Off-site program: Edgar Arceneaux & Frank Lawson: Place Is the Space

Presented by the Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA, in partnership with the Hammer Museum

This program takes place at the UCLA Nimoy Theater. Tickets can be purchased through the CAP UCLA website.

Runtime: 4 hours
No formal intermission, patrons may flow in and out as needed.

Place Is the Space is a four-hour immersive performance experience combining live jazz improvisation, theatrical storytelling and multimedia design inspired by Sun Ra’s philosophy and his film Space Is the Place. The work functions as both a concert and an experiential ritual where musicians, performers, visual elements and audience members collectively shape the space into a place. Metaphorically building the vehicle that Sun Ra aspired towards, expressing Afrofuturistic themes of transcendence, liberation and joy.

This cosmic jam session culminates in the audience crowning a "New Sun Ra," who leads the full audience on a pilgrimage to the Hammer Museum for one final performance, where everyone is invited to play along.

Presented in conjunction with the Hammer Museum’s current exhibition SPACE IS THE PLACE, which frames “space” as a conceptual framework inspired by the works and views of experimental jazz artist Sun Ra.