59 Acres

Grab your headphones and comfy shoes for a site-specific, immersive soundwalk that takes you on an urban odyssey exploring the built environment and natural world around La Jolla Playhouse and UC San Diego.

59 ACRES is a poetic, meditative and innovative work from Los Angeles-based artist Marike Splint offers new ways of seeing and listening as it navigates you through the physical, cultural and geographical landscapes we inhabit, in search of the extraordinary amidst the mundane.

First commissioned by La Jolla Playhouse for the 2024 WOW Festival, 59 ACRES will be available for you to explore and enjoy for free anytime during daylight hours through June 2025.

How to Participate

59 ACRES can be enjoyed at any time during daylight hours starting at the front of La Jolla Playhouse’s Potiker Theatre and ending at the Geisel Library. To experience the soundwalk, users will need to download the 59 ACRES app. Bring your own, fully charged mobile device and earbuds/headphones that will connect to your smartphone. You will be walking up to 1.5 miles round trip on the university campus which includes terrain of grass, pavement, gravel and natural soil. The walk has accessibility ramp alternatives whenever there are steps or stairs. Wear comfortable shoes and bring a jacket for inclement weather. From Geisel, it’s a 0.8 mile (approx. 15 min) walk back to La Jolla Playhouse.

Get ready for an immersive soundwalk and download the app at www.59ACRES.com.

If you previously enjoyed 59 ACRES at the WOW Festival, please make sure to delete the app and redownload it to ensure that you have the most up to date version.

Enjoyed this free experience?
59 ACRES is a free immersive experience for everyone to enjoy. If you’d like to support La Jolla Playhouse to continue creating and commissioning innovative art works, all donations are welcome. Make a contribution here.

About the Artists

Created by Marike Splint in collaboration with
Jonathan Snipes – Original Music, Sound Design and Implementation
Stewart Blackwood – App Developer and Technical Sound Design
Cristina Bercovitz – App User Interface and Visual Design
Kaileykielle Hoga – Additional Sound Design and Implementation

Marike Splint is a Dutch French-Tunisian theatre maker based in Los Angeles on Tongva/Kizh land, specializing in creating work in public space that explores the relationship between people, places and identity. Her works You Are Here and Among Us have been presented as part of previous WOW programming. Other presenters and commissioners of her original work include Center Theater Group, UCLA Center for the Art of Performance, Skirball Cultural Center LA, Oerol Festival, Theaterfestival Boulevard (The Netherlands), Festival Internacional de Buenos Aires, Anciens Abattoirs de Casablanca (Morocco). Marike received her M.F.A. in directing from Columbia University and currently serves as an Associate Professor in the Department of Theater at UCLA.
 

59 ACRES is generously supported in part by:

This project has been realized with the support of UCLA Department of Theater and The Netherlands America Foundation