This past Friday and Saturday, the University celebrated the official grand opening of the Contemplative Commons, which houses the Contemplative Sciences Center. Through both structural design and event programming, this interdisciplinary building fuses art, nature and technology together with the aim of promoting contemplation and reflection on the human experience.
According to the CSC’s Director of Development Kayti Sewell, research on how art can affect both our bodies and minds fuels the mission of the CSC.
“When you are experiencing art, and whatever medium it may be, you're awestruck,” Sewell said. “When you're in this state of awe, your heart opens, and you can talk across differences, and you're a more compassionate person.”
The weekend featured a series of unique panels and musical performances which took place inside and outside of the Commons, as well as at John Paul Jones Arena. Saturday’s events, in particular, highlighted the importance of this artistic ethos.
The morning kicked off with a panel entitled “Awe, Art and Flourishing,” which brought together four visionaries in fields, such as environmentalism, music direction and brain science. Moderated by the University’s Chief Creative Officer Matt Weber, the conversation centered around the interplay between art and science, in an audience consisting mostly of Charlottesville community members.
Panelist Susan Magsamen — an author and academic at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine — began by speaking on her work as the director of the International Arts + Mind Lab, which studies the brain’s reaction to artistic experiences. According to her, art is not only something that can bring us pleasure, it is something the human brain is made for.
“We are literally wired for art … everything around us is an art or aesthetic experience,” Magsamen said.
Panelists Wolfgang Buttress and Matthew Burtner continued the conversation, supporting Magsamen’s belief in the all-encompassing power of art through a discussion of their own immersive artistic works present in the Contemplative Commons. Buttress — a multi-disciplinary artist based in the UK — created the first-floor immersive light and sound piece “NINFEO.”
Available to view whenever the Commons is open, the piece is composed of thousands of crystal blocks illuminated with designs inspired by the water lilies of the nearby Dell Pond. Included is an infrared camera which tracks the movement of flora and fauna within the pond, syncing changes in the exhibit’s light pattern with those changes in life.
Buttress spoke about how the design can act as a reminder to pay attention to both the ever-shifting moments of life and the life which exists outside of our traditional attention span.
“[It is] … this idea that we’re not the center of the universe,” Buttress said.
Burtner, the Eleanor Shea Professor of Music at the University, also discussed his own immersive installation — “Reef Resounding” — which is located on the fourth floor of the Commons and open to the public Monday through Friday from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Burtner is a composer and sound artist who focuses on ecology. His exhibit pairs nighttime recordings and data sonification, the transformation of data into sound, of Virginia Eastern Shore oysters and reefs with a room-wide light display.
“[“Reef Resounding”] is significant data as an artistic experience … you don’t even have to think of it as data, just let it wash over you,” Burtner said.
According to Burtner, incorporating ocean sounds from the middle of the night specifically into an art exhibit can be powerful, as it allows listeners to become truly immersed in a time and place they might never get to experience. The piece encapsulates the nature of the Commons perfectly, for it urges exhibit-goers to see the connections between multiple disciplines.
The artistic endeavors of other members of the University community were also highlighted in Saturday’s events. Class of 1998 alumna Amy Griffin discussed her 2025 book “The Tell,” a memoir of how she dealt with repressed trauma and memories from her youth. Class of 2011 alumna Susy Schieffelin led a meditation and sound bath by the Dell. According to Sewell, centering alumni perspectives has been a part of the work of the CSC since its inception.
“Part of the conversations were talking to these people and then actually having them imagine what it would be like to have a space like the Commons on Grounds when they were students — they were all saying how extraordinary it would be,” Sewell said.
In one of the highlights of the day, the programming also featured the work of local creatives, not only those affiliated with the University. Bands David Wax Museum and Lowland Hum joined forces for an immersive music experience entitled “Golden Hour.”
For 45 minutes, audience members sat with blindfolds over their eyes and simply listened to the music — no cell phones, no vision, no sense of when a song would begin or end. The band members weaved themselves in between audience chairs, making for a strong sensory experience, as the dynamic interplay between instrumentals and vocals was unpredictable. Community member Robin Albertson-Wren enjoyed how the event embodied the spirit of connection present in all of the weekend’s events.
“Everything has been so moving … at this time in the world, it's just so amazing to be with people who are so inclusive and heartfelt and sharing their light,” Albertson-Wren said.
The weekend culminated with a celebration of an artist who is known for doing exactly that — Maggie Rogers. After the meditation led by Schieffelin, the Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter was honored with the CSC’s inaugural Contemplation in Action award and a $50,000 grant to donate to an organization of her choice, which she made to the Blue Ridge Abortion Fund. Rogers later took to the John Paul Jones stage that night to open for Zac Brown Band and perform several of her beloved songs.
Rogers was at the forefront of people’s minds when planning for the benefit concert and considering who to honor with the Contemplation in Action award, according to Sewell.
“We're trying to highlight people who have exemplified bringing contemplation out into the world in their own unique way,” Sewell said. “Maggie Rogers was definitely one of the top given her extraordinary artistry and connection to the work, to contemplative practice.”
Rogers gave a beautifully reflective performance at JPJ. Accompanied by just two band members on keys and bass, she played guitar on every song, stripping down her high-octane indie-rock and pop songs such as “Want Want” and “Love You For a Long Time.”
She closed with “Light On,” singing “If you keep reaching out / then I’ll keep coming back / but if you’re gone for good, then I’m okay with that / if you leave the light on, then I’ll leave the light on.” Audience members took the lyrics to heart — turning on their flashlights and lighting up the arena together.
For Asia Leslie, CSC student advisor and third-year College student, witnessing Rogers’s performance was a highlight of the weekend.
“I just feel like she embodies everything that the CSC is about. Just witnessing that live — which is something that I never expected to happen — was absolutely magical,” Leslie said. “It really allowed me … to be present in that moment. Just like listening to her voice and feeling, you know — weightlessness.”
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