Mason Professor Curates Major New Display

By Jacquelyn Williamson

Professor Robert DeCaroli is one of three curators of a major new display of Buddhist art called Encountering the Buddha. The exhibit recently opened at the Smithsonian's remodeled Sackler Gallery and will run until November 29, 2020.

Among the show's unusual features, curators will have the opportunity to revise the exhibit in response to comments by viewers and professionals and add further objects to the display. As Professor DeCaroli indicates, the curators accepted a challenge to select and display the items in a way that would encourage viewers to see the objects in context of religious practice; it encourages the visitor to contemplate the intention behind the objects and how they were used.

This goal is furthered by three “immersive” experiences: a video of worship in a Sri Lankan site; a reconstructed Tibetan shrine room; and representations of an extraordinary pilgrimage by a 19-year-old Korean monk in the nine century, to Persia and back.

Finally, the presentation is guided by a desire to convey the complexity of Buddhism and Buddhist art without distracting jargon. Viewers will gain added appreciation of Buddhist views that are “not committed to the attainment of immediate worldly objectives,” and opportunity that may be particularly meaningful in contemporary Washington, D.C.