1. Mediums and Magical Things: Statues, Paintings, and Masks in Asian Places
- Author:
- Laurel Kendall, Lesley Sharp, Max Moerman, and Myron L. Cohen
- Publication Date:
- 10-2021
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- Paintings, statues, and masks—like the bodies of shamans and spirit mediums—give material form and presence to otherwise invisible entities and sometimes they are understood to be enlivened, agentive on their own terms. This book explores how magical images are expected to work with the shamans and spirit mediums who tend and use them in contemporary South Korea, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Bali, Indonesia. It considers how such things are fabricated, marketed, cared for, disposed of, and sometimes transformed into art market commodities and museum artifacts. The two discussants approach this discussion of animated images from two different but intersecting directions. Max Moerman is a scholar of Japanese religion whose work focuses on visual and material representation. Lesley Sharp is a medical anthropologist with an interest in material culture whose recent work has focused on organ transplants and related questions of “life” and “death.” As moderator, Myron Cohen brings a broad knowledge of East Asian popular religion. The event is organized by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute and cosponsored by the New York Southeast Asia Network.
- Topic:
- Religion, Arts, Culture, Spirituality, Museums, Magic, and Mediums
- Political Geography:
- Indonesia, Asia, South Korea, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Bali