Sacred Objects in Secular Spaces Exhibiting Asian Religions in Museums

by Sullivan, Bruce M.

• ISBN13: 9781472590817
• ISBN10: 1472590813
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2015-10-22
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

We have long recognized that many objects in museums were originally on display in temples, shrines, or monasteries, and were religiously significant to the communities that created and used them. How, though, are such objects to be understood, described, exhibited, and handled now that they are in museums? Are they still sacred objects, or formerly sacred objects that are now art objects, or are they simultaneously objects of religious and artistic significance, depending on who is viewing the object? These objects not only raise questions about their own identities, but also about the ways we understand the religious traditions in which these objects were created and which they represent in museums today.

Bringing together religious studies scholars and museum curators, Sacred Objects in Secular Spaces is the first volume to focus on Asian religions in relation to these questions. The contributors analyze an array of issues related to the exhibition in museums of objects of religious significance from Hindu, Buddhist, and Sikh traditions. The “lives” of objects are considered, along with the categories of “sacred” and “profane”, “religious” and “secular”.

As interest in material manifestations of religious ideas and practices continues to grow, Sacred Objects in Secular Spaces is a much-needed contribution to religious and Asian studies, anthropology of religion and museums studies.

Author Biography

Bruce M. Sullivan is Professor of Comparative Study of Religions and Asian Studies at Northern Arizona University, USA.

Table of Contents

Introduction
List of illustrations
Part 1: Exhibiting Hindu and Sikh Religious Objects in Museums
1. A Tale of Two Bronzes, Richard H. Davis (Professor of Religion and Asian Studies, Bard College, USA)
2. Under the Gaze of Kali: Exhibitionism in the Kalighat Painting Exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art, Deepak Sarma (Professor of Religious Studies, Case Western Reserve University, USA)
3. Reconsecrating the Icons: The New Phenomenon of Yoga in Museums, Bruce M. Sullivan (Professor, Comparative Study of Religions & Asian Studies, Northern Arizona University, USA)
4. Sikh Museuming: Relics and Rights in India and in Diaspora, Anne Murphy (Chair in Punjabi Language, Literature and Sikh Studies, Dept. of Asian Studies, University of British Columbia, USA)
Part 2: Exhibiting Buddhist Religious Objects in Museums
5. Planning the Ho Family Foundation Gallery of Buddhist Sculpture, John Clarke (Curator of South and South East Asian Art at the Victoria & Albert Museum, UK)
6. Entering the Mandala: Where Cosmic Maps become the Visitor's Territory, Jeff Durham (Assistant Curator of Himalayan Art, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, USA)
7. Discovery and Display: Case Studies from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Denise Patry Leidy (Curator of Asian Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, USA)
8. Hiroshi Sugimoto and the Perception of Japanese Sacred Objects, James T. Ulak (Senior Curator of Japanese Art, Freer Gallery of Art & the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, USA)
9. Students Mapping Cultures with the Digital Humanities at the Crow Collection of Asian Art, Ivette Vargas-O'Bryan (Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Austin College, USA)
Part 3: Exhibiting "World Religions" in Museums
10. Sacred Word and Image: Five World Religions Exhibited at Phoenix Art Museum, Janet Baker (Curator of Asian Art, Phoenix Art Museum, USA)
11. Preaching Museums: Ideology and World Religions Museums, Charles D. Orzech (Reader in Religion, Conflict & Transition, School of Critical Studies, University of Glasgow, UK)
Part 4: Memory and Meaning in Museums
12. Detritus to Treasure: Memory, Metonymy, and the Museum, Michael Willis (Curator of South Asian Art, The British Museum, UK)
Bibliography
Index