Dear Editor,

David Spencer Nelson’s column on why contemporary art turns him off is a bracing and personal call to all of us in arts practice and arts education (The Mixed Messages of Modernism: Empty museums: an explanation, Oct. 28). Let’s rise to the challenges he articulates.

I hope that we can transform his museum-going experiences, and there are good reasons to think there are possibilities unfolding right here on the Stanford campus. The Cantor Arts Center is the locus of a truly dynamic curatorial view which seeks to enliven and enlarge the experience of the art in its gallery spaces and grounds. If Nelson gives art another chance, this is what he might find there these days: Acclaimed dancer Muriel Maffre is leading an investigation of Dance & the Visual Arts, in the heart of the Cantor Art Center’s auditorium.

In conjunction with the Cantor’s “Rodin in America” exhibit, Maffre uses Rodin’s sculptural investigation of the moving body as both a link and a platform for exploring the intersection of dance and contemporary art, starting with Rodin’s fascination with the human body, its plastic quality and human resonances. She brings internationally known Master Choreographer Alonzo King of LINES Ballet to the Cantor to hold Open Rehearsals with Stanford dancers, in full view of museumgoers. Nelson can circulate around the edges of the auditorium space, pass through quickly, or stay a while to watch, draw and write as the rehearsals unfold. If intrigued, he can come often, on the remaining Thursday nights, 6-8 p.m. Nov 3, 10 and Dec. 1. The interdisciplinary investigation that Maffre, King and student dancers are undertaking will culminate in an installation/performance on Saturday Dec. 3, 2-4 p.m. in Roble Studio 38, free and open to the public.

Big picture, my hope is that students like Nelson will be drawn into art experiences by such interdisciplinary work — work generated by peers as well as work by masters, work that resonates across forms, work that shows a through-line between older traditions and newer investigations. Art should refresh our senses such that we may perceive the world differently for having experienced it. Engagement, not escape, is the goal. I would be happy to introduce Nelson and any other Stanford student to these extraordinary professional and student artists personally if it will jump-start their museum-going habit again. Just meet me at the Cantor Arts Center auditorium this Thursday, 6 p.m. Wear something red. I hope we have a date.

Diane Frank
Acting Director, Dance Division of the Department of Drama