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It’s amazing that you could live in China and not be able to visit apple.com, wikepedia.com or imdb.com!!

(via gizmodo)

He was in Calgary yesterday and gave this advice – “On a basic level we are same. I want a happy life. You want happy life. We can communicate, we can walk together, we can make a common effort for a better world.” And, “The destruction of your neighbour is destruction of yourself. The concept of war is out of date.”

He arrives in NY on Sunday when I’m hoping to photograph his teaching on Nagarjuna’s Commentary on Bodhicitta(jangchup semdrel) organized by a Vietnamese group at the Manhattan Center. For a schedule of his all his upcoming teachings around the world go here.

I’d never been to this website before, it has amazing news titles like “Article disproves Dalai Lama’s historical views in March 31 speech.” It seems to be China’s official news source for the Tibetan region, reporting that China has spent millions of dollars in repairing the Potala Palace, Norbulingka and Sagya Monastary. I can only wonder how much damage or lack of respect was shown during the rebuild for the traditional religious artifacts. “The reparation of the three key cultural relics is an important part in the conservation of the Tibetan culture,” said State Councilor Liu Yandong at the ceremony. Good of them to be so concerned! This accompanying picture does nothing more than show that they’ve planted some flowers on the western border of the building…

The websites historical accounts are also awesome – “ The founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 ended the dark history of the semi-colonial, semi-feudal China, realized unification of the country, unity of ethnic groups and people’s democracy, and brought hope to the Tibetan people that they could control their own destiny in the large family of the motherland.”

“…pointing to a road sign that read, ‘Slow Down! The Life that you save might or might not be your own’ I’ve never been to a country where nonsense is the norm. It’s like a big joke – life, death, rebirth, Enlightenment – it all amounts to nothing, play on words, a crazy puzzle that can never be solved. No wonder they came up with the idea of maya, or illusion, you know. In the West things are taken so seriously. Life is  a serious matter. Tomorrow is a serious matter. Here I can finally breathe: there is no pressure to stay alive! Whatever happens is okay. Dying is okay, begging is okay. I don’t have to plot my life. I can sit back and actually enjoy it.”

I’m only on the third chapter of this memoir about a young man (Nikolai Grozni) who travels to India to become a Tibetan Monk and I can tell that I’m going to enjoy it. He studies in Dharamsala and some of the description and stories bring me right back to my time there. I even know one of the characters he talks to, this old guy called “Vinnie.” He would always want to play chess and would always think he knew you from previous games played in chai shops. I first met him in 2002 and have seen him every time I’ve been back. Not once have I dared challenge him to a game. Hopefully this book challenges some of the conventional ideas of the “Shangri-la” community at the foothills of the Himalaya’s. It seems like it will as some of the monks have already smoked a few cigarettes and talked about nuns doing the naughty. As a more serious read I also picked up a copy of “The Photograph as Contemporary Art,” a book I should probably have read during my MFA. Don’t ever go into St. Marks bookshop unless you plan on buying a couple of books.

Gonkar Gyato’s work collages small stickers of of branding logos, typography, and recognizable cartoon characters to create images of the Buddha. I like the idea, and find it compelling both from a visual stand point and also when considering the teachings of the Buddha in the modern world. However, I’m normally surprised by what makes it into the Venice Biennale, as it seems to me that this isn’t winning any major points for originality or even aesthetics. Having said that, I still like his new work quite a bit and it’s great to see a Tibetan making it in the ‘Art World.’

Gonkar Gyatso, The Shambala of Modern Times, 2008, stickers, paper cuttings and pencil on treated paper, 200 x 219 cm

Gonkar Gyatso was born in 1961 in Lhasa. He graduated from the Fine Art Department of the Central Institute of Nationalities, Beijing and from the Chelsea Art & Design College, London. He is the Co-Founder of “The Sweet Tea House Artists Association”. Gyatso has exhibited his works in Dharamsala, New Dehli, London, Helsinki, Washington, Lyon, Durban, Zurich. Gonkar Gyatso is living in London and is a visiting teacher at the London Institute.

I prefer these works of his, which I’m assuming are photographs because it is not made clear on the website.

Here is an interesting article about the contemporary Tibetan Art movement. More of his work after the break…

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Tenam worked for the DIIR and took very good care of me while I was there in 2002/03. He is one of the closest friends I made out in McLeod Ganj, and I have done a terrible job of keeping in touch. He now lives in Paris and takes care of his farty son!

I found this article through another blog, and was intitally impressed by the alleged act of praying so much that you start to wear a hole in the ground (You have to be a little dubious of both the truthfulness of these prints and also the act of praying 3000 times a day). However, when you get to the end of the article, the real entertainment is in the comments left – see below pictures….

“3000 times a day and all he got was a lousy t-shirt. Stupid dick.”

“Super fake. Maybe he should have prayed for god to intervene with the occupation of his government in Tibet. Fail.”

“Just because I see doesn’t mean I believe it. Just like I saw a picture of Santa Clause. He’s not real either.”

And here come the best ones so far….

“To the person who said he could have spent his time better as a researcher or physician: it’s possible he figured it was better to press his head to a wooden floor 3,000 times a day than to become a doctor and risk saving the life of some shrill, smug asshole who spends his time online, badmouthing others’ devotion.”

“What a crock of complete bollocks. If it is true he is a dick. Get a life nob brain.”

This video was posted today by the Department of Information and International Relations (DIIR) who I used to work for in ‘02-’03. It shows rare footage of some beatings that have happened over the past year, and how the Chinese were preparing for the recent 50th Anniversary of the Lhasa Uprising. (Some brutal footage)

FEBRUARY 24, 2009 – Candle Light Vigil - Prayer service to honor the Tibetans who sacrificed their precious life last year defending the basic rights of the Tibetan people at  Union Square (14th Street & Broadway in Manhattan) Starts at 6pm

FEBRUARY 25, 2009  – Losar – Not a day of protest, but the Tibetan New Year, an extended few day celebration that is a lot of fun traditionally spent drinking ‘chang‘ (or nectar of gods) and playing games.

MARCH 10, 2009 – March 10 Protests – It’s the 50th anniversary of the Dalai Lama fleeing Tibet and the Lhasa uprising. Rally will begin at Cadman Plaza in Brooklyn beginning at 8am. Take A or C subway to High Street, or the 2 or 3 subway to Clark Street.

At 5:48 on this clip, Paul McCartney suggests that the Dalai Lama may eat him in an emergency. Would it need to be an emergency is really the question!

HH the Dalai Lama with President-elect Barack Obama
Meeting at the Senate, 2005 
©Sonam Zoksang

Support the Students for a Free Tibet and order a copy of this 8×10 photograph here for $15.

I went to Chelsea again today as I was in the neighborhood shooting pictures of peoples shoes and handbags for this Italian studio. It’s a mindless task, but it can be entertaining, and certainly keeps me busy which is a plus! All the galleries were closed (again) so I did some window peeking, and saw this interesting sculpture by Rauschenberg. I had seen his final show before he died last year, and was completely under-whelmed as I have been with most of his recent work. I’m only really interested in this work because of the subject matter.

It seems like in 1987 he did a few sculptures based on Tibet (and earlier some on China). they are works made from images he took on his ROCI trip to Tibet. “Rauschenberg officially announced his Rauschenberg Overseas Culture Interchange (ROCI – pronounced “Rocky”), at the United Nations in 1983. It was a self-financed project that had as its mission the promotion of international peace and cultural exchange through collaborative art making. Under the auspices of ROCI, Rauschenberg visited and worked with artists in countries around the globe, using materials and skills found in each nation to create arworks that were donated to and exhibited in each host country.”

I thought it funny watching this video on BBC News, that the Dalai Lama’s image owuld be used directly after Che. I guess he’s seen as one of those iconic faces (alongside Paris Hilton too!). In a strange and very nerdy way, it’s pretty compelling watching these videos.