This talk focuses on time as a critical dimension of Buddhist thought, practice, and devotee engagement with Buddhist icons and spaces. Beginning with selected objects from the exhibition What is the Use of Buddhist Art? and incorporating reflections on Buddhist sites in China, the talk will address how Buddhist icons and sites invite and express a broad range of temporal experiences and temporalities.
Michelle C. Wang is Associate Professor in the Department of Art and Art History at Georgetown University. Her first book Maṇḍalas in the Making: The Visual Culture of Esoteric Buddhism at Dunhuang (Brill, 2018) examines Buddhist maṇḍalas of the 8th-10th centuries at silk road sites in northwestern China. She has also written about art and ritual, miracle tales of animated statues, the transcultural reception of Buddhist motifs, and text and image.
