Artist Lectures During Tibetan Arts Week Offer Glimpse into Tibetan Culture and Craft
From April 4 to 10, 2016 the Tibet Himalaya Initiative (THI) hosted renowned Tibetan artists Gonkar Gyatso and Dorje Tsering Chenaktsang (Jangbu) for Tibetan Arts Week. Coinciding with the Conference on World Affairs, Tibetan Arts Week gathered students, faculty, and supporters of THI from CU, Naropa University, and the Boulder community throughout the week for a public lecture, film-screening, poetry reading, and art installation. The artists also interacted with THI faculty and graduate students to discuss their work during a lunch colloquium.
The widely-acknowledged father of contemporary Tibetan art, Gonkar Gyatso, gave an informative autobiographical public lecture on Tuesday April 5, describing much of his own artistic training, production, and creative evolution. A public video of his talk, entitled 鈥淏uddha in the Bathroom: Appropriation & Pop Culture in Contemporary Tibetan Art,鈥 can be found . On Sunday, Gonkar completed his first-ever performance art piece entitled 鈥1020 Prayers鈥 at the Boulder Creative Collective Warehouse. At a public reception of more than 75 attendees, Gonkar invited anyone to participate in the project by laying out offering bowls on the grid of white paper he had laid earlier. He envisioned the project as experimenting with ideas of repetition, physical activity, and memory in relation to his mother's daily offerings on the family's Buddhist shrine.
On Thursday, April 7, poet and filmmaker Jangbu shared the world premiere of his film Voices of Stone, a work that highlights many of the contemporary issues surrounding mining in the Tibetan Plateau, followed by questions and answers. Then, on Friday April 8 at Innisfree Poetry Bookstore and Cafe, Jangbu gave a brief presentation on the history of Tibetan poetry and read a selection of his poems. Religious Studies graduate student Eben Yonnetti read English translations, which were taken from The Nine-Eyed Agate (2010), translated by Heather Stoddard.
The Tibet Himalaya Initiative would like to express sincere thanks to all of the partners and friends who worked with us to make these wonderful events possible. We are especially grateful to the Chancellor who contributed special inaugural funds to the Initiative, the Center for Asian Studies for their ongoing partnership and collaboration, Innisfree Poetry Bookstore and Cafe for hosting the poetry reading, and the Boulder Creative Collective Warehouse for housing Gonkar Gyatso鈥檚 art installation and reception.
We encourage you to spread the word as we prepare for our second year and look forward to seeing you at some of our events in the fall of 2016.
Post written by Holly Gayley, Assistant Professor Department of Religious Studies