@ Sushi Performance and Visual Art July 26, 27, 28, 2002
Life Stage: The Blurred Line Between Art & Life was a three-day multidisciplinary exposition of visual and performing art by over a hundred individuals and artists. Life Stage took on the experimentation and depth of a "happening", as well as, the freedom and thrill of Burning Man. Most importantly, "the blur, between art and life" was engaged by disciplines not commonly associated with contemporary art. The natural healing arts, culinary arts, web design, architecture, and many other genres, found their place among the thought provoking installations, conceptual works, painting, photography, video, literature, spoken word, interventions, puppetry, musical theater, dance, and the many layer's of musical variations. The term art, and artists, was (at least in the context of the event) open to interpretation. Individuals of all crafts, disciplines, and professions were invited to collaborate, perform, exhibit, and to share what it is that they do, in whatever form it may take. People were encouraged to bring instruments, artwork, home movies/travel videos, literature, poetry, camera's, photo albums/photo's, etc.
All images documented by Damien Lassater as part of his live streaming web station 2002.
In this dichotomy of Kitsch and the avant-garde, we combined artwork, performance/demonstration, both inside and outside of Sushi's performance loft and gallery. Transforming the sidewalk, gallery, dressing room bathrooms, lobby, and main theater into a kind of playground of the imagination.

The main theater was like a labyrinth of performance and installation. The walls were occupied with visual works in every media. A nude figure model/artist, suspended himself in dramatic endurance poses, soliciting documentation on drawing paper. Collaborations took on many forms, from music and dance, to drawing and performance. A debate was incited between individuals of different religions. The owner of a well-known bakery mounted gourmet breads on the gallery walls along with bags of it for feasting. Life Stage was truly an organically immersive visual and experiential series of events.
Book Tables: artists and attendees were invited to share art books, writings, poetry, and even their family albums
The dressing room was transformed into a screening room for scheduled film and video, with three installations, two of which were in the bathrooms. The dressing room included a communal slide projector used by selected artists and guests to project their work.
The two main bathrooms were critique rooms that housed "Kitsch-man" and “Kitsch-woman" installations, each inviting user’s good taste and culture.

Yoga class on the main stage.
Performance, spoken word, and puppetry
Portrait murals, Street performance, interventions, installations, demonstrations, and audience inspired activation's
Over thirty diverse bands, DJ's, and solo musicians played in the upstairs lobby and the main stage.
Life Stage Artists (This does not include those unscheduled individuals who participated on one or all of these three days)
Dan Adams, Anna Zappoli Jenkins, James Watts, Mario Lara, Anna Stump, Terry Hughes, James Soe Nyun, Pasquale Verdicchio, Walter Redondo, Mayling Martinez, Jose Romo, Jessica Pearson, Tony Allard, Nathaniel Clark, Marianne Goyette, Eric Wong, Elle Gamboa, Andrea Spitzer, Gerardo Yepiz (Achamonchi), Chani Robinson in collaboration with Merge Life & Music , Grace Welty, Maria Vanville, Dorothy Chance, Diana Duval, Lonnie Wood, Gary Shimanek, Sharon K. Novak, Mark Lee Morris, John Rigg (Boy Blue), Damien Lassater, Patrick Iaconis (LA), Bryan Reyna (Texas), Vi Nguyen (LA), Ronaldo Peyton, Beau Lynott, Chris Vannoy, Hirsch, Janet Marie, Trisha Wang, Rebecca Romani, Steve Okallahan, Effi Karakaidos, Kenji Hashimoto (LA), Dennis Woodruff (Hollywood Icon), Crystal Nichols, April Durrett, Jessica Zammit, Maria Mazzi, Claudia Fernety, Andrea Spitzer, Kathy Miner, Brian Gilwee, Claudia Fernety, Larry Caveney, Nigel Brookes, Mirto Golino, Michele Yu, Deb Ogburn, Lizeth Vizvarra, Bryan Beattie, Jakey Toor, Maxwell Hirsch, Henry Duclos, Raul Pureco, Blue Buddah (SF), Quinton Carlson (OR) "Quince", Scott Filler, DJ Bastian, Jeff Jones, Karen Reaves, Beth Shneider (LA), Mike Cunanan, Margaret Katchur. Floosie, The Walking, Japanese Sunday, 3 Against 1, Experimental Sound Collective with Chris Baldwin, Eric Richardson, Jonathon Bewly, Urban Tribal Dance Company, Lower Left Dancers, Parallel Mechanics, Emergency Broadcast, Control Theory, The Merdiverators.