last friday at the rubin

greg and i visited the rubin museum this evening as they were having a special "good-bye" party. there was a good sized crowd for it.

uber rat, 2023, by shushank shrestha, ceramic and in-glaze lustre.

we walked up to the top floor as i wanted to see the piece chanda and i had participated in one last time.

field of wishes by sonam dolma brauen, with copper stupa in the center . . 

"i truly hope my art can create change. i know my art might only have a small impact, but i feel a strong responsibility for the mark i leave behind. with the limited time i have in this world, i promise to give my best effort."

video from the workshops showing how the artist painted and shaped the tsatsa . . 

and how participants wrote out wishes, inserted them into the clay, and shaped and tapped the clay out from the copper mold. (workshops chanda and i participated in can be seen here and here; and this post has the opening night of the exhibit with the tsatsa ceremony.)

this is a short video from the opening of the exhibit in which chanda and i can be seen pounding the clay into our tsatsa molds (you see only our backs).

i stopped at a table to write down a memory of picking oranges with my uncle (they had journals in which people shared stories of encountering important aromas in their lives) and then observed a group of women creating a story together . . 

calling the earth to witness, 2023, imagine/sneha shrestha, acrylic on masonite, steel.

everyone has fun banging on the gongs, each one designed by a different artist.

and on our way out we passed one of my favorite pieces in the museum, wrathful activity/fierce energy, 2018, shesad dawood, neon on black painted board.

(on the sidewalk outside of the museum was a group of demonstrators requesting that the shrine room artifacts be returned to tibetan and himalayan communities. i think the museum has returned a few items it held, but the shrine room pieces are being transferred to the brooklyn museum for six years. maybe within the coming years they will be able to have them returned.)

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we walked along 17th street . . 

to los mariscos in chelsea market . . 

for tacos (and brought two home for chanda who was in the lab working with her tardigrades).