Workshop on Insights into the Archaeology and Art History of Sri Lanka including lectures by Dr. Nimal Perera "Prehistory of Sri Lanka", Prof. Dr. Osmund Bopearachchi "Avalokiteśvara, protector of Mariners", Prof. Dr. Nuwan Abhayawardana "Ancient water harvesting and management systems in Sri Lanka" and Dr. Ariane de Saxcé "Giribawa, an ancient glass production site".
Lecture by Prof. Pratyush Shankar: This talk will highlight the key moments during the colonial rule in India when many princely cities, beyond the gaze of the British masters, managed to carry out many experiments in city building leading to creation of new urban fabric and public places. Many of these experiments were a result of local concerns and were centred round social, economic and cultural reforms of Indian society. What was also remarkable was that these initiatives were a work of collaboration between Indian patrons and a range of international professionals and experts. This talk will try to highlight such moments of experimentation and its resultant outcome for future city planning.
Online conference:Creation stories addressing the origin of Earth and/or that of humankind are presumably among the oldest narratives known in many parts of the world. Similarly, there are ancient works of art depicting creation or, for instance in South Asian art, cycles of destruction and creation. While not scientifically accurate from the point of view of modern physics or evolution theory, these stories and images of the beginnings of (life on) Earth have nevertheless been profoundly true ways of perceiving reality for many people. In a two-day conference we seek to bring together expertise on different cultural, regional and historical backgrounds, addressing questions from various disciplinary vantage points.
Online conference by the Department of Asian and Islamic Art History, University of Bonn (Germany) and the School of Arts, University of Roehampton (UK). Welcome address – 2:00 pm (UK), 3:00 pm (Germany), 6:30 pm (India): University of Roehampton: Prof. Ann R. David University of Bonn: Prof. Dr. Julia A. B. Hegewald and Prof. Dr. Claudia Wenzel. Panel 1: Chair: Arunima J R, Speakers: Sandra Jasmin Schlage (University of Bonn, Germany), Anuradha Ramesh (VISTAS, Chennai, India), Giridhar Raghunathan (University of Roehampton, UK). Panel 2: Chair: Aryamba Sriram, Speakers: Dr. Varada Pandit (University of Mumbai, India), Shambik Ghose (Leeds Beckett University, UK). Panel 3: Chair: Sripadma Ganapathi, Speakers: Dr. Swetha Sundaran Mangalath (St. Aloysius College, Mangalore, India), Dr. Ayla Joncheere (Ghent University, Belgium). Keynote by Dr. Avanthi Meduri, Reader, School of Arts, University of Roehampton, UK: 5: 15 pm (UK), 6:15 pm (Germany), 9:45 pm (India).
Lecture by Prof. Dr. Finbarr Barry Flood: Asymmetrical Dependencies in a Maritime Cosmopolis: Reading a Medieval Iraqi Image Cycle. One of the most celebrated extant medieval Arabic manuscripts is an illustrated copy of the Maqāmāt (Assemblies) of Abu Muhmmad al-Qasim ibn ‘Ali al-Hariri (d. 516H/1122 CE), a popular text subject to frequent copying. Many of the images in the 634/1237 copy of the Maqāmāt exceed its specifications, extending the purview of the text in ways that reflect the impact of oral and textual lore concerning the Indian Ocean. My talk will focus on the most extensive image cycle within the manuscript, which narrates a sea voyage and shipwreck on a mysterious island. It will explore the ways in which various kinds of asymmetrical dependencies are depicted in the images.
Public lecture by Prof. Ryan R. Overbey: The Great Peahen Queen of Spells (Mahāmāyūrīvidyārājñī) is a dynamic Buddhist scripture containing lists of gods and demons, apotropaic spells, and protective rituals. This scripture and its artistic manifestations grew over time, with various forms of Mahāmāyūrī emerging in South, Central, and East Asia from the early centuries CE up to the present. In this lecture we will explore two aspects of the development of the Māhāmāyūrī corpus over time. First, we will examine the ways images of Mahāmāyūrī transformed as they moved from South to Central and East Asia. Second, we will investigate some ritual manuals and visualization instructions extant in Chinese, Sanskrit, and Tibetan sources. Comparison of these materials will allow us think critically about the relationship between art and ritual in the Buddhist traditions. Picture: Tokyo National Museum, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Public lecture by Dr. Lianming Wang: "Transoceanic Trade Repictured: Coromandel Lacquer Screen and the Mobile Image in Global Exchange." This talk responds to the ingenious concept of the ‘image vehicle’ (Bilderfahrzeuge) coined by Aby Warburg, highlighting its potential and valence for studying the global migration of the image. Departing from a Coromandel lacquer screen with the portrayal of the Dutch paying tribute, now kept in the National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen, the discussion centers on the recurring theme of the transoceanic tributary trade found on a wide array of material surfaces.
Public lecture by Dr. Gerald Kozicz: The Triloknath Temple of Tonde holds a special position within the topographical and religious landscape of the valley where the Chandra and Bhaga rivers unite. Although the temple is located in the lower part of the valley, it is a place of Buddhist and Hindu worship and pilgrimage alike. This unusual co-existence of the two religious belief systems results from a two-fold identification of the main cult image as Avalokiteśvara or Śiva. I will aim to reconstruct the significance of the site for the cultural landscape of the Western Himalayas.
Vortrag von Dr. Petra Rösch zu "“The programme of this museum is ART!” - The first catalogue of the collection of the Museum for East Asian Art in Cologne by Alfred Salmony". This year, the first catalogue published by the Museum of East Asian Art in Cologne achieves its centenary. This catalogue on early Buddhist and Han-period stone sculptures was published in 1922 by Alfred Salmony, academic assistant and since 1924 deputy director to Frieda Fischer-Wieruszowski. This talk will briefly introduce the work and life of Alfred Salmony and the history of the MOK. Some stone sculptures published in Salmony’s catalogue will be discussed in the light of academic approaches of the early 20th century, which differ from present day art historical methods.
Am 05. April hält Frau Prof. Dr. Julia A. B. Hegewald im Rahmen der Ringvorlesung des Zentrums für Religion und Gesellschaft (ZERG) und des Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies (BCDSS; Research Area C) den Vortrag “Vira-Saiva and Jaina Rivalries in Medieval South India: Creating and Overcoming Structures of Dependency”.
Junko Matsubara is a dancer and dance teacher born in Tokyo and living in Germany for the last decade. Junko dances in a variety of dance styles, but today she is going to demonstrate the basics of Butoh. Butoh is a contemporary Japanese dance form which evolved during the 1960s and 70s. This art form was initiated by Tatsumi Hijikata (1928–86) and it gained international recognition from the 1980s onwards. Butoh dance is highly experimental and often challenges social norms.
