Smithsonian Institution
Washington, D.C. 20560
•The Cave as Canvas: Hidden Images of Worship along the Silk Road, Andrew Leung (guest curator of Chinese art)
Andrew Leung led visitors on a tour of Buddhist murals from the 5th-century cave temples in present-day Xinjiang in western China
•Behind the Words/Beyond Language: The Xu Bing Exhibition, Xu Bing (artist) and Britta Erickson (guest curator)
Curator and artist talked about Xu Bing's long-held fascination with the written word and the manipulation of language.
•Word Play: Contemporary Art by Xu Bing, Joseph Chang (assoc. curator of Chinese art)
Chang discussed the installation works of this controversial artist who manipulates language to bring fresh understandings of the powerful role words play.
•The "Three Friends of Winter" in the Visual Arts of China, Richard Pegg (Independent Scholar)
Pegg discussed the ways in which the symbols of pine, bamboo, and plum became unified in the 14th and 15th centuries in Chinese literature, painting, ceramics, and lacquer ware.
•The Potteršs Brush: The Kenzan Style in Japanese Ceramics, Louise Cort (curator of ceramics)
Cort discussed the work of the Kyoto ceramic artist Ogata Kenzan (16631743), whose painterly treatment of ceramic surfaces influences Japanese ceramics to this day, inspiring legitimate imitators and forgers alike.