Rubin Museum of Art Announces December Events
By: Ashlee Latimer Nov. 03, 2016
The Rubin Museum of Art is an arts and cultural hub in New York City's vibrant Chelsea neighborhood that inspires visitors to make connections between contemporary life and the art and ideas of the Himalayas and neighboring regions including India. With a diverse array of thought-provoking exhibitions and programs-including films, concerts, and on-stage conversations-the Rubin provides immersive experiences that encourage personal discoveries and spark new ways of seeing the world. Emphasizing cross-cultural connections, the Rubin is a space to contemplate ideas that extend across history and span human cultures.
THE WISDOM MATRIX: RUBIN MUSEUM FALL TALK AND PROGRAM SERIES
Thru December 2016
How do you make wise decisions-through reasoning, compassion, or instinct? This season at the Rubin, we will take a deep dive into the meaning of wisdom by probing points of convergence and divergence among varying perspectives on what it means to be wise. Test your assumptions and find out what points make up your Wisdom Matrix.
STEVE BUSCEMI + SAMUEL BERCHOLZ
A GUIDED TOUR OF HELL
Wednesday, December 7, 2016; 7:00-8:30 PM
SOLD OUT - limited press passes available
A sudden heart attack led Buddhist teacher Sam Bercholz to a near-death experience. He narrates his progress through the Buddhist hell realms to actor Steve Buscemi, who has had his own encounters with untimely endings.
Sam Bercholz's story is told in graphic-novel form in A Guided Tour of Hell with illustrations by master painter Pema Namdol Thaye. Comic-book drawings illustrate Bercholz's life story and hospital ordeal while fantastic color paintings of his hell experience bring a startling modern spirit of imagination to the sacred art of Asia. A book signing will follow the on-stage conversation.
About the Speakers
Steve Buscemi is an actor, writer, director and producer. He starred in the HBO drama Boardwalk Empire, which garnered him a Golden Globe Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and two Emmy nominations. His directing work includes the feature films Trees Lounge and Interview, and numerous television credits including HBO's The Sopranos, for which he was nominated for an Emmy and DGA Award. He has directed episodes of the Emmy Award winning shows 30 Rock and Nurse Jackie, as well as recent episodes of Portlandia, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and Judd Apatow's Netflix seriesLove. In 2008 Buscemi started Olive Productions with Stanley Tucci and Wren Arthur, a New York based company which produces his Emmy-nominated AOL series "Park Bench," and various other projects including the documentary A Good Job: Stories of the FDNY, for HBO. He most recently co-starred in Louis C.K.'s critically acclaimed web series Horace and Pete.
Samuel Bercholz is the founder of Shambhala Publications and a long-time student of Thinley Norbu Rinpoche. He is the author of A Guided Tour of Hell: A Graphic Memoir.
KRISTA TIPPETT + ELIZABETH LESSER
BECOMING WISE
Monday, December 12, 2016; 7:00-8:30 PM
SOLD OUT - limited press passes available
"I have yet to meet a wise person who doesn't know how to find some joy even in the midst of what is hard, and to smile and laugh easily, including at oneself." -Krista Tippett, Becoming Wise
Krista Tippett, host of NPR's On Being, and author Elizabeth Lesser address the nature of giving, forgiveness, and the implications of following the poet Rumi's invitation: "Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field. I'll meet you there."
A book signing of Tippett's Becoming Wise and Lesser's Marrow: A Love Story will follow the program.
About the Speakers
Krista Tippett is a Peabody Award-winning broadcaster and New York Times best-selling author. In 2014 she received the National Humanities Medal at the White House for "thoughtfully delving into the mysteries of human existence." Her public radio program On Being opens up the animating questions at the center of human life: What does it mean to be human, and how do we want to live? In 2007 Tippett published her first book, Speaking of Faith. In 2010 she published Einstein's God, drawn from her interviews at the intersection of science, medicine, and spiritual inquiry. Her new, best-selling book Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living looks at the questions and challenges of this century.
Elizabeth Lesser is a bestselling author and the cofounder of Omega Institute, the renowned conference and retreat center located in Rhinebeck, New York. Lesser's first book, The Seeker's Guide, chronicles her years at Omega and distills lessons learned into a potent guide for growth and healing. Her New York Times best-selling book Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow (Random House) has sold more than 300,000 copies and has been translated into 20 languages. Her latest book, Marrow: A Love Story (HarperCollins), is a memoir about Lesser and her younger sister, Maggie, and the process they went through when Elizabeth was the donor for Maggie's bone marrow transplant.
TAO PORCHON-LYNCH + KARL PILLEMER
THE SECRET TO A GOOD LIFE
Saturday, December 17, 2016; 3:00-4:30 PM
Tickets: $25.00 / Member Price: $22.50
Psychologist Karl Pillemer interviewed more than a thousand Americans over the age of 65 to learn the secrets of a good life. Here he sits down with the redoubtable Tao Porchon Lynch, who, at 98, is still teaching yoga. Among her teachers were legendary mind/body practitioners like Sri Aurobindo, BKS Iyengar, K Pattabhi Jois, and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. She marched with Mahatma Gandhi in the 1930 Salt March, helped Jews escape the Nazis as a French Resistance fighter during World War II, and walked with Martin Luther King.
A book signing of Karl Pillemer's Lessons for Living and Tao Porchon-Lynch's Dancing Light: The Spiritual Side of Being Through the Eyes of a Modern Yoga Master will follow the program.
About the Speakers
Tao Porchon-Lynch is a 98-year old yoga master, activist, model, actress, film producer, wine connoisseur, newspaper publisher, and ballroom dancer. She started yoga in 1926 when "girls didn't do yoga" and still conducts weekly classes in Westchester. Her mantra, "There Is Nothing You Cannot Do" is exemplified by having marched with Mahatma Gandhi in 1930, to dancing on America's Got Talent in 2015.
Karl Pillemer is the director of the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research and the Hazel E. Reed Professor in the department of human development and a professor of gerontology in medicine at the Weill Cornell Medical College. Pillemer also directs the Cornell Legacy Project , and is the author of the book 30 Lessons for Living and 30 Lessons for Loving. His major interest is human development over life's course, with a special emphasis on family and social relationships in middle age and beyond.
CHASING CONSCIOUSNESS
FREE CONVERSATIONS
Friday, December 2 and Friday, December 9, 5:00-6:00 PM
Free with Admission
Join Project Y-0 for a series of free talks and dialogues that explore the concept of consciousness and its role in our lives. These Friday night programs, co-presented by YHouse, Inc., raise questions with no easy answers. All programs take place in the Rubin Museum Art Lounge and are open for all to participate. After the talks, stop at the K2 Lounge to continue the conversation over Happy Hour specials.
December 2
Awakened Realism: Insights from Japanese Philosophy
With Yuko Ishihara (Center for Subjectivity Research, University of Copenhagen) and moderator Chris Stawski
December 9
Can a Robot Feel Pain?
With speaker Susan Schneider (University of Connecticut/Yale University)
OTHER PROGRAMS AND SPECIAL TOURS
ALTERED STATES
SPECIAL TOUR
December 2, 2016, 8:45-9:15 PM
Free
Learn about the connections between transcendent spiritual practices and psychoactive substances on a special Museum tour. This gallery investigation will precede a film screening of Alejandro Jodorowsky's The Holy Mountain in the theater at 9:30 p.m.
CAPTURING ARCHITECTURE: DRAWINGS AND REPLICAS IN TIBET AND CHINA
DIANA LANGE + BIANCA BOSKER
Friday, December 2, 2016; 7:00-8:30 PM
Tickets: $18.00 / Members: $16.20 / Students: $10.00
Two distinct voices. Two exciting journeys. Join us for an evening of iconic sites and visual landscapes in conjunction with the exhibition Monumental Lhasa.
Diana Lange on the Wise Collection
In 1857 a Tibetan monk traveled from Lhasa to the Western Himalayas, where he was engaged by a British official to produce a set of drawings featuring architecture, rituals, travel routes, and people. Known as the British Library's Wise Collection, these images represent the most comprehensive set of visual depictions of mid-nineteenth-century Tibet and the Western Himalayan kingdoms ever. The collection reveals the hidden exploration of Tibet during a period when it was inaccessible to Western visitors. Diana Lange will discuss this collection of picture maps and its fascinating history.
Original Copies
Bianca Bosker's book Original Copies presents the first definitive chronicle of a phenomenon she coined as "duplitecture:" the architectural copying of buildings and entire villages from their original locations in Europe and the Americas recreated in China. These architectural copies are not just for tourism but are inhabited, thriving communities. Bosker explores themes of authenticity and questions what makes an icon an icon.
A signing of Original Copies and Orientations magazine will take place after the lecture. Copies are available for purchase in the Museum shop.
VERBAL DESCRIPTION AND SENSORY TOUR
For visitors who are blind or partially sighted
Saturday, December 3, 2016; 12:00-1:00 PM
Reservations are required as space is limited
The Rubin Museum offers verbal description and sensory tours for visitors who are blind or partially sighted. These free tours, which include museum admission, are one hour in length and take visitors on a journey that weaves together the culture, history, religion, and art of the Himalayas.
Museum guides are specially trained to lead these tours, which allow participants to form visualizations of the art through close, careful descriptions as well as touch objects such as sculptures, art materials, woodblocks, and ritual implements.
SENIOR MONDAY
For visitors 65 and older
Monday, December 5, 2016; 11:00 AM-5:00 PM
On the first Monday of the month seniors (65 and older) receive free admission to the galleries. The day includes a range of free programs including a docent talk in our theater, gallery tours, and a writing workshop facilitated by writer and university professor Nina Goss.
ANIMALS IN THE HIMALAYAS: MONSOON CULTURE OF NEPAL
SPECIAL TOUR
Monday, December 5, 2016; 11:30 AM-12:30 PM
Free with Admission
This final session will focus on the animals featured in the exhibition Nepalese Seasons: Rain and Ritual to explore how the life-giving monsoon in Nepal has impacted the country's culture and art. Learn more about the important role animals such as the frog and peacock play in worship and ritual and how fantastic hybrid animals are featured in the art to reflect the importance of the monsoon.
FEMALE EMPOWERMENT
SPECIAL TOUR
Wednesday, December 7, 2016; 7:00-8:00 PM
Free with Admission
Join us to discover the adventures and rituals of powerful female figures in Himalayan art. This tour will explore the art, life stories, and lineages relating to famous female yogis and tantric mother goddesses.
Program led by Rubin Museum docent Denise Murphy.
COMMON THREADS: CELEBRATE BCNA
FASHION SHOW
Wednesday, December 14, 2016, 6:00 PM
Tickets: $50.00 /Members: $35.00
Common Threads is the first annual fashion event presented by the Business Center for New Americans (BCNA). Curated by Sylvia Zachary and featuring award winning designers and stylists, the event celebrates BCNA's refugee clients from all over the world and explores the commonality between contemporary haute couture and traditional garments from a variety of global cultures, including the Himalayas.
BCNA is a New York nonprofit that creates a pathway to self-sufficiency for immigrants, refugees, women, and others through small business loans, specialized business training, technical assistance, and personalized business coaching.
DECEMBER MIND/BODY PROGRAMS
MEDITATION AND MINDFULNESS PROGRAMS
AWAKENING PRACTICE
MORNING MINDFULNESS IN THE SHRINE ROOM
December 3, 10, and 17; 11:30 AM-12:15 PM
Tickets: $15.00 / Members: $13.50
Contemplative practice has its roots in the living traditions of the Himalayas. Join Tashi Chodron and guests in the Shrine Room for a morning mindfulness session, which explores the connections between Himalayan culture, art, and practice. Each forty-five-minute session includes twenty minutes of guided meditation that will explore different approaches, including mantra, mudra, and mindfulness.
WEEKLY MINDFULNESS MEDITATION SERIES
Every Wednesday, 1:00 pm
Tickets: $15.00 / Free for Museum Members
Practice the art of attention in this weekly meditation session led by guiding teacher Sharon Salzberg, New York Insight Meditation Center, and the Interdependence Project.
RubinMuseum.org/MindfulnessMeditation
December 14
SHARON SALZBERG
DECEMBER MUSIC
SPECIAL PERFORMANCES
ROSANNE CASH: ACOUSTIC CASH
Friday, December 9, 2016, 7:00-8:30 PM
Tickets: $85.00 / Members: $76.50
Acoustic Cash is a musical talk hosted by Rosanne Cash, which first premiered when the Rubin Museum opened in 2004. For its fifteenth session, Acoustic Cash questions the nature of wisdom and our role in passing down knowledge. She is accompanied by John Leventhal.
Rosanne Cash is one of the country's pre-eminent singer/songwriters and has earned four Grammy Awards and eleven other nominations as well as twenty-one top-forty hits and eleven number-one singles. Her latest release, The River and the Thread, a collaboration with husband/co-writer/producer and arranger John Leventhal, received three Grammy Awards in 2015. She is also an author of four books and essays that have appeared in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, the Oxford-American, The Nation, and other publications. She was awarded the SAG/AFTRA Lifetime Achievement award for Sound Recordings in 2012 and received the 2014 Smithsonian Ingenuity Award in the Performing Arts. On October 11, 2015, she was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters' Hall of Fame.
NAKED SOUL
Naked Soul presents performances from some of the country's top singer/songwriters without microphones or amplifiers, as if the music were, acoustically speaking, naked. The musicians in the series draw upon the universal themes inherent in Himalayan art-spirituality, peace, tolerance, wisdom, and compassion.
DANA FUCHS
Friday, December 16, 2016; 7:00-8:30 PM
Advance price: $30.00/Day of price: $35.00
10% off both prices for Members
Dana Fuchs is a phenomenon, a singer whose mesmerizing voice and presence, has led critics to compare her to rock legends from Janis to Jagger. Fittingly, she appeared in the off-Broadway production, Love, Janis. The multi-talented singer songwriter also starred in one of the most talked-about cult films, Across The Universe, where she has a major presence both in the film, and on the soundtrack. Dana is currently on a world tour in support of her critically acclaimed album,Broken Down Acoustic Sessions, released in 2015 on Antler King Records.
ANAÏS MITCHELL
Friday, December 23, 2016, 7:00-8:30 PM
Advance price: $30.00/Day of price: $35.00
10% off both prices for Members
Anaïs Mitchell is a Vermont and Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter who comes from the world of narrative folksong, poetry and balladry. Mitchell recorded for Ani Difranco's Righteous Babe Records for several years before starting her own label, Wilderland, in 2012. Mitchell has headlined worldwide as well as supported tours for Bon Iver, Ani Difranco, The Low Anthem (all of whom appear as guest singers on Hadestown), Richard Thompson, Josh Ritter, and Punch Brothers.
If there's a common thread in Mitchell's work, it's her interest in the world around her and inside her. She tackles big themes with the same emotional intimacy most artists use to describe their inner lives.
SPIRAL MUSIC
Every Wednesday, 6:00-9:00 p.m.
Free concerts with artists specializing in music from the Himalayas and South Asia. Presented as part of the Rubin Museum's Himalayan Happy Hour.
K2 LOUNGE DJ SETS
Every Friday, 6:00-10:00 PM
During K2 Friday Nights, Café Serai becomes the K2 Lounge, offering a special pan-Asian tapas menu to accompany the evening's free DJ and programs. All DJ sets are free, along with free gallery admission.
December 2, 2016
DJ DAVID ELLENBOGEN
December 9, 2016
DJ SHISHI
December 16, 2016
DJ SHAKEY
December 23, 2016
DJ SMALL CHANGE
December 30, 2016
DJ KINDB
DECEMBER FILMS
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
BRINGING TIBET HOME
SPECIAL SCREENING AND Q&A
Wednesday, December 21, 2016, 7:00 - 9:00 PM
Ticket: $20.00 / Members: $18.00
Part of the Museum's Himalayan Heritage Meetup Series
When a Tibetan refugee dies from a terminal illness his last wish to set foot on his native soil remains unfulfilled. Bringing Tibet Home follows that man's son, the New York-based artist Tenzing Rigdol, who embarked on an unthinkable journey to reunite more than ten thousand Tibetans in exile with their land, literally.
In the film, Rigdol transports twenty thousand kilograms of native Tibetan soil from Tibet to Dharamsala,
India, home of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan Government in Exile, and thousands of Tibetan refugees.
About the Filmmakers
Tenzing Rigdol is one of the most well-known Tibetan contemporary artists based in the United States. His work ranges from painting, sculpture, drawing, and digital media to video installations and site-specific performance pieces. He has exhibited extensively throughout the United States as well as in many different different cities around the world. His artworks are held in major museums and collections worldwide. He has taken part in a number of performances and installations at the Rubin over the years.
Tenzin Tsetan Choklay is a Tibetan filmmaker currently working out of Brooklyn, New York. He graduated from the prestigious Korean Academy of Film Arts in 2008. He has made a number of short films in South Korea and has worked as an Associate Producer at White Crane Films In India for the award-winning film The Sun behind the Clouds by directors Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam.
CABARET CINEMA: THE GETTING OF WISDOM
Fridays, 9:30 p.m.
Tickets: $10.00 / Free for Museum Members
Is wisdom innate or acquired? These ten films each call into question the means by which wisdom is attained. Bring on the holy fool, the wizard, the seeker of truth!
December 2, 2016
The Holy Mountain
Introduced by author Daniel Pinchbeck
1973, Mexico, Alejandro Jodorowsky, 114 min.
Produced by Beatles manager Allen Klein, The Holy Mountain revels in the grotesque, surreal, symbolic, and hallucinatory. The protagonist, a thief (Horacio Salinas) who appears like a modern-day incarnation of Christ, is nearly crucified by naked boys with green-painted genitalia. He is rescued by a limbless dwarf and then chews on a wax representation of himself before sending it to the heavens on colorful balloons-and that's just the beginning! Jodorowsky's Holy Mountain functions like a wondrous time machine, transporting viewers back to a day when movies and audiences were up for anything.
Daniel Pinchbeck is the bestselling author of Breaking Open the Head and 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl. His new book, How Soon Is Now?, comes out in February from Watkins Press. His articles have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Esquire, Rolling Stone, WIRED, ArtForum, and other publications. He co-founded the company Evolver.net, which publishes the web magazine Reality Sandwich. He is featured in the 2010 documentary, 2012: Time for Change(Mangusta Films), and hosted the talk show Mindshift for GaiamTV.
December 9, 2016
Onibaba
Introduced by Hamid Rahmanian
1964, Japan, Kaneto Shindô, 103 min.
Onibaba takes a chilling look into the nature of war and the dark depths of the human psyche in fourteenth-century Japan. When a man is conscripted into war, his mother and young wife must fend for themselves by ambushing samurai and selling their belongings for food. But when his wife encounters a mysterious man and her mother-in-law finds a demonic mask, their fate is forever changed with a nightmarish intensity. This classic film is included in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die.
Hamid Rahmanian is an award-winning filmmaker and graphic artist whose work has been exhibited in international competitions and publications. His narrative and documentary films have premiered at the Venice, Sundance, Toronto, Tribeca, and IDFA film festivals. He has won numerous international awards and his works have been televised on international networks, including PBS, Sundance Channel, IFC, Channel 4, BBC, DR2, and Al Jazeera.
December 16, 2016
Nostalghia
Introduced by Liesl Schillinger
1983, Italy, Andrei Tarkovsky, 125 min.
Andrei Tarkovsky's masterpiece explores nostalgia through the eyes of a spiritually weary poet, Andrei Gorchakov (Oleg Yankovskiy). While traveling in Italy to research the life of an eighteenth-century composer, Gorchakov meets Domenico (Erland Josephson), a local lunatic. When Gorchakov falls asleep and dreams of his Russian homeland, he comes to see the wisdom of Domenico's lunacy.
December 23, 2016
Showboat
Introduced by Rebecca Luker
1936, USA, James Whale, 113 min.
Voted one of the top twenty-five movie musicals by the American Film Institute, Show Boat is by turns captivating and trenchant. Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein's genre-spanning epic addresses racial integration through the power of song and dance. Paul Robeson's performance of "Ol' Man River," perhaps the greatest of all show tunes, is the highlight of this panoramic look at life on and around a Mississippi riverboat.
Three-time Tony Award nominee Rebecca Luker, played Magnolia in the 1997 Broadway revival of Showboat. She was recently on Broadway in Fun Home, and has made other Broadway appearances in: Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella (Fairy Godmother), Mary Poppins (Mrs. Banks, Tony nomination), Nine, The Music Man (Tony Nomination), The Sound of Music, Showboat (Tony nomination),The Secret Garden, and The Phantom of the Opera. Ms. Luker received an Outer Critics Circle nomination for her role in Maury Yeston's Death Takes a Holiday at the Roundabout. She has recorded several solo CDs including: "I Got Love: the songs of Jerome Kern" and "Greenwich Time". She performed in the films Not Fade Away and The Rewrite, and on TV in Boardwalk Empire, The Good Wife and Law and Order: SVU.
December 30, 2016
Animal Farm
Introduced by animator Bill Plympton
1954, USA, Joy Batchelor and John Halas, 72 min.
This animated adaptation of George Orwell's satire of Stalinism brings the brilliant novel to life on the big screen. After staging a successful revolt against an oppressive farmer, the animals initially wish to rule as one but are soon confronted with the reality of the corruption of power.
Bill Plympton is considered the "king of indie animation" and is the first person to have hand drawn an entire animated feature film. He moved to New York City in 1968 and began his career creating cartoons for publications such as the New York Times, National Lampoon, Playboy, and Screw. Plympton has also collaborated with Madonna, Kanye West, and Weird Al Yankovic on a number of music videos and book projects. In 2006 he received the Winsor McCay Lifetime Achievement Award from the Annie Awards.
DECEMBER SHOP AND CAFÉ SPECIALS
RUBIN SHOP
The finest artisanal goods from the Himalayas and across Asia-many unavailable elsewhere in the United States-can be found at the Rubin's shop. Favorite items include textiles, jewelry, home goods, children's gifts, spices, oils, and incense. The shop also carries the full line of Rubin Museum of Art publications.
HOLIDAYS IN THE HIMALAYAS
Find a treasure for every person on your holiday shopping list. The Rubin Shop's premiere selection of artisan handicrafts, books, toys, and home décor is inspired by the arts of the Himalayas and greater Asia. All purchases support the Museum. This year's featured artisans for the holiday season: Sudarshan Textile Art, wearable textiles and home textiles, and Roxann Astra Slate, a local glass jewelry artist. Join us for special shopping days November 16-20.
CAFÉ SERAI
Try our fall menu inspired by the aromas and flavors of India, Tibet, and beyond, with new dishes like the Reuben Rubin Momo and Methi Matar Malai. On Wednesday evenings from 6-9pm, the Café hosts Himalayan Happy Hour, featuring 10% off all menu items (15% off for members) and complimentary live music.
On Friday nights, the Café transforms into the popular K2 Lounge from 6-10pm with a full bar, PanAsian tapas, a DJ, and more, along with complimentary gallery admission. Café Serai is open during Museum hours and does not require an admission ticket.
RubinMuseum.org/K2FridayNights
The Rubin Museum of Art is an arts and cultural hub in New York City's vibrant Chelsea neighborhood that inspires visitors to make connections between contemporary life and the art and ideas of the Himalayas and neighboring regions including India. With a diverse array of thought-provoking exhibitions and programs-including films, concerts, and on-stage conversations-the Rubin provides immersive experiences that encourage personal discoveries and spark new ways of seeing the world. Emphasizing cross-cultural connections, the Rubin is a space to contemplate ideas that extend across history and span human cultures.
Videos
