Installations by Shiva Ahmadi, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, and Tsherin Sherpa Open at the Rubin 10/8

The Rubin Museum of Art presents "Shrine Room Projects: Shiva Ahmadi / Genesis Breyer P-Orridge / Tsherin Sherpa," three contemporary art installations in dialogue with the Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room. Located on the fourth floor of the Rubin, alongside the heart of the Museum - the Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room - "Shrine Room Projects" feature artists who reinterpret traditional and religious iconography and practices. The exhibition includes rotating video installations by Shiva Ahmadi; an interactive sculptural piece by Genesis Breyer P-Orridge; and newly acquired work by Tsherin Sherpa. "Shrine Room Projects: Shiva Ahmadi / Genesis Breyer P-Orridge / Tsherin Sherpa" will be on view October 18, 2019, through September 14, 2020.

Born on the eve of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, Shiva Ahmadi draws on the personal experience of sociopolitical upheaval in her work. For "Shrine Room Projects," Ahmadi presents two video works that touch on timely questions about vulnerability, dispossession, and corruption, echoing the Rubin Museum's yearlong exploration of power in 2019. Ascend (2017) poetically reflects on the ongoing global refugee crisis, depicting the tragic, iconic image of Alan (Aylan) Kurdi's body and the angel Gabriel carrying him up to heaven. In contrast, Lotus (2014) features imagery of a serene, enlightened Buddha. Here the artist transforms the Buddha into a faceless oppressor, speaking to her ongoing concerns with the relationship between power and corruption. The videos will be presented in succession; Ascendwill be on view from October 18, 2019, through April 6, 2020, and Lotus will be on view April 8, 2020, through September 14, 2020.

Returning to the Rubin is Genesis Breyer P-Orridge's Touching of Hands(2016), originally on view in the Rubin Museum's 2016 exhibition "Try to Altar Everything." Gifted by the artist to the Rubin Museum, this participatory piece recalls the wear of devotional touch and ritual usage seen in many of the historical bronze sculptures in the Museum's collection. The artist encourages visitors to touch this life-size bronze casting of h/er arm, causing the bronze to wear down over time and remind visitors of the life of the object. In its new context, Breyer P-Orridge's sculpture provides an experience for visitors to reflect on religious practices hinted at in the nearby Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room.

The Rubin proudly announces the recent acquisition of Tsherin Sherpa's Wish-fulfilling Tree (2016), which was exhibited in the preceding iteration of "Shrine Room Projects" and will remain on view. Wish-fulfilling Treerepresents a poignant response to the earthquakes that struck the artist's home country of Nepal in 2015. This large-scale installation includes a seven-layer bronze mandala, an idealized representation of the universe, surrounded by rubble, debris, and found objects - all sourced from within five blocks of the Rubin Museum.

"We are honored to present two works in the Rubin Museum's permanent collection - Tsherin Sherpa's Wish-fulfilling Tree and Genesis Breyer P-Orridge's Touching of Hands - alongside video animations by Shiva Ahmadi," says Beth Citron, Rubin Museum Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art. "Each of these artists - through their unique voices - reinterprets traditional artistic languages, iconography, and practices in ways that are resonant with the Museum's scope and the Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room."

At the center of the exhibition, the Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room installation is inspired by Tibetan household shrines and comprises objects from the permanent collection. Filled with flickering butter lamps, the scent of incense, and the sounds of chanting, it conveys the feeling of a space used for offering, devotion, prayer, and contemplation. This richly detailed, immersive installation rotates every two years to highlight each of the four major Tibetan Buddhist religious traditions. This rendition features "Precept Transmissions," or the Kagyu tradition, and in addition to the images of buddhas ad bodhisattvas, it includes representations of tantric deities, protectors, and teacher portraits specific to its transmission lineages.

Image caption:
Shiva Ahmadi (b. 1975, Tehran, Iran); Ascend; 2017; single-channel animation; 6 min. 48 sec.; courtesy of the artist and Haines Gallery, San Francisco; photograph courtesy of the artist and Haines Gallery, San Francisco