Photo: Performance Artist 011668 at Mono Lake. Photograph by Sarah Sitkin. Courtesy the artist.
For LACE’s tenth Emerging Curator presentation, Nahui Garcia curates This Home, Forever, a multi-day performance series sparking thoughts about the potential erosion of Los Angeles’s diverse and vibrant urban ecosystem against the backdrop of gentrification. Through immersive performances that encourage audience participation via movement or dialogue, the series asks, if Los Angeles is a chosen home for many, how do we ensure that every person feels unequivocally woven into its tapestry?
This Home, Forever is a stage, a forum, and a dynamic workshop nurtured by a group of artists and activists devoted to and inspired by Los Angeles. As development projects and rising living costs displace our communities to the periphery, it becomes crucial for every resident to confidently say: Here I belong. This is my home, forever.
With the 2025 open call, LACE requested proposals specifically for a curated performance series. Garcia’s proposal was selected from a large pool of applicants by a jury of artists and arts professionals. This year’s jury included Jackie Amézquita, artist; Alex Sloane, Associate Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA); and Julie Tolentino, artist and faculty member at CalArts.
“Performance has the capacity to respond to our current moment in unexpected, challenging, and visceral ways.” states Sloane. “I was thrilled that LACE chose to focus this Emerging Curator Program on live art and it was invigorating to see the breadth and ambition of the proposed projects. I look forward to attending This Home, Forever and celebrating Nahui Garcia and the phenomenal artists she is bringing together.”
“I am grateful for the opportunity to learn from the invaluable guidance of the LACE Emerging Curator program and to collaborate on a performance series addressing one of the most pressing issues facing the Los Angeles arts community today: gentrification. The featured artists have a profound connection to the city, with deep-rooted ties that many will find relatable. Through their activism and art, they demonstrate the critical importance of nourishing a vibrant arts ecosystem.” states Garcia. Selected artists featured in This Home, Forever include Performance Artist 011668, Perras Bravas, Karla Ekaterine Canseco, Michele Lorusso, Jaklin Romine, and San Fernando Valley music project Pacoima Techno.
Nahui Garcia is an independent writer and curator based in Los Angeles. In 2022, she earned her MA in Curatorial Studies and the Public Sphere from USC Roski School of Art and Design. Her thesis centered around two pioneers of Latin American feminist art: Mónica Mayer and Lotty Rosenfeld. Prior to Roski, Garcia worked as the Program Coordinator at Museo Nacional de Arte in Mexico City, where she organized panel discussions, workshops, and symposia on early 20th-century art. Garcia most recently worked as a Curatorial Assistant for Nour Mobarak’s exhibition Dafne Phono at JOAN Los Angeles, a Research Assistant for Carolina Caycedo’s We Center Life at the Center / Situamos la vida en el Centro at the Vincent Price Art Museum, and a Development and Research Associate at Project X Foundation. In her work as a curator, Garcia is the 2023 recipient of the Fellows of Contemporary Art, Curator’s Lab. Her work has been published by Contemporary Art Review Los Angeles and the Performance Art Museum in Los Angeles.
ABOUT THE EMERGING CURATOR PROGRAM
The Emerging Curator Program is designed to discover curatorial talent in Los Angeles and provides opportunities for emerging curators to partner with LACE. Applicants are reviewed by a panel that recommends a compelling project to the LACE team consistent with LACE’s experimental spirit. Learn more about all past nine Emerging Curator projects, including the 2024 presentation A Fossil, A Ruin, A Memory, curated by Carrie Chen.
ABOUT LACE
LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions) is the longest-running incubator for artists, curators, and cultural workers in Los Angeles, founded in 1978 by 13 artists. LACE is a nonprofit venue that exhibits and advocates for innovations in art-making and public engagement. Uniquely positioned in the heart of Hollywood, LACE provides space for artistic experimentation, exploring new forms of art-making at the edge of the field, and amplifies the voices and visions of Los Angeles’ diverse makers. LACE presents free, significant, and timely exhibitions, performances, and public projects, complemented by education initiatives. www.welcometolace.org
