AIAR Speaker Series - Dr. Hai Ren, Professor of East Asian Studies

“Mandala in Action: Cosmopublic Art Practices in the More-Than-Asian Anthropocene” presented by Professor of East Asian Studies, Dr. Hai Ren of the Univiersity of Arizona. His presentation discusses recent ecological art practices in “the headwaters of the three rivers” (sanjiangyuan) on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, which encompasses the Yangtze, the Yellow, and the Mekong rivers, major bodies of water in East and Southeast Asias. Based on both ethnographic fieldwork and visual analysis, this presentation specifically examines the ways in which how the classic Buddhist art form, mandala (an expressive order of the Cakravāla or cosmology), is incorporated into practices of contemporary arts that address both local ecological problems and cognitive issues in environmental knowledge production.

10-11am @ the Slonaker House, 1027 E. 2nd Street.

Snacks and Light Refreshments served.

Host or Publisher Applied Intercultural Arts Research Program