Illuminations: “Innocence & Experience”

Cal Performances’ Illuminations—a series of performances, lectures, and conversations—connects extraordinary artistry with groundbreaking scholarship to explore pressing topics of today.

This season’s Illuminations theme explores “Innocence & Experience” as intertwined forces that transform one another and influence our understanding of the world. Innocence is frequently thought of as a kind of purity or a blank canvas—something to be celebrated or protected, yet vulnerable to disruption. Experience, meanwhile, reflects knowledge—coupled often with intransigence—gained from navigating the complexities of love and loss, of care and conflict.

Join us for poignant and transformative stories—youthful idealism facing power, beauty shadowed by vulnerability, bodies carrying the weight of history—and walk away with a deeper understanding of the forces shaping our humanity.

Illuminations programming includes lectures and conversations that bring together leading artists and thinkers, including UC Berkeley faculty, to lend their unique perspectives to the theme. Events surrounding the performances will be added throughout the season.