Tuan Andrew Nguyen’s High Line Plinth commission is focus of lecture and guided meditation on August 5 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
Who: Tashi Chödrön, Donald S. Lopez Jr., Jungwon Kim
What: Lecture and guided meditation
Where: The High Line Spur, Thirtieth St. & Tenth Ave.
When: Wednesday, August 5, free with advance RSVP, 12:30
Why: “Art history, or history, human history, is a discover of all the objects that we’ve left behind,” Việtnamese artist Tuan Andrew Nguyen says in a video about his High Line Plinth commission, The Light That Shines Through the Universe. “The objects are trying to tell us a story. And I think that’s fascinating.”
Nguyen’s monumental twenty-seven-foot-high sandstone sculpture is fascinating, a tribute to two sixth-century Bamiyan Buddhas that were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001. It also recalls the attacks on the World Trade Center six months later.
On August 5 at 12:30, the High Line and the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art will present “The Nature of Light,” the latest monthly lecture and guided meditation that delves into The Light That Shines Through the Universe. Hosted by Rubin programs and communities ambassador Tashi Chödrön, the event will feature a talk by Donald S. Lopez Jr., professor of Buddhist and Tibetan studies at the University of Michigan and author of Buddhism: A Journey through History, followed by a guided meditation led by Love Circle facilitator, Plum Village Tradition practitioner, writer, cultural worker, and Columbia director of graduate studies Jungwon Kim, who believes, “We must ritualize the healing, not the trauma.”
Admission is free with advance RSVP; The Light That Shines Through the Universe will remain on view through fall 2027. The series concludes October 10 with “Monuments to War,” featuring Monuments Lab deputy director Nico Rodriguez and Shambhala teacher Steve Clorfeine.
[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer; you can follow him on Substack here.]