‘Death is Not the End’ ~ an Exhibition About the Afterlife to Open at The Rubin Museum of Art in March, 2023

 

 

 

Lords of the Charnel Ground; Smashana Adipati; Tibet; 18th century; painted terracotta; 6 1/2 x 5 1/8 x 1 1/2 in. (16.5 x 13 x 3.8 cm); Rubin Museum of Art; C2002.36.1 (HAR 65149); photography by David De Armas for the Rubin Museum of Art, 2012

The Rubin Museum of Art is pleased to present “Death Is Not the End,” a new exhibition opening March 17 that explores notions of death and the afterlife through the art of Tibetan Buddhism and Christianity. Featuring prints, oil paintings, bone ornaments, thangka paintings, sculptures, illuminated manuscripts, and ritual objects, “Death Is Not the End” invites contemplation on the universal human condition of impermanence and the desire to continue to exist. This cross-cultural exhibition brings together 58 objects spanning 12 centuries from the Rubin Museum’s collection alongside artworks on loan from private collections and major institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Morgan Library & Museum; Museum aan de Stroom, Antwerp; Wellcome Collection, London; Nelson Atkins Museum, Kansas City; San Antonio Museum of Art, Texas; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Philadelphia Museum of Art; and more. The exhibition is part of the Rubin Museum’s yearlong thematic focus on Life After, exploring moments of change that propel us into the unknown. “Death Is Not the End” will be on view March 17, 2023, to January 14, 2024.

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Losar Family Day 2023: Celebrate the Year of the Water Hare at Rubin Museum of Art

 

 

 

The Rubin Museum of Art invites visitors to celebrate Losar, the Tibetan New Year, with an afternoon of art with your family and friends. Learn about traditional Losar celebrations and this year’s zodiac animal, the kind and sensitive Water Hare. Free admission to all of the galleries during visitor hours.

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The Rubin Museum of Art 2023 Focus on Global Projects Furthering the Field of Himalayan Art & Programs Focusing on Life After

 

 

 

Image courtesy Rubin Museum

The Rubin Museum of Art is thrilled to announce its schedule of exhibitions and programs in 2023. The year begins with the launch of the Rubin’s largest institutional project to date, Project Himalayan Art, an initiative to provide global access to resources promoting a broader understanding of Himalayan art. The year’s exploration of the theme Life After begins in March with the cross-cultural exhibition Death Is Not the End, which examines ideas about death and the afterlife in the art of Tibetan Buddhism and Christianity. Live programming and the seventh issue of the Rubin Museum’s annual publication, Spiral magazine, available in print and online, will further expand on these themes. Throughout the year the Rubin will host its first ever series of professional development residencies for artists, museum professionals, and scholars who live and work in the Himalayan region. And in the fall of 2023 the Buddhist monastery Itumbaha in Kathmandu, in partnership with the Rubin Museum and Lumbini University, will unveil its permanent display galleries for objects in the monastery complex.

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Step into ‘Gateway to Himalayan Art’ at Rubin Museum of Art

 

 

 

Teacher Jigme Lingpa (1729-1798) Tibet; 18th-19th century; Metal alloy; C2002.29.2 (HAR 65159)

Gateway to Himalayan Art, an ongoing, permanent collection exhibition, introduces viewers to the main forms, concepts, meanings, and traditions of Himalayan art represented in the Rubin Museum collection.

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The Rubin Museum of Art Announced Partnerships to Research, Preserve & Display Collection of One of the Oldest Monasteries in Nepal

 

 

 


In 2022, The Rubin Museum of Art announced a partnership with Itum Bahal Conservation Society, Kathmandu, and Lumbini Buddhist University, Kathmandu, to research, preserve, and display the collection of one of the oldest, largest, and most important monasteries in Kathmandu, Nepal.

On July 29, 2023, the Itumbaha monastery in Kathmandu, Nepal, inaugurated the Itumbaha Museum – the first public galleries for the display of the monastery’s extensive historic collection. Its galleries will house a display of 150 objects spanning over six centuries from the monastery’s collection.

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‘Healing Practices: Stories From Himalayan Americans’ to Open at The Rubin Museum of Art

 

 

Hua Khar Jaintsa (active 1990s); Course of the Lifespan Principle (chapter 4 cont.); Rebgong, Amdo Province, Northeastern Tibet (Tongren, Qinghai Province, China); 1995–1996; pigments on cloth; gift of Shelley and Donald Rubin Private Collection; C2014.9.12

On March 18, 2022, the Rubin Museum of Art will present “Healing Practices: Stories from Himalayan Americans,” a new exhibition highlighting the diverse ways that Tibetan Buddhist artworks and practices have served as roadmaps to well-being. The exhibition juxtaposes objects from the Rubin Museum’s collection with stories from Himalayan Americans, revealing the many ways these living traditions are transformed and adopted for today’s world, especially in times of crisis. “Healing Practices: Stories from Himalayan Americans” is the Rubin Museum’s first collaborative exhibition with a Community Advisory Group and will be on view March 18, 2022 to January 16, 2023.

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The Rubin Museum’s Much Anticipated Mandala Lab to Open October 1st

 

 

 

Renderings: © Peterson Rich Office / The Rubin Museum of Art

This much anticipated gallery, encompassing the entire third floor of The Rubin Museum of Art, has finally been completed, and ready for its opening in September. This is almost one-year after closing that space, which once housed the permanent collection exhibition ‘Masterworks of Himalayan Art.’

The Rubin Museum of Art announced today that the newly finished third-floor, renamed the Mandala Lab,  is the Museum’s new interactive space for social, emotional, and ethical learning, and will open to the public on October 1, 2021, with a free admission during opening weekend, October 1-3. The remodeled third floor is designed by Brooklyn-based architecture and design firm Peterson Rich Office (PRO). The Mandala Lab invites visitors to participate in five thought-provoking and playful experiences, featuring videos accompanied by scents, a site-specific commissioned sculpture that invites collective breathing, and curated percussion instruments dipped in water.

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Awaken: A Tibetan Buddhist Journey at The Rubin Museum of Art

 

 

Tsherin Sherpa (American, b. 1968, Nepal); Luxation 1; 2016; acrylic on sixteen stretched cotton canvases; each 18 x 18in. (45.7 x 45.7 cm); Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Adolph D. and Wilkins C. Williams Fund; 2017.195a–p

The Rubin Museum of Art invites visitors to unplug and discover the possibility to free their minds with “Awaken: A Tibetan Buddhist Journey Toward Enlightenment,” opening March 12, 2021. Organized by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, this traveling exhibition guides visitors on a journey toward enlightenment, showcasing the power of Tibetan Buddhist art to focus and refine awareness, and highlighting the inextricable relationship between artistic endeavor and spiritual practice in Tibetan Buddhism. The exhibition has been re-imagined and adapted for the Rubin Museum’s galleries and features 35 traditional objects, including 14 from the Rubin Museum’s collection, with two contemporary works by Nepal born, Tibetan American artist Tsherin Sherpa. “Awaken: A Tibetan Buddhist Journey Toward Enlightenment” will be on view March 12, 2021, to January 3, 2022.

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The Rubin Museum of Art Celebrates the Himalayan New Year 2021

 

 

Celebrate Losar, the Himalayan New Year. Image courtesy Rubin Museum of Art

The Rubin Museum of Art will be celebrating the Himalayan New Year on February 7th with a virtual, festive afternoon filled with art-making activities, baking and performances.

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The Rubin Museum Creates an Entire Floor Dedicated to Social & Emotional Learning

 

 

The Rubin Museum of Art transforms its third floor galleries into space for Social and Emotional Learning. Renderings: © Peterson Rich Office / The Rubin Museum of Art

The Rubin Museum of Art announced today that on November 10 the Museum will close its third floor galleries, where the permanent collection exhibition Masterworks of Himalayan Art is currently on view, and begin construction on a new interactive space for social and emotional learning for all ages. Scheduled to reopen fall 2021, the third floor, renamed Mandala Lab, will bring cognitive science, contemplative practice, and visitor-contributed art experiences to the heart of the Rubin, as well as act as the new home for School and Family Programs. The Mandala Lab will draw on the symbolism of a Tibetan Buddhist mandala, which also serves as conceptual inspiration for the floor.

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The Rubin Museum of Art Launches New Online Collection Database

 

 

Tara Protecting the Eight Fears; Kham Province, Southeastern Tibet; late 19th-early 20th century; Pigments on cloth with silk brocade; Rubin Museum of Art, Gift of Dr. Michael Henss, Zurich

With a globally renowned collection of nearly 4,000 objects spanning more than 1,500 years from the Himalayan region, the Rubin Museum of Art launches a new and improved online collection database today. A total of 381 objects from the Rubin Museum’s permanent collection are now available at collection.rubinmuseum.org. This marks the first phase of an initiative to make the Rubin Museum collection accessible to visitors, students, teachers, and scholars alike around the world. More objects will be added continually, with the goal of eventually publishing the entire collection.

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The Lotus Effect ~ a Participatory Installation About Gratitude & Transformation at The Rubin Museum of Art

 

 

 

The Rubin Museum of Art launched a new participatory installation, The Lotus Effect, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Lotuses take root in murky waters and burst into beautiful bloom above the surface. For The Lotus Effect, the Rubin invites members of the public to fold a lotus flower and dedicate their origami creation to someone or something that has helped them overcome a challenging time. When the Rubin reopens, people can contribute their folded piece to an installation in the Museum that will serve as a community-built symbol of gratitude and powerful reminder that collectively we can emerge from difficult moments.

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Take Refuge in the Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room at The Rubin Museum of Art

 

 

 

Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room

The Rubin Museum of Art is sending out an online ‘Rubin Care Package’ of art and practices for navigating our world in this time of instability and feeling of global community fear, loss, isolation and stress. Take refuge in the Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room.

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The Rubin Museum of Art in 2020 ~ Brainwave Impermanence

 

 

 

Brainwave Impermanence via The Rubin Museum of Art

You live inside your head, but do you understand how it works? Brainwave investigates how our minds shape our everyday experiences with onstage conversations and immersive experiences that combine the most compelling advancements in science with traditional Himalayan wisdom.

The Rubin Museum of Art’s annual Brainwave series returns in January to explore the connections between the Buddhist idea of impermanence, or that everything changes, and cutting-edge research in neuroplasticity. Featuring unscripted onstage conversations and experiences that engage the head and heart, each Brainwave program investigates how our minds shape our everyday experiences by combining the most compelling advancements in science with traditional Himalayan wisdom. Tickets go on sale to the general public  at 11am on January 9th.

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Shahidul Alam: Truth to Power at The Rubin Museum of Art

 

 

 

Shahidul Alam (b. 1955, Dhaka, Bangladesh); Bishsho Ijetma; Tongi, Gaipur, Dhaka, Bangladesh; 1988; photograph; courtesy ofShahidul Alam/Drik/Majority WorldBishsho Ijetma isthe second largest religious gathering of Muslims after Mecca. President Ershad and his predecessor President ZiaurRahman introduced Islam as the state religion for political benefit. The nation has struggled to return to its secular roots. —Shahidul Alam

The Rubin Museum of Art will open its doors to Shahidul Alam: Truth to Power, the first U.S. survey of photographer and activist, Shahidul Alam. The exhibition will feature more than 40 images, ephemera, and new work from the artist’s over four-decade career, including portraits, landscapes, and scenes of daily life, strife, and of resistance in the “majority world” ~ a phrase Alam has used since the 1990s to reframe the notion of the “third world” or “global south,” with a view of Bangladesh and South Asia.

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#DreamOver at The Rubin Museum of Art on December 7 ~ 8

 

 

 

Image courtesy The Rubin Museum of Art

On December 7, the Rubin Museum will host its annual Dream-Over for adults, where guests sleep overnight under a hand-picked work of art in the museum. After guests arrive in their pajamas, Khenpo Lama Pema Wangdak will discuss the significance of dreaming in Tibetan Buddhist philosophy. Tickets on sale October 22nd.

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It’s Time for the 2019 Rubin Museum’s Annual Block Party!

 

 

 

Image courtesy Rubin Museum

The Rubin Museum’s Annual Block Party will take place on Sunday, July 21st from 1-4pm! It’s a true Summer celebration when thousands of New Yorkers fill the car-free 17th Street between 7th/6th Avenues. This year, it’s all about the Power Within.

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Power: Within and Between Us ~ A Yearlong 2019 Theme at The Rubin Museum of Art

 

 

Clapping with Stones on the 6th Floor

The Rubin Museum of Art will dedicate its 2019 exhibitions, programs, and experiences to the theme of power, focusing on how visitors can activate the power that exists “within and between us.”  Drawing on a diverse range of sources and perspectives, from contemporary art to scientific theories to Buddhist philosophies, the Rubin Museum will explore secular and religious systems of power as well as personal and collective agency. The timely, year-long exhibition Power: Within and Between Us will begin January 1, 2019.

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‘Karma’ ~ Ancient Wisdom Meets the Future at The Rubin Museum of Art

 

 

The Series, Karma at The Rubin Museum of Art

This fall at the Rubin Museum of Art, guests from a diverse set of spiritual traditions will discuss the connections between ancient wisdom and the earth’s future with notable personalities including Laurie Anderson, Marina Abramović, Paul Miller (DJ Spooky), Meredith Monk, and Maira Kalman. Tickets for the 2018 Karma schedule go on sale September 7, 2018.

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Step into The Future at The Rubin Museum of Art with Future Fellow, Chitra Ganesh

 

 

 

Chitra Ganesh at The Rubin Museum of Art with images via The Rubin

As part of the 2018 theme, The Future, artist Chitra Ganesh will kick-off her residency on May 4th with a free celebration from 6:00pm to 10:00pm, featuring music by DJ Rekha, and the performance “Blessed Avenue” by Jacolby Satterwhite.  This is exciting and pertinent programming, exploring responsibility, feminism, transformation and The Future.

Face The Future with artist, Chitra Ganesh during her fellowship at The Rubin Museum of Art.

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