Black Planetarium: Uncharted Anthologies

Inaugural free exhibition at the NEW Digital Arts Space on Jerry Moss Plaza at The Music Center

Free with RSVP

Through breath, movement, sound, and shared listening, Black Planetarium from Ethiopian American artist Kidus Hailesilassie invites audiences into a collective rehearsal for other worlds of Pan-African knowledge-making. Rooted in 6,000 years of African traditions, this new work from Hailesilassie transforms the Digital Arts Space at The Music Center into a living constellation of textiles, moving image, installation and virtual reality.

Extending Hailesilassie’s Ancestral Algorithm (2020)—a cartography of 6,500 symbols from 20 African languages—the Black Planetarium exhibition was reimagined with Ghanaian choreographer Elisabeth Efua Sutherland through the algo-rhythms of Adowa, the Ashanti community dance where the body itself becomes an archive. More than an exhibition, Black Planetarium is a vessel for ancestral memory and a space for rest, connection and imagination.

Step inside shaded textile environments, meditative soundscapes and a VR journey that brings centuries of language and dance to life.

Artist Credits

Kidus Hailesilassie is an Ethiopian American spatial artist and futurist whose work bridges film, installation and media art. Drawing on his architectural background, Hailesilassie explores spatial improvisation deeply rooted in Afro-diasporic and Black expressive modalities. His practice engages with themes of collective memory and speculative futures. 

Virtual Reality Co-directors: Kidus Hailesilassie, Ainslee Alem Robson 

Choreography: Elisabeth Efua Sutherland 

Performance: Hvrmony Adams 

Producers: Aja Quinn Evan, Kidus Hailesilassie, Ainslee Alem Robson, Liam Young 

Executive Producer: Lisa Osborne, Black Public Media