization. The AIDS crisis took tens of thousands of lives and gutted creative communities amid government indifference and silence. The queer community answered through action and art\u2014ACT UP<\/strong>, Gran Fury<\/strong>, and works like Felix Gonzalez-Torres<\/strong>\u2019s candy piles measured to a lover\u2019s weight\u2014insisting on visibility. Performing in that place felt less like looking back than continuing the work.<\/p>\n

Five minutes to speak a truth<\/h2>\n

The roster included Jerri Allyn<\/strong>, an activist artist and educator whose socially engaged practice addresses social justice, gender norms, and queer rights; Gabrielle Civil<\/strong>, a Black feminist performance artist and poet who has premiered over fifty original works worldwide and seeks, in her words, \u00022to open up space.\u00022 Marcus Kuiland-Nazario<\/strong>, a founding artist of 18th Street Arts Center<\/strong> and Highways Performance Space<\/strong>, brought research-driven explorations of grief, anger, and loss. Sheree Rose<\/strong>\u2014performing since 1981<\/strong> and known for collaborations with Bob Flanagan<\/strong>\u2014and Ben Cuevas<\/strong>\u2014whose knit skeletal fragments are currently exhibited at the Brand Library<\/strong> in Artifacts from an Unborn Empire<\/em>\u2014added further depth. The strict five-minute frame sharpened each statement.<\/p>\n

Among the night\u2019s standout moments was Dacity<\/strong>, who moved through the space in costume and dance, casting off the limits of a former life toward freedom. An LA-based drag performer, writer, and LGBTQIA+ advocate, Dacity has, since debuting in 2023<\/strong>, received two California College Media Awards<\/strong>, released original music, launched the queer podcast Dyzz Bytch<\/em>, and founded TRANS\u001aFORM<\/strong>. With a background in journalism and political education, their work centers unheard queer voices and explores identity through performance and media.<\/p>\n

Past touchstones echoed too: in 2010<\/strong> Micha C\u0000e1rdenas<\/strong> and Elle Mehrmand<\/strong>\u2019s Technesexual<\/em> at GLAMFA<\/strong>, handmade electronic stethoscopes carried heartbeats across physical and virtual rooms; in 2008<\/strong> C\u0000e1rdenas\u2019s Becoming Dragon<\/em>, 365 hours<\/strong> in Second Life<\/strong> challenged a one-year Real Life Experience requirement for gender confirmation surgery.<\/p>\n

Circa: Queer Histories Festival<\/strong> is presented by One Institute<\/strong>, the oldest active LGBTQ+ organization in the country, and is the first and only queer histories festival in the United States, taking place each October during LGBTQ+ History Month. The Performance Art Museum<\/strong> supports the visibility, legacy, and scholarship of performance artists, while LACE<\/strong> champions boundary-pushing, socially engaged work\u2014an infrastructure that makes nights like this possible. The body, in public, still speaks volumes\u2014and refuses to disappear.<\/p>\n

V\u00eda artandcakela.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the AIDS Monument in West Hollywood, ACTION = LIFE gathered five-minute performances co-presented by LACE and the Performance Art Museum as part of Circa: Queer Histories Festival, presented by One Institute. The night connected a century of performance art lineage to the site\u2019s AIDS-era activism, with artists including Jerri Allyn, Gabrielle Civil, Marcus Kuiland-Nazario, Sheree Rose, Ben Cuevas, and Dacity.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3632,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-happening-now"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3633\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}