Culver City’s Artist Laureate Victoria Marks does not begin or start a performance. The verb she uses is ‘activation.’ The public performance of HUG was activated at the Downtown Plaza on August 6, 2026, and both the participants and the audience seemed to fully embrace the concept.
A dozen or so ‘couples’ including friends, parents and children, and romantic partners, all dressed in white, took the space between the Culver Hotel and the Culver Theaters near the Lion Fountain, and sequentially stepped into a hug. Some duos started a distance away and ran or walked towards each other, while other stayed closer and simply turned away, taking a beat before return to their partner’s arms.
Marks stated “While HUG is basically a warm embrace (imagine two people coming together after time apart, or preparing to take leave of one another, or simply offering affection and care). [The piece will have] a score that includes people walking toward one another, embracing, stepping away, and then returning to renew the embrace.”
The simplicity was central to the beauty and charm of the performance. Like an abstract painting that summons a landscape, or a piano score alternating between rests and frematas, HUG used the time between hugs as a reflection of the power of the friendly enclosure into familiar arms.
The unique works that Marks has to share with the community is challenging to put to words – and that is at least, a part of the point. Movement needs to be embodied, and felt. The best way to savor the work of our current Laureate is to be a part of it.
Judith Martin-Straw
Photo Credit -Dustin Klemann
