Prefatory Note: The Jacki Apple Award
The inspiration for the Jacki Apple Award came from one of Apple’s longtime concerns. Although there is financial support for emerging artists, she found that for mid-career and mature artists there was very little available. Performance and other mid-career artists of proven and sustained excellence were left with an unhappy choice: to rely on themselves and keep their artistic integrity intact, or go commercial. The Advisory Committee for Jacki’s legacy considered various options, some form Award chief amongst them. A member recommended it be designed to support both the art and the artist: “artists also need to eat”. Apple would have been the first to agree, more generous parameters were set.
Apple had deep roots in her native New York, a city then as today that breathes innovation. She played a seminal role in the early evolution of performance art there, a then-emergent art form that was often misunderstood. Apple’s close friend and associate, Marina LaPalma, edited Apple’s “Selected Essays” and in her Foreword to the collection offers a concise explanation of how it came about: “Innovators of new theatre and performance art replaced ‘acting’ as someone else with ‘performing’ as oneself.”
Apple pioneered feminist and eco-feminist performance art in the 70’s and 80’s. She played a leading role in the nascent Franklin Furnace artist’s archive and performance space, founded by Martha Wilson. It gave many emerging artists an opportunity to excel. When the Advisory Committee broached the idea of an Award it found an eager partner in the Franklin Furnace, not only in honoring one of its own but by adding a new dimension for its support for contemporary art in New York.
In the early 1980’s Jacki moved to Los Angeles, a city to which she became deeply committed. She played a key role in its development as a counterpart to New York through her own performances, leadership in multimedia arts, art critic, and as a highly respected educator with the ArtCenter College of Design. She worked closely with Los Angeles Contemporary Art Exhibitions (LACE) over the years, which became the natural choice as the West coast partner institution for the Jacki Apple Award. Both LACE and Franklin Furnace warmly welcomed the initiative of creating the new award and the opportunity to serve as independent implementing agencies. Thus the Jacki Apple Award became a reality and was integrated into the award process of each institution according to their own established agendas and practices.
Emily: Pls attach the LACE and FF Award notices, the LACE selection announcement, and the LACE Apple Award event video and photos taken by Oliver. Potential applicants should be advised to contact LACE and FF directly
LACE & Franklin Furnace
On January 9th 2024 Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE) announced its inaugural Jacki Apple Award recipient: Marcus Kuiland-Nazario. LACE describes itself as the “Longest running incubator for contemporary artists and curators in LA!”; The Award was for the outstanding mid-career artist with the most creative, culturally relevant and otherwise topical performance art project proposal.
Entitled “Threnody”, namely an elegy, a song of lamentation for the dead, Marcus’ project will explore grieving beliefs and practices of various cultures. It will be a celebration of diversity and of expressions of social respect in the transition of life. He brings a wealth of talent and great humour to the task. His rich experience is perhaps best summed up in a biographical note drawn from the LA 18th Street Arts Center website:
“Los Angeles native Marcus Kuiland-Nazario is an interdisciplinary artist, performance curator and producer. He is a founding artist of 18th Street Arts Center and Highways Performance Space as well as co-founder of Oficina de Proyectos Culturales, a contemporary art center in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and LA Community Health Project, a harm reduction street based needle exchange program. Kuiland- Nazario’s works are long-term research based cross-genre projects exploring extreme states of emotion such as grief, anger and loss influenced by the cultural and spiritual traditions of the African Diaspora.
His performance works have been included in national and international festivals including the Rapture Festival, ICA London, London; the Rompeforma Festival, San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Pacific Standard Time LA/LA, Los Angeles. Kuiland-Nazario is the recipient of the 2020 Santa Monica Artist Fellowship award.”
Marcus won the award on merit. However, he also collaborated with Jacki Apple over the years on projects and performances, and both worked closely with Highways Performance Space. Their mutual respect as artists and friends with shared wide-ranging cultural interests made this inaugural Award especially meaningful to Marcus, to LACE and those entrusted with Jacki’s legacy. Franklin Furnace of New York will make its inaugural Jacki Apple Award this Fall, expectations run high.
