Image: Kevin Bubriski, Karpo
The Sheila C. Design Center (SJDC) and the India-China Institute (ICI) at The New School present Kailash Cartographies, a multi-media exhibition of artists from India, China, Nepal, and the US exploring conceptions of sacred geography, particularly in the Himalayas. The artists in the exhibition pose questions about the nature of both the sacred and the secular by drawing on the points of connection with landscapes and lived worlds. The photographs, videos, works on paper and installations, deploy cartographic modes that are both personal and political.
The title of the exhibition refers to Mount Kailash, the symbolic center of the Buddhist and Bön cosmos and the seat of Shiva for Hindus. Although associated with a multiplicity of geographical sites and religious representations, its earthly manifestation is most often located in Tibet. “It is the simultaneously singular and plural aspect of this sacred geography that caught our imagination,” said Sreshta Rit Premnath, curator of the exhibition and participating artist. “Every gesture within such a geography is both specifically located yet can be powerfully invoked elsewhere.”
The exhibition emerges from a three-year research project of The New School’s India China Institute focused on Sacred Landscapes and Sustainable Futures in the Himalayas. In conjunction with this endeavor, a group of artists initiated creative explorations during 2015-2016. Many of the works in this exhibition were the direct result of a creative workshop convened in Kathmandu in March 2016.
Featured artists: Atul Bhalla, Kevin Bubriski, Vibha Galhotra, Sreshta Rit Premnath, Ashmina Ranjit, Nitin Sawhney, Radhika Subramaniam, Charwei Tsai & Tsering Tashi Gyalthang, Zheng Bo & Jiang Chao and Qiu Zhijie
Kailash Cartographies
March 13-April 2, 2017
Arnold and Sheila Aronson Galleries at The New School
Opening reception: March 15th from 6-7pm, followed by a lecture by Hong Kong-based artist Bo Zheng and moderated by Steven Lam
