An artist, inventor, engineer, and composer, Trimpin (who uses only his last name) has never been represented by a gallery, a dealer, or a manager. He has neither a cell phone nor a website. Yet his freewheeling sculptures and experiments with sound are cherished by artists, musicians, and museumgoers all over the world.

As a young person in southwestern Germany in the 1950s, Trimpin was haunted by the fact that in the Nazi era, the Jews from his town had all been deported to the internment camp at Gurs, near the Spanish-French border. The Gurs Zyklus, Trimpin's new multimedia stage performance about this, will be presented by Stanford Lively Arts on Saturday, May 14 at 8:00pm.

Join Trimpin and Stanford art professor, Paul DeMarinis, for a conversation that explores art, sound, history, and possible human futures.

Go here details and tickets for the performance of Trimpin's The Gur Zyklus on Saturday, May 14 at 8:00pm. Related Themes: composition, memory, multimedia art, music, technology

Since Charles Mingus’ death in 1979, Sue Mingus has created and continues to direct repertory ensembles to carry on the music of her late husband. Her memoir, Tonight at Noon: A Love Story, is a riveting account of her improbable life with the peerless jazz artist who died from ALS (commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease) when he was only 56 years old. Ms. Mingus is joined by Clayborne Carson, Stanford professor of history and director of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute, for a conversation about arts and music in the Civil Rights Era.

Thanks to Stanford Lively arts, Mingus Dynasty and Mingus Big Band, will perform at Stanford on February 2 and April 13. Related Themes: civil rights, jazz

Choreographer and dancer Rennie Harris was a pioneer in introducing hip-hop to the national and international stage. Central to Harris’s work is the philosophy that, contrary to stereotypical (and often negative) portrayals of hip-hop in the commercial media, the art form has a unique ability to express universal themes that extend beyond racial, religious, and economic boundaries. Related Themes: dance, hip-hop, performance art, social change

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, she is known for casting herself in roles as varied as visual artist, composer, poet, photographer, filmmaker, electronics whiz, vocalist, and instrumentalist. In her new work, Delusion, which debuted at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games and will be presented by Stanford Lively Arts in Memorial Auditorium on May 5, Anderson explores sound and presents stories in a series of short mystery 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 art form that examines the belief that words and stories create and decreate the world. Related Themes: art, creativity, performance

Dancer and choreographer Ann Carlson and video artist Mary Ellen Strom bring together social, political, historical and formal concerns in their shared work. Their collaborations are notable for their community engagement, experimental form, and technological adventurousness. In this conversation we will show their work, discuss their creative process, and delve into the Real People series of dance performances that explore the movement of people in a range of professions including lawyers, nuns, basketball players, fly-fishers, and fiddlers. And we will talk about a Real People dance with university students, professors, and staff members that will be one outcome of their residency at Stanford this spring quarter. Related Themes: choreography, creativity, video