back by popular demand: tibetan buddhist monks return for
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Media Alert: July 16, 2019 Media contacts:
Joy Partain | Vice President, Marketing and Communications [email protected] | 713.496.9908 office | 713.496.4399 cell
Chris Dunn | Marketing and Communications Manager [email protected] | 713.496.9903 office
August at Asia Society: Back by Popular Demand: Tibetan Buddhist Monks Return for 5th Year to
Create Mandala Sand Painting and Share Traditional Performances Plus New Exhibition Opens: Scraping the Sky: Photographs by Vicky Roy
HOUSTON, TX — Asia Society Texas Center (ASTC) welcomes Tibetan Buddhist monks from Drepung Loseling Monastery, returning to Houston for their fifth consecutive year to construct a sand mandala and perform music and dance ceremonies on August 14–18.
Over five days at ASTC, the monks will meticulously place millions of grains of colored sand to create the mandala. Viewing hours are FREE and open to the public, who are also invited to create Tibetan prayer flags which will be strung together and displayed at ASTC.
On Saturday, August 17, visitors are welcome to try their hand at placing sand for a community mandala during viewing hours. Additionally, the monks will present Sacred Music Sacred Dance for World Healing, which draws from ancient Tibetan temple traditions, for two performances: a shorter, family-friendly afternoon matinee and a full-length evening program.
Plus, in mid-August, ASTC opens new exhibition Scraping the Sky: Photographs by Vicky Roy, featuring images of human industry in radically different environments. The exhibition pairs a selection of Roy’s photographs of the rebuilding of the World Trade Center in New York with images from his extensive time in the Himalayas where he captured the high-altitude architecture
constructed there with extremely limited raw materials. Roy compares these different approaches to building and engineering, and asks us to consider their environmental impacts. Admission to this exhibition is FREE and open to the public.
August 2019 What: Artists’ Talk: Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba and Prince Varughese Thomas
Artists Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba and Prince Varughese Thomas will discuss their works in Asia Society Texas Center’s exhibition Site Lines: Artists Working in Texas. Through video, Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba emphasizes the effect that individual imagination has on the accrued power and histories of specific places. With his installations, Prince Varughese Thomas focuses on the impacts of geopolitical events on particular communities.
When: Saturday, August 3, 1–2:30 p.m.
Where: Asia Society Texas Center, 1370 Southmore at Caroline, 77004 (Museum District)
Admission: Free for Asia Society Members, $5 Students and Seniors, $8 Nonmembers
What: Mandala Sand Painting by the Mystical Arts of Tibet
Tibetan Buddhist monks from Drepung Loseling Monastery return to Houston to create a mandala sand painting with opening and closing ceremonies. During mandala viewing hours, families can create their own lung ta (“wind horse”) prayer flags, which will be strung together for display at Asia Society.
When: Wednesday, August 14, 12 p.m. Opening Ceremony, 12–6 p.m. Viewing Hours
After consecrating the site through chanting and music, the monks draw the mandala’s outline, then begin to lay the colored sands using a chakpur (metal funnel).
Thursday, August 15 – Friday, August 16, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. Viewing Hours
The monks will continue working on the mandala.
Saturday, August 17, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. Viewing Hours, 12–4 p.m. Community Mandala (while supplies last)
The whole community is invited to try their hand at using the chakpur to contribute to a sand mandala.
Sunday, August 18, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. Viewing Hours, 2 p.m. Closing Ceremony
The monks will dismantle the mandala, sweeping up the sands which will be distributed to the audience at the conclusion of the ceremony, while supplies last.
Where: Asia Society Texas Center, 1370 Southmore at Caroline, 77004 (Museum District)
Admission: Free and open to the public
What: Sacred Music Sacred Dance for World Healing by the Mystical Arts of Tibet
Tibetan Buddhist monks return to present Sacred Music Sacred Dance for World Healing. Robed in magnificent costumes and playing traditional Tibetan instruments, the Drepung Loseling monks will present ancient temple music and dance. These ticketed performances complement the mandala sand painting that will be ongoing at ASTC.
When: Saturday, August 17, 2 p.m. Family Matinee, 7 p.m. Full-Length Performance
Where: Asia Society Texas Center, 1370 Southmore at Caroline, 77004 (Museum District)
Admission: Matinee: $15 Asia Society Members, $25 Nonmembers | Full-Length: $35 Asia Society Members, $45 Nonmembers
What: Out of the Gobi: From Mao Zedong’s China to the American Dream
In his new book Out of the Gobi, Weijian Shan shares his improbable journey from exile in the Gobi Desert at age 15 to becoming one of Asia’s best-known financiers.
When: Thursday, August 22, 6:30 p.m.
Where: Asia Society Texas Center, 1370 Southmore at Caroline, 77004 (Museum District)
Admission: $15 Asia Society Members, $25 Nonmembers
What: Back-to-School Bento
Join us for a fun family night to get ready for the new school year! Learn about school life in Japan and make your own Bento box, to be replicated at home for packing school lunches.
When: Friday, August 23, 6 p.m.
Where: Asia Society Texas Center, 1370 Southmore at Caroline, 77004 (Museum District)
Admission: $25 Asia Society Members, $30 Nonmembers | $40 Asia Society Members (Family of 4), $50 Nonmembers (Family of 4)
What: Artist Talk: FOCA (Formosa Circus Art)
In this discussion, catch a glimpse behind the scenes and under the big top of Taiwan’s Formosa Circus Art (FOCA) and their unique mixture of historical storytelling, music, and circus magic.
When: Sunday, August 25, 3 p.m.
Where: Asia Society Texas Center, 1370 Southmore at Caroline, 77004 (Museum District)
Admission: Free and open to the public
Exhibitions
What: Site Lines: Artists Working in Texas (CLOSES IN AUGUST)
In ASTC’s first-ever exhibition to focus on locally-based artists, Site Lines: Artists Working in Texas draws connections between Asia and Texas via works by Asian American artists living in Austin, Dallas, Tyler, and Houston. Through video, drawings, paintings, installations, and collage, Ambreen Butt, Abhidnya Ghuge, Beili Liu, Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba, and Prince Varughese Thomas address themes such as the value of work, cultural memory, and the importance of place.
When: On view through August 18, 2019
Where: Asia Society Texas Center, 1370 Southmore at Caroline, 77004 (Museum District)
Admission: Free for Asia Society Members, $5 Students and Seniors with ID, $8 Nonmembers. FREE admission Wednesday, August 14 – Sunday, August 18 during the mandala sand painting viewing hours.
What: Scraping the Sky: Photographs by Vicky Roy (NEW — OPENS IN AUGUST)
This exhibition compares two bodies of work by Vicky Roy. Selected by the U.S.-based Maybach Foundation to photo-document the reconstruction of the World Trade Center in New York, Roy produced a body of photographs focused on the rebuilding in 2009. ASTC will mark the 10th anniversary of Roy’s unique views of the city in recovery by featuring a selection of his photographs from the WTC site.
Roy has also spent extensive time in the Indian Himalayas, where he captured the natural beauty of the world’s tallest mountain range as well as the people who inhabit “the roof of the world,” notable for the range of architecture made with extremely limited raw materials. By featuring photographs from his Himalayan series alongside his New York works, this exhibition compares the vast range of human ingenuity put to the service of engineering and building feats in radically different environments.
When: On view August 10 – October 20, 2019
Where: Asia Society Texas Center, 1370 Southmore at Caroline, 77004 (Museum District)
Admission: Free and open to the public
About Asia Society Texas Center: With 13 locations throughout the world, Asia Society is the leading educational organization promoting mutual understanding and strengthening partnerships among the peoples, leaders, and institutions of Asia and the West. Asia Society Texas Center executes the global mission with a local focus, enriching and engaging the vast diversity of Houston through innovative, relevant programs in arts and culture, business and policy, education, and community outreach.
Business and Policy programs are endowed by Huffington Foundation. We give special thanks to Bank of America, Muffet Blake, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, and United Airlines, Presenting Sponsors of Business and Policy programs; Nancy C. Allen, Chinhui and Eddie Allen, Leslie and Brad Bucher, and Wells Fargo, Presenting Sponsors of Exhibitions; Dr. Ellen R. Gritz and Mickey D. Rosenau, Presenting Sponsors of Performing Arts and Culture; East West Bank, Presenting Sponsor of the China Series; and Mitsubishi Corporation (Americas), Presenting Sponsor of the Japan Series. General support of programs and exhibitions is provided by Brown Foundation, Houston Endowment, the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance, National Endowment for the Arts, Texas Commission on the Arts, and Mary Lawrence Porter, as well as Friends of Asia Society.