A collaboration of Performance Art Museum, Highways Performance Space, Getty Research Institute,  Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, and 18th Street Arts Center.

A consortium of leading art institutions in Los Angeles announces the launch of High Performance: A 2-Year Conference (2025–2027). This multi-year initiative is dedicated to High Performance magazine, the Los Angeles-based publication that from 1978 to 1997 was the first international magazine devoted exclusively to performance art, an art form that has strengthened American democracy by giving diverse voices a public stage from which to question power and expand civic imagination.

Through collaborations among the 18th Street Arts Center, the Getty Research Institute (GRI), Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE), Highways Performance Space and Gallery, and the Performance Art Museum (PAM)—together with academic partners—this effort will explore High Performance’s lasting impact on the fields of art and performance. The initiative will develop programming that examines, celebrates, and documents the magazine’s history while extending its influence to a new generation of performance artists, scholars, and educators.

Programming

The series will span exhibitions, performances, programs, and archival activations, including the following highlights:

Other Upcoming Events

High Performance: Low Drama, a series of exhibitions and readings around The Citizen Artist: 20 Years of Art in the Public Arena: An Anthology from High Performance Magazine 1978-1998 (Thinking Publicly).

June 2027 – LACE stages a performance series in conjunction with the organization’s survey exhibition of works by Cassils.

July 2027 – Highways transforms its performance and gallery space in Santa Monica into an immersive, multi-room environment for various performance and installation works inspired by the publication.

Education and University Partners

Education and university partners include the Art, Design & Architecture Museum and the Department of History of Art & Architecture at the University of California, Santa Barbara; Department of Art at the University of California, Irvine; California State University, Dominguez Hills Art Gallery; Stanford University; Performance Studies Graduate Certificate at the University of Southern California; University of California, San Diego; and the Department of Art and Art History at the University of California, Davis.

Advisory Committee Members (as of 12/16/25) include Amelia Jones, Asher Hartman, Cheri Gaulke, The Dark Bob, Jenni Sorkin, Jerri Allyn, John Tain, Liz Hirsch, Mara McCarthy, Marcus Kuiland-Nazario, and Rossen Ventzislavov.

HIGH PERFORMANCE: A 2-YEAR CONFERENCE HAS RECEIVED SUPPORT FROM THE TERRA FOUNDATION FOR AMERICAN ART FOR THE CREATIVE CONVENING: PERFORMANCE, PROTEST, AND PRESERVATION AT THE GRI ON APRIL 3, 2026.

About High Performance

High Performance was a quarterly arts magazine founded in Los Angeles in 1978 and published through 1997. Its editorial mission was to provide support and a critical context for new, innovative, and unrecognized work in the arts. Over the years, High Performance was a leader in viewing the arts in the larger context of contemporary life, examining how the arts contribute to addressing social and cultural concerns, and also how those concerns impact the arts. In 1994, High Performance received the Alternative Press Award for Cultural Coverage from the Utne Reader and was nominated three other times for the same award.

Linda Frye Burnham served as the magazine’s founding editor from 1978 through 1985. Steven Durland was the editor from 1986 through 1994. Durland and Burnham coedited the magazine from 1995 to 1997. From 1983 to 1995, High Performance was published by Astro Artz (renamed 18th Street Arts Complex in 1990). In July 1995, High Performance was acquired by Art in the Public Interest (API), a new organization formed by Burnham and Durland to research and develop information about how the arts can work in our everyday lives. API published five more issues, but rising costs and an inability to garner needed stabilization funding forced API to cease publication in 1997. For more information, visit https://apionline.org/

About Performance Art Museum

Founded in 2023, the Performance Art Museum is an emergent non-profit organization that centers performance art in the foreground of contemporary practice. As the first museum dedicated exclusively to the presentation and preservation of the art of performance, PAM is the central venue for the discovery, interaction, and study of contemporary and historically significant performance artworks. For more information, visit pamuseum.org

About Highways Performance Space and Gallery

Highways Performance Space is Southern California’s boldest center for new performance, film and visual art. In its 36th year, Highways continues to be an important alternative cultural center in Los Angeles that encourages radical artists from diverse communities to develop and present innovative new works. Highways promotes the development of contemporary socially involved artists and art forms. Our mission is to develop and present innovative performance and visual artists, promote interaction among people of diverse cultural backgrounds and engage artists and the communities they serve in cross-cultural dialogues about social, cultural and artistic issues. For more information, visit highwaysperformance.org

About Getty Research Institute

As a part of the J. Paul Getty Trust, the Getty Research Institute (GRI) is a leading international center for scholarship, library collections, and public programs. Since its founding in 1983, the GRI’s mission has been to cultivate advanced knowledge of art and its varied histories. Over the decades, the GRI has expanded its initiatives to foster global collaboration, preserve cultural heritage, and provide access to rare and specialized resources for researchers worldwide. For more information, visit getty.edu/research-institute

About Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions

LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions) champions artists, curators, and cultural workers who explore and defy boundaries through socially-engaged projects. We provide platforms within and beyond our space for diverse communities to connect deeply with challenging contemporary art. Uniquely positioned in the heart of Hollywood, LACE 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. For more information, visit welcometolace.org.

About 18th Street Art Center

18th Street Arts Center amplifies the impact of artists on society. Conceived in 1988 as a radical think tank in the shape of an artist community by Linda Frye Burnham and Susanna Bixby Dakin, 18SAC supports artists from around the globe through its residency programs to imagine, research, and develop significant, meaningful new artworks and share them with the public. We provide artists the space and time to take risks, and to create experiences and partnerships that foster positive social change. For more information, please visit 18thstreet.org.

A Brief History

In January 1978, LACE opened its doors at 240 S. Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles on the third floor of the Victor Clothing Company Building. That same year and in the same building, High Performance published its first issue. In 1982, Astro Artz was founded as the nonprofit publisher of the magazine, which later evolved into the nonprofit 18th Street Arts Center in Santa Monica in 1988. The following year, Linda Frye Burnham and Tim Miller founded Highways Performance Space and Gallery. The last issue of the magazine was published in 1997. In 2005, Jenni Sorkin organized High Performance: The First Five Years exhibition at Bard College. The exhibition traveled to LACE, and in 2006, the Getty Research Institute acquired High Performance Archives. The Performance Art Museum was founded in 2023 to advance the visibility, legacy, and scholarship of artists working in performance.