During his years in Chicago, Sun Ra and his associates handled all phases of production and promotion of their music, which meant much of the artwork on their albums came from Sun Ra himself or those in his orbit. These visual creations are exactly what the ICA exhibition focuses on: paintings, drawings, prints, manuscripts, and film produced by and about Sun Ra and his associates. Highlights of the show include original drawings for their 1960s albums Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow and Other Planes of There, and five newly discovered typed and annotated broadsheets of Sun Ra’s speeches. The show also includes an unpublished book of Sun Ra’s poetry, The Magic Lie, and Edward English’s film Spaceways, a 1968 documentary about Sun Ra and his Arkestra as they prepare to perform at Carnegie Hall.
     In so many ways, Sun Ra was decades ahead of his time. Although some might consider him a kook, it actually makes perfect sense that a black man in the 1950s would want to leave the U.S. and travel to outer space. Sun Ra’s dissatisfaction with the violent, hateful world he lived in led to his creation of a universe where creativity and enlightenment reigned. He insisted that each and every one of us sends our own personal vibrations out into the world. Not only are the sun and the moon music, but as Sun Ra said in the film Space is the Place, “You’re music, too. You’re all instruments. Everyone is supposed to be playing their part in this vast artistry of the cosmos.”

Pathways to Unknown Worlds runs through August 2.