“Space Is the Place” by Sun Ra

Still from "Space is the Place," from Detriot Institute of the Arts.

Sun Ra’s "Space is the Place" is an Afrofuturist cult classic that blends the styles of science fiction and Blaxploitation films as a medium for social commentary. Intersplicing live concert footage and scripted dramatic scenes, the film is based on a UC Berkeley course Sun Ra taught titled “The Black Man in the Cosmos”.

• Watch the film on Youtube.
• Watch the legacy of Sun Ra live on with the Sun Ra Arkestra Tiny Desk Concert
• Listen to the 1972 recording of Space is the Place album.

About "Space is the Place"

“Where human eyes have never seen, where human beings have never been, I build a world of abstract dreams, and I wait for you.”

Sun Ra

Written by and starring Sun Ra, “Space is The Place” is the 1974 cult classic film described as “The Architecture of Afrofuturism” (Curbed). The film was initially envisioned as a documentary – directed by John Coney and produced by jazz musician, art curator, and former KQED producer, Jim Newman (SF Jazz).

Jim Newman describes the film the following way:

“Sun Ra--space-age prophet, pharaonic jester, shaman-philosopher and avant-jazz keyboardist/bandleader--lands his spaceship in Oakland, having been presumed lost in space for a few years. With Black Power on the rise, Ra disembarks and proclaims himself "the alter-destiny." He holds a myth-vs.-reality rap session with black inner-city youth at a rec center, threatening "to chain you up and take you with me, like they did you in Africa," if they resist his plea to go to outer space. He duels at cards with The Overseer, a satanic overlord, with the fate of the black race at stake. Ra wins the right to a world concert, which features great performance footage of the Arkestra. Agents sent by the Overseer attempt to assassinate Ra, but he vanishes, rescues his people, and departs in his spaceship from the exploding planet Earth.”

The plot is further described as “concerning the salvation of black culture through space exploration, with Sun Ra’s music as the divine force that will save the people and usher them to a new future beyond Earth” (SF Jazz).

Much of the futuristic books, films and other media centered in our society are written from a white, cisgender male perspective. Consequently, it often means that marginalized people – and their respective cultures and values – are excluded from these stories. When visions of our future only depict a select few, it all but guarantees those missing will be left behind. Sun Ra's work used Black history and culture to map us to the stars, transforming the notion about speculative fiction and bringing Afrofuturistic thought mainstream.

About Sun Ra

Born as Herman Poole “Sonny” Blount in 1914, Sun Ra changed his name to Le'Sony'r Ra in 1952 as a way to create further distance from where he grew up in Birmingham, Alabama (Encyclopedia of Alabama). Sun Ra always insisted he arrived on Earth by way of Saturn.

I landed on a planet that I identified as Saturn … they teleported me and I was down on stage with them. They wanted to talk with me. They had one little antenna on each ear. A little antenna over each eye. They talked to me. They told me to stop because there was going to be great trouble in schools … the world was going into complete chaos … I would speak, and the world would listen.

– Sun Ra, via Afropunk

The National Endowment for the Arts recognized Sun Ra as a 1982 Jazz Master. NEA also shared, “ Sun Ra's band was a central part of the early avant-garde jazz movement in Chicago, being one of the first jazz bands to employ electronic instruments (as early as 1956), including electric piano, clavioline, celeste, and synthesizers”.

Though he transitioned from Earth in 1993 at the age of 79, his legacy lives on with Sun Ra Arkestra (which still tours today and led by 98-year-old saxophonist Marshall Allen). The band's latest album, "Swirling," was released in November 2020 (NPR). In addition, artists such as Solange, Sonic Youth, Gaga, Thundercat. Ty Dolla $ign, Odd Future, and Hiatus Kaiyote (Rolling Stone) have weaved his work into their own, connecting Sun Ra to future generations of Afrofuturist filmmakers, musicians, and creatives.

Read more of his bio here. (Blackpast)

I never wanted to be part of planet Earth, and I did everything not to be a part of it. I never wanted their money or their fame, and anything I do for this planet is because the Creator of the universe is making me do it. . .If I can get out of enlightening this planet, I’ll do so with the greatest of pleasure, and let them stay in their darkness, cruelty, hatred, ignorance, and the other things they got in their houses of deceit.

– Sun Ra, via Afropunk

Reflection Questions

• What is an idea you have that feels out of this world?
• What media has shaped your understanding of the future? What racial/ethnic identities worked to creating that narrative?
• What future do you envision for yourself, and the people around you? How are you committed to bringing that future into reality?

Learn More

• Read Space is the Place: The Lives and Times of Sun Ra by John Szwe
• "How Sun Ra Taught Us to Believe in the Impossible" (New Yorker)
• Oscar-shortlisted filmmaker develops Sun Ra doc (Amsterdam News)
• "Why Is Sun Ra Suddenly Having His Moment?" (Rolling Stone)