Ralph Lemon, choreographer and cross-disciplinary performer and artist, inaugurates the Art+Invention Speaker Series, which engages iconic artists in thought-provoking conversations about creativity, innovation and discovery across the disciplines. This conversation will introduce Lemon’s rich portfolio and focus on his Geography Trilogy. The fruit of a 9-year investigation through travel to West Africa, South and East Asia, and the American South, Geography followed the artist’s decision to disband his postmodern dance company and search for a new relationship to his work. Lemon is an artist-in-residence at the Stanford Institute for Diversity in the Arts.

Presented by Stanford Lively Arts and the Stanford Institute for Creativity in the Arts (SiCa) in collaboration with the Institute for Diversity in the Arts (IDA), and the Dance Division, Department of Drama. The Aurora Forum is cosponsored by the Office of the President and Provost and Stanford's Office of Public Affairs.

Related Themes: art, creativity, Dance

From his early taped speech pieces It's Gonna Rain (1965) and Come Out (1966) to his and video artist Beryl Korot's digital video opera Three Tales (2002), composer Steve Reich's path has embraced not only aspects of Western classical music, but the structures, harmonies, and rhythms of non-Western and American vernacular music, particularly jazz. Beryl Korot is a pioneer of video installation art and has exhibited works in museums in Europe, the U.S. and Japan since 1974. Her recent collaborations with her husband, Steve Reich, have brought video installation art into the context of contemporary music theater. In this second conversation in our Art + Invention series, we will explore two works produced by this creative husband and wife couple: The Cave (1990-93), a music theater video piece exploring the Biblical story of Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Ishmael and Isaac and Three Tales, which presents three parables of technology run amok: the crash of the German airship Hindenburg, the testing of atomic bombs on Bikini Atoll, and a preview of a catastrophe to come in the birth of artificial intelligence and cloning.

Presented with the Taube Center for Jewish Studies.

Related Themes: creativity, music, video

L.A. Theatre Works, the acclaimed radio theater company, performs RFK: A Journey to Justice, a new radio docudrama co-commissioned by Lively Arts, charting Robert F. Kennedy’s personal and political journey at the cusp of the Civil Rights Movement. Kennedy, who was assassinated in June 1968, just months after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., had a complex and evolving relationship with King and the Movement, gradually moving from mutual suspicion to shared aspirations and strategic alliances. From wiretapping to voting rights, race relations, and wartime politics, the themes underlying RFK’s tenure as Attorney General (in the Johnson administration) and later as US Senator and presidential candidate still resonate more than forty years later. L.A. Theatre Works productions feature a first-rate cast and live sound effects, and are recorded live for radio broadcast, as in the “Golden Age of Radio.” Related Themes: civil rights, Martin Luther King, Robert F. Kennedy, theater

Dancer and choreographer Ann Carlson and video artist Mary Ellen Strom have brought together social, political, historical and formal concerns. These collaborations are notable for their community engagement, experimental form, technological experimentation, and cultural activism. Related Themes: choreography, creativity, video

Laurie Anderson is one of America’s most renowned—and daring—creative pioneers. Recognized worldwide as a leader in the use of technology in the arts, Anderson is known widely for her multimedia presentations, casting herself in roles as varied as visual artist, composer, poet, photographer, filmmaker, electronics whiz, vocalist, and instrumentalist. In her new work, Delusion, which will debut at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games and be presented by Stanford Lively Arts on May 5, Anderson explores sound and stories in a series of short plays. Using her inventions in vocal processing, signature violin pieces and lush sonic landscapes Anderson creates and inhabits imaginary worlds that become mental movies. Conceived as a ninety-minute technodrama, the new work combines technology, mystery and contemporary short stories in a unique new art form. Related Themes: art, creativity, performance