ART 386 - Embodying Compassion in Buddhist Art: a Curatorial Training

Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)

Venerated throughout Asia, Avalokiteshvara—the Bodhisattva of Compassion—is the focus of an exhibition of Indian, Nepalese, Tibetan, Chinese, and Japanese art at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, to open in April 2015. Students in this seminar serve as curatorial assistants for this show: interpreting objects, planning the installation, and producing content for the exhibition website and smartphone application. A field trip to New York City familiarizes participants with the kinds of objects in the exhibition and also gives an opportunity to evaluate successful techniques for organizing and presenting such works in a museum setting. The overarching goal of this seminar, and the related exhibition, is to understand and demonstrate how artists and their audiences perceive the fundamental Buddhist principle of compassion in the figure of Avalokiteshvara. Ms. Lucic.

Prerequisites: ART 105-ART 106; previous course work in Asian art, culture, and languages is highly desirable.

One 2-hour period per week, plus required fieldtrip.