Frank Zappa's Famous Studio Is Hosting a New Art Show

Last night was the cocktail-fueled opening of someplace else right now, an eclectic group show staged in Frank Zappa’s recording studio, the Utility Muffin Research Kitchen. Curated by Ashley Sands and Blaise Patrick, the exhibition features works from eight international contemporary artists: Lisa Solberg, Kiluanji Kia Henda, Isabel Yellin, Larry Achiampong, Yael Kanarek, Tamara Kvesitadze, Keith Tyson, and Daniel J Wilson.

As demonstrated by its name—recycled from a hit from Zappa’s posthumously released record, Civilian Phaze III—someplace else right now is a show very much in the experimental spirit of Zappa (Read: Original Creators: Avant-Garde Rocker Frank Zappa). The artists have take the sacred space of the late musician and composer as a source of inspiration for an atmospheric mix of adapted and site-specific works. Solberg, for instance, uses the unique offerings of the studio to create an immersive installation in Zappa’s custom-made echo chamber, while Yellin layers hand-picked fabrics into a malleable and sensory structure. Other artists have molded their previous pieces to work within the space, such as Achiampong with an installation and presentation from his series on issues of race and politics, Politicmen, and Kvesitadze with her kinetic sculpture, Man and Woman.

Someplace else right now is, in short, a Zappaian production, through and through. As Ahmet Zappa, the son of the late musician reflects in the show's press release, “My father built the U.M.R.K. so that artists, like himself could have the freedom to musically create and express themselves in extraordinary ways. So it is with great pleasure that we open up his studio for artists of other mediums to showcase their amazing work.”

Someplace else right now opens today and runs until March 2 at The Utility Muffin Research Kitchen on the Zappa Estate in Los Angeles. To attend, request an appoitnment at info@someplaceelserightnow.com.

Related:

The Best Things We Saw at Zona Maco 2016 [Photos]

Here's a Snow Tractor Getting Turned into a Massive Light Sculpture

10 Modern Masterpieces from The Broad Museum’s Debut