OpenGrounds is a University of Virginia initiative that builds on a legacy of innovation to create new programs, places, and partnerships; to catalyze new approaches to important challenges; and to inspire new collaborations across and beyond the -Grounds.- The university was founded as a revolutionary reinvention of higher education. Thomas Jefferson recognized the need for a different kind of institution whose aims and methods aligned with the tenets of the Age of Reason, where the search for knowledge would be unfettered by previous models of thought and institutional constraints. To...

This companion volume to the OpenGrounds -Art, Contemplation, and Wellness- Forum presents dynamic and varied perspectives on the forum's theme, featuring work from practitioners, scholars, and students. Emerging from a partnership between the University of Virginia, The Phillips Collection, and the National Academy of Sciences, this book considers the museum as a meditative space, art as meditation, and the implications of both art and contemplation for human flourishing. The volume includes essays and images that highlight the intersections between aesthetic experience and human wellness...