Gatön

Celebrating Contemporary Tibetan Culture

Celebrating 20 Years of Work with Tibetan Communities

In Tibetan, “gatön” means celebration. Whether it‘s a wedding, a village festival, or a private party, a gatön is a happy occasion, a time to gather in your community.

As we commemorate our twentieth anniversary, we invite you to join us for a gatön celebrating today‘s finest artists, celebrating our work in Tibetan communites, and most of all, celebrating the uniqueness and beauty of this part of the world.

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For twenty years Trace Foundation has been at the forefront of the effort to preserve the legacy of Tibetan culture while preparing Tibetan communities to meet the challenges of tomorrow.
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A talk on the art of Gendun Chopel, a Tibetan film festival series, a concert, and a contemporary art exhibition: these are just four lenses through which to see Tibet and just a few ways we’re exploring what it means to be Tibetan today.
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One purpose: to support the continuity, development, and vitality of Tibetan communities–leaving behind a lasting trace while celebrating an extraordinary culture.

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TranscendingTibetA Preview

A first look at the
Transcending Tibet exhibition

November 6 – December 5

Although we've postponed the full Transcending Tibet exhibition until the Spring of 2015, we invite you to join us this fall for a special first look at the work of eleven of the exhibition's participating artists. Traveling from Nepal, Italy, Switzerland, Amsterdam, and Queens, these artists will join us for an opening reception and roundtable discussion on everything from their unconventional choices of materials (silkscreen appliqué collage, incense-burned rice paper, monastic robes, and much more) to negotiating Tibet's rich legacy of traditional art and a fast-changing world.

Preview exhibition and opening reception presented at

The gallery space at
132 Perry Street (ground floor)
New York, NY 10014
get directions

Tickets

This event is free and open to the public

Exhibition viewing hours

Tuesday – Saturday

10am – 5pm

(closed November 27–November 29)

Related Programming

Roundtable Discussion
Wednesday, November 12
6:30 pm–8:30 pm

Contemporary Tibetan art scholar Leigh Miller in conversation with the artists

Book Launch
Thursday, December 4
6:30 pm–8:30 pm

Join us for the paperback launch of Clare Harris's book The Museum on the Roof of the World: Art, Politics, and the Representation of Tibet and discussion with Gonkar Gyatso and Tenzing Rigdol.

Related Programing Presented at Trace Foundation

132 Perry Street,
Suite 2B
New York, NY 10014
get directions

Opening Reception

Thursday, November 6, 6:30 pm–8:30 pm

Participating Artists

Kesang Lamdark[+]

Kesang Lamdark was born in Dharamsala but grew up in Switzerland, where he currently resides. He worked as an interior architect before coming to New York City to study at the Parson's School of Design and later at Columbia University, where he obtained a Master of Fine Arts in visual art. He has exhibited works in both solo and group exhibitions in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and North America. He currently resides in Zürich.
Bodhisattva and I, 2014
Courtesy of the artist

Livia Liverani[+]

Born in Rome in 1962, Livia Liverani began to draw as a child under the guidance of her grandmother, also a painter. In 1983 she attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, but left it for Indonesia where she lived for four years. During this time she travelled extensively in Asia, including Japan, which inspired her textile designs. In 1990 she fell in love with China and decided to study both its language and culture. Livia studied Chinese and Taoist philosophy at ISMEO in Rome, and Sanskrit at the Indian Cultural Centre. This led her to travel to Ladakh in 2005. There she met Lama Yeshe Jamyang, who has been teaching her classic sacred Tibetan art. She has returned to Ladakh each summer since, and has been painting on silk themes similar to Buddhist sacred art. Her work has been displayed in several exhibitions in Spain and Italy, and her first painting on silk is kept at the Lamayuru Monastery, Ladakh.
Melong, 2014
Courtesy of the artist

Michela Martello[+]

Michela Martello, born in Grosseto, Italy, studied illustration at the Europe Institute of Design. She has published work in over thirty books, primarily children's books. In 1993 she shifted her focus to painting and held her first exhibition in Milan and New York. She was selected by the American Association of University Women for the Emerging Women Artists Juried Exhibition, and her artwork has being collected and commissioned by both public and private clients: the Serafina Group, the City Cinema Group, the Fulton Collection, among others. She currently lives and works in New York.
Magic Moment, 2009
Courtesy of the artist

Nyima Dhondup[+]

Nyima Dhondup was born in Tibet in 1970. In 1986 he moved to India, where he devoted himself to Buddhist philosophy and religion. Since 1997, he has lived in Italy, where he has participated in workshops organized by Caritas Progetto Itercultura, by Rome Township, and by ASIA Onlus. Since 2008, he has studied Tibetan painting with Lama Yeshe Jamyang from Nurla, Ladakh. He is currently teaching Tibetan language at Sapienza University, Rome.
Holy Feet, 2013
Courtesy of the artist

Rabkar Wangchuk[+]

Rabkar Wangchuk is a Tibetan thangka painter and sculptor who has exhibited work in venues ranging from universities to museums, most recently at Tibet House, New York. He lives and works in New York City.
Empty Planet, 2014
Private collection

Sonam Dolma Brauen[+]

Sonam Dolma Brauen, born in 1953 in Tibet, has lived in India, Switzerland, and New York City. She studied art and installation at the Art School of Bern and has held residencies at the Vermont Studio Center and Heinsa Tempel, Korea. She now divides her time between Switzerland and New York. She has exhibited widely in Europe and the United States.
My Father's Death, 2011
Courtesy of the artist

Tashi Norbu (Netherlands)[+]

Tashi Norbu is an independent Tibetan artist who currently resides in the Netherlands. He was educated as a traditional Tibetan thangka painter in Dharamsala. He completed his art studies at the Saint Lucas Academy of Visual Arts in Ghent, Belgium. Since then, he has developed work that juxtaposes the fundamentals of Tibetan Buddhism alongside Western art forms, ideas, and icons.
Dharma, 2013
Courtesy of the artist

Tashi Norbu (Lhasa)[+]

Tashi Norbu was born in Shigatse in 1981. He studied art first at the Tibet Art School and then at the Tibet University. He is a member of the Tibet Fine Art Association and a founding member of the Shunu Dame Association. His work has been exhibited in the Scorching Sun of Tibet, Songzhuang Art Center, Beijing (2010) and Tibetan Encounters: Contemporary Meets Tradition, Rossi & Rossi, London (2007), among others.
Style, 2013
Courtesy of the artist

Tenzin Phakmo[+]

Tenzin Phakmo was born on New Years Day in 1985 in Pokhara, Nepal. As a volunteer teacher in the remote village of Manang, he was inspired to pursue a career in art. Tenzin studied fine arts with Alok Gurung, one of the most respected artists of Nepal, and is now known for his oil paintings, produced with a pallet knife, his precise touch, and his eye for nuances of color.
My Land series: Governors Island, 2013
Courtesy of the artist

TseKal[+]

Tseten Kalsang, known as TseKal, was born in 1972 in Duilong County, near Lhasa. In 1996 he graduated from the physics department of Tibet University, and after pursuing his interest in art, started to teach art at Duilong Secondary School. His work has been exhibited in Tibetan Horizons: Revisiting Tradition, J. Bastien Art, Brussels, Belgium; New Age: New Media, Australia and China; and the Scorching Sun of Tibet, Songzhuang Art Center, China.
Nike, 2014
Courtesy of the artist

Tülkü Jamyang[+]

Born in 1977 in Kathmandu, Tülkü Jamyang was recognized as the reincarnation of a spiritual teacher at two years of age. He studied Buddhist philosophy in southern India and has traveled and taught extensively throughout China, Nepal, Bhutan, India, Canada, Japan, and the United States. He is known for his songs and poems in Nepali, and he is the author of No Time for Complex Buddhism. The son of a famous thangka painter and the brother of contemporary artist Tsherin Sherpa, Jamyang began working in visual arts only in the last few years.
Gay-pa (Blooming), 2014
Courtesy of the artist

TranscendingTibet

30 Contemporary Artists Explore
What It Means to Be Tibetan Today

Spring 2015
Dates to be Announced

Representing thirty emerging and established artists from the Tibetan Plateau and around the world, Transcending Tibet is a landmark exhibit of newly commissioned work. Mining the visual and material history of both Tibet and the modern world – reappropriating iconography, playing boldly with everything from acrylic and oil to mirrors illuminated with LEDs – these artists offer a varied and nuanced look at Tibetan identity and culture today

Presented at Trace Foundation

132 Perry Street, Suite 2B
New York, NY 10014
get directions

Tickets

This event is free and open to the public

Exhibition viewing hours
Tuesday – Saturday, 10am–5pm

Trace & Contemporary Tibetan Art

Once limited to religious thangkas and landscapes meant for tourists, Tibetan visual art has in just ten years transformed into a flourishing international movement, a movement we are proud to have supported from the beginning through artist residencies, artist talks, grants, and much, much more.


The artists' images below are not part of the Transcending Tibet exhibition and are meant only to represent the artists' styles and works.

read more about our work in the arts

participating artists

Benchung[+]

Benchung, born in 1971 in Lhasa, is a founding member of the Gedun Choephel Artists' Guild. He was educated at Tibet University; the Tianjin Academy of the Arts; the Central Industrial Arts Institute in Beijing; and the Oslo National Academy of the Arts. He teaches at Tibet University in Lhasa, and his works have been widely exhibited in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan.
Portrait n.6, 2009
Private collection

Ga Qin[+]

Bio coming soon.
Untitled, 2013
Courtesy of the artist

Gade[+]

A founding member of the Gedun Choephel Artists' Guild, Gade was born in 1971 in Lhasa. He studied art at Tibet University, where he now teaches. He has exhibited in numerous solo and group shows internationally and cocurated the groundbreaking Scorching Sun of Tibet exhibition at the Songzhuang Art Center, Beijing. His art has been featured in private and public collections around the world including the National Art Museum of China; Rossi & Rossi, London; the World Museum Liverpool; and The White Rabbit Foundation, Australia. He divides his time between Lhasa and Beijing.
Mickey Mouse, 2011
Private collection

Gonkar Gyatso[+]

Born in 1961 in Lhasa, Gonkar Gyatso studied Chinese brush painting in Beijing and thangka painting in Dharamsala. He earned a Master of Fine Arts from the Chelsea School of Art and Design and has lived and worked in London since. He is the founder of the Sweet Tea House, a contemporary art gallery dedicated to showing Tibetan work, based in London. Gyatso’s work has been exhibited in galleries and museums around the world, including the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, The City Gallery (New Zealand), The Institute of Modern Art (Australia), the Rubin Museum of Art (New York), the Chinese National Art Gallery (Beijing), among many others.
Three Realms, 2011
Courtesy of the artist

Jhamsang[+]

Born 1971 in Lhasa, at sixteen years old Jhamsang became an apprentice to thangka master Tenpa Rapten. His first exhibition was in 1989 at the Lhasa Normal School, and since then he has studied biology, Chinese, computer science, and art at Tibet University and Beijing Capital Normal College. A member of the Gendun Choephel Artists’ Guild, he has taught art for many years.
Buddha Series: Mayadivi, 2010
Private collection

Kesang Lamdark[+]

Kesang Lamdark was born in Dharamsala but grew up in Switzerland, where he currently resides. He worked as an interior architect before coming to New York City to study at the Parson's School of Design and later at Columbia University, where he obtained a Master of Fine Arts in visual art. He has exhibited works in both solo and group exhibitions in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and North America. He currently resides in Zürich.
Desperate Housewife, 2011
Courtesy of Rossi & Rossi

Livia Liverani[+]

Born in Rome in 1962, Livia Liverani began to draw as a child under the guidance of her grandmother, also a painter. In 1983 she attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, but left it for Indonesia where she lived for four years. During this time she travelled extensively in Asia, including Japan, which inspired her textile designs. In 1990 she fell in love with China and decided to study both its language and culture. Livia studied Chinese and Taoist philosophy at ISMEO in Rome, and Sanskrit at the Indian Cultural Centre. This led her to travel to Ladakh in 2005. There she met Lama Yeshe Jamyang, who has been teaching her classic sacred Tibetan art. She has returned to Ladakh each summer since, and has been painting on silk themes similar to Buddhist sacred art. Her work has been displayed in several exhibitions in Spain and Italy, and her first painting on silk is kept at the Lamayuru Monastery, Ladakh.
Book of Dharma, 2011
Courtesy of the artist

Losang Gyatso[+]

Losang Gyatso was born in Lhasa, grew up in Britain, and moved to the United States in 1974, where he studied at the Academy of Art in San Francisco. He worked as an award-winning art director in New York City for almost twenty years before starting to make his art. His bold yet subtle works look deeply into Tibetan history, culture, politics, and aesthetics. Gyatso produces startling new ways of seeing and being Tibetan today, often stripping away almost all cultural surface embellishments to find their universal expressions. Gyatso has exhibited at galleries and museums in the United States and Europe.
The Key
Courtesy of the artist

Michela Martello[+]

Michela Martello, born in Grosseto, Italy, studied illustration at the Europe Institute of Design. She has published work in over thirty books, primarily children's books. In 1993 she shifted her focus to painting and held her first exhibition in Milan and New York. She was selected by the American Association of University Women for the Emerging Women Artists Juried Exhibition, and her artwork has being collected and commissioned by both public and private clients: the Serafina Group, the City Cinema Group, the Fulton Collection, among others. She currently lives and works in New York.
Courage, 2009
Courtesy of the artist

Mirella Virgili[+]

Mirella Virgili was born and raised in Rome, Italy. She studied painting, sculpture, and drawing at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome. During a two-year stay in Northern India she studied Tibetan art and gained experience and inspiration from its techniques and iconography. Her work has been exhibited in Rome, Paris, Milan, New York, and Washington D.C. Mirella divides her time between New York City and her studio in the Catskill Mountains.
Buddha N.16, 2002
Courtesy of the artist

Nortse[+]

Born in Lhasa in 1963, Nortse studied at Tibet University Lhasa, the Central Arts Academy in Beijing, and the art academies in Guangzhou and Tianjing. His early artistic expression as a stage designer coupled with his academic training can be seen in his striking use of mixed media. Included in his oeuvre are profound photographic statements as well as portraits in oil on canvas. He has exhibited in Beijing, Colorado, Königswinter, London, Lhasa, New York, and Santa Fe, and his work is held in collections worldwide. He is a member of the Gedun Choephel Artists' Guild in Lhasa.
Release from Suffering, 2007
Courtesy of Rossi & Rossi

Nyima Dhondup[+]

Nyima Dhondup was born in Tibet in 1970. In 1986 he moved to India, where he devoted himself to Buddhist philosophy and religion. Since 1997, he has lived in Italy, where he has participated in workshops organized by Caritas Progetto Itercultura, by Rome Township, and by ASIA Onlus. Since 2008, he has studied Tibetan painting with Lama Yeshe Jamyang from Nurla, Ladakh. He is currently teaching Tibetan language at Sapienza University, Rome.
Santideva, 2011
Private collection

Pema Rinzin[+]

Pema Rinzin is a world-renowned master Tibetan thangka painter and contemporary artist. After completing a traditional period of study with Kalsang Oshoe, he has been exhibited internationally, most notably by the Rubin Museum of Art and the Shoko-ji Cultural Research Institute. In 2007, he founded the New York Tibetan Art Studio, the only institute in the Western Hemisphere dedicated to teaching and preserving Tibetan art. He is currently at work on a series of contemporary paintings and is writing a book on the history of individual Tibetan master artists.
Lost Portrait #2, 2010
Courtesy of the Joshua Liner Gallery

Pempa[+]

Pempa was born in 1974 near Lhasa and studied at the Department of Arts of Hebei Normal School and at Tibet University. After graduating, he entered the Gendun Choepel Artists' Guild. His paintings have been exhibited in shows around the world, including in the Scorching Sun of Tibet, Sungzhuang Art Center, Beijing (2010); Modern Art from the Roof of the World, Siebengesmuseum, Kongswinter (2006); and Classical to Contemporary Art from Tibet, Rossi & Rossi, London (2005); among many others.
Sky Burial, 2009
Private collection

Phuntsok Tsering[+]

Phuntsok Tsering Duechung was born in Central Tibet. He studied traditional Tibetan painting with a master teacher, while at the same time learning Tibetan calligraphy and poetry from his grandfather. He taught Tibetan language in Lhasa and studied classical poetry and Tibetan literature at Tibet University before moving to Germany in 1998. He currently lives in Frankfurt, and works for Tibet House Germany. He is also a member of the Kailash Artists' Group.
Wanderer Through Time, 2013
Courtesy of the artist

Rabkar Wangchuk[+]

Rabkar Wangchuk is a Tibetan thangka painter and sculptor who has exhibited work in venues ranging from universities to museums, most recently at Tibet House, New York. He lives and works in New York City.
Master of Mind and Body, "I", 2013
Private collection

Rima Fujita[+]

Rima Fujita was born in Tokyo, lived in New York City for thirty-two years, and now resides in Southern California. She is a graduate of Parsons School of Design and has exhibited her work internationally to great acclaim. In 2001, Rima established Books for Children, an organization that produces children's books and donates them to children in need around the world. She has created four children's books and donated more than twelve thousand books to the Tibetan children in exile.
Sacred Home, 2008
Courtesy of the artist

Sodhon[+]

Born in Lhasa in 1971, Sodhon grew up studying with masters of thangka painting. In 1988, he moved to India, where he devoted himself to children's-book illustrations. He has worked with many Tibetan cultural associations, including the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA) and the Amnye Machen Institute. His work has been exhibited around the world, from New York City and Colorado to India. He currently lives and works in New York City.
I Exist, 2013
Courtesy of Rossi & Rossi Gallery

Sonam Dolma Brauen[+]

Sonam Dolma Brauen, born in 1953 in Tibet, has lived in India, Switzerland, and New York City. She studied art and installation at the Art School of Bern and has held residencies at the Vermont Studio Center and Heinsa Tempel, Korea. She now divides her time between Switzerland and New York. She has exhibited widely in Europe and the United States.
My Father's Death, 2011
Courtesy of the artist

Tashi Norbu (Lhasa)[+]

Tashi Norbu was born in Shigatse in 1981. He studied art first at the Tibet Art School and then at the Tibet University. He is a member of the Tibet Fine Art Association and a founding member of the Shunu Dame Association. His work has been exhibited in the Scorching Sun of Tibet, Songzhuang Art Center, Beijing (2010) and Tibetan Encounters: Contemporary Meets Tradition, Rossi & Rossi, London (2007), among others.
Unnatural State N.3, 2009
Courtesy of the artist

Tashi Norbu (Netherlands)[+]

Tashi Norbu is an independent Tibetan artist who currently resides in the Netherlands. He was educated as a traditional Tibetan thangka painter in Dharamsala. He completed his art studies at the Saint Lucas Academy of Visual Arts in Ghent, Belgium. Since then, he has developed work that juxtaposes the fundamentals of Tibetan Buddhism alongside Western art forms, ideas, and icons.
Mess of a Cherry Blossom Culture, 2014
Courtesy of the artist

Tashi Phuntsok[+]

Tashi Phuntsok was born in 1977 in Lhasa and studied at the Central National Art Academy. He is currently teaching at Lhasa No. 3 Primary School. His work has been exhibited in the Scorching Sun of Tibet, Songzhuang Art Center, Beijing (2010) and in Modern Local Tibetan, Mountain and Fish Gallery, 789 Art District, Beijing (2009).
Prayer Beads 2, 2010
Private collection

Tenzin Norbu[+]

Tenzin Norbu was born in 1971 in Dolpo, Nepal. His works have appeared in many publications, including Caravans of the Himalaya (National Geographic Publishers, 2005) and National Geographic magazine, as well as the feature film Himalaya, which was nominated for an Academy Award in 1999. He is the illustrator of four children's book and exhibits his paintings regularly in Nepal and abroad. Along with the works of Eric Valli, Norbu's work was featured in a major exhibition at Luxembourg Gardens in Paris, 2002. His work is currently held in many private collections and museums, among which is the Rubin Museum of Art (New York).
Untitled, 2009
Private collection

Tenzin Phakmo[+]

Tenzin Phakmo was born on New Years Day in 1985 in Pokhara, Nepal. As a volunteer teacher in the remote village of Manang, he was inspired to pursue a career in art. Tenzin studied fine arts with Alok Gurung, one of the most respected artists of Nepal, and is now known for his oil paintings, produced with a pallet knife, his precise touch, and his eye for nuances of color.
The Wait, 2013
Private collection

Tenzing Rigdol[+]

Tenzing Rigdol was born in Kathmandu, Nepal. He has a diploma in traditional thangka painting and also studied sand painting and butter sculpture in Kathmandu and India. In 2005, he attained a Bachelor of Arts in Art History and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting/Drawing at the University of Colorado at Denver. Tenzing Rigdol's art has been exhibited in numerous venues in the United States, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and China, including at te Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. In 2008 he was awarded the Rubin Himalayan Artist Fellowship at the Vermont Studio Center. He now lives and works in New York City.
Instant Buddha, 2011
Private collection

TseKal[+]

Tseten Kalsang, known as TseKal, was born in 1972 in Duilong County, near Lhasa. In 1996 he graduated from the physics department of Tibet University, and after pursuing his interest in art, started to teach art at Duilong Secondary School. His work has been exhibited in Tibetan Horizons: Revisiting Tradition, J. Bastien Art, Brussels, Belgium; New Age: New Media, Australia and China; and the Scorching Sun of Tibet, Songzhuang Art Center, China.
Soaring, 2009
Private collection

Tserang Dhondup[+]

Tserang Dhondup studied at the fine arts department of the Northwest Minorities College of Lanzhou, Gansu Province, and at the at Central Academy of Drama of Beijing. His work has been displayed at major exhibitions in Lhasa, Beijing, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong.
Old House, 2011
Courtesy of the artist

Tseren Dolma[+]

Tseren Dolma was born in Lhasa in 1966. She holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from the art department of Tibet University. She currently teaches art at Lhasa Normal School. Her work has received many national awards and has been featured in many national and international exhibitions including Scorching Sun of Tibet, Songzhuang Art Center, Beijing, and Glamour Tibet, Beijing (2010).
Untitled, 2008
Courtesy of the artist

Tsering Nyandak[+]

Tsering Nyandak, born in 1974 in Lhasa, is a founding member of the Gedun Choephel Artists' Guild in Lhasa. Beginning in 1999, Nyandak studied art under Tsewang Tashi, another member of the guild and a lecturer in the fine arts department at Tibet University. His most recent works include bright, symbolically charged portraits of women and young children against barren landscapes.
Bouncing with Ballons, 2008
Courtesy of Rossi & Rossi Gallery

Tülku Jamyang[+]

Born in 1977 in Kathmandu, Tülku Jamyang was recognized as the reincarnation of a spiritual teacher at two years of age. He studied Buddhist philosophy in southern India and has traveled and taught extensively throughout China, Nepal, Bhutan, India, Canada, Japan, and the United States. He is known for his songs and poems in Nepali, and he is the author of No Time for Complex Buddhism. The son of a famous thangka painter and the brother of contemporary artist Tsherin Sherpa, Jamyang began working in visual arts only in the last few years.
Kora (Circumambulation), 2014
Private collection

Lens onTibet

A 12-Film Series
of the Most Exciting Tibetan Films Today

August 20 – August 31

Through the lens of the camera, a generation of Tibetan and Western filmmakers are capturing breathtaking landscapes and creating a global stage for Tibet’s most captivating subjects, from a controversial caterpillar fungus that’s changing the lives and livellhoods of Tibetans to the place of women in rural Tibetan communities. Join us and MoMA for a series of screenings of Tibet’s most exciting films and talks with the visionary directors behind them.

Presented at MoMA

11 W 53rd Street
New York, NY 10022
get directions

Tickets

visit moma.org to purchase tickets

Trace Foundation & Tibetan Cinema

In 2005, some eighty years after the first film projectors and cameras arrived on the Tibetan Plateau, a young man applied to us for support to go to film school. That young man, Pema Tseden, is now widely considered Tibet’s first filmmaker. Since then, we've been proud supporters of a new wave of Tibetan filmmakers, including Sonthar Gyal and Dukar Tserang. We've also supported an inaugural documentary project to train fifteen Tibetan students in digital camera techniques and published a volume of Latse Journal tracing the arc of filmmaking in Tibet.

read more about our work with Tibetan filmmakers

A Discussion With The Directors

Wednesday, August 20, 6:00 – 8:00 pm

Join us for a roundtable with nine of the featured filmmakers, moderated by Tibetan film scholar Robert Barnett; with Assistant Curator, Department of Film, MoMA, Sally Berger and Senior Vice President of Kino Lorber Elizabeth Sheldon. The roundtable will examine everything from the current state of Tibetan film on the global stage to the ins-and-outs of life as a filmmaker today, and will be followed by an opportunity to meet the directors over cocktails.

RSVP is closed

Screenings

Yartsa Rinpoche:
Precious Caterpillar [+]

North American Premiere
Yartsa-Gunbu (Cordyceps sinesis) has been called “Tibet's Golden Worm” and “The Viagra of the Himalayas.” Discovered thirty years ago as a natural remedy, it soon became a boon to Tibetan nomads. Today, some nomadic Tibetan communities bring in as much as 80 percent of their income from collecting Yartsa-Gunbu. The documentary story follows Darlo, an elder in the Amdo region, who, with his family forms a group of thirty that journey eight hundred kilometers to collect the worms, while exploring its larger implications.
Year:
2013
Director:
Dorje Tsering Chenaktsang
Language:
Tibetan (Amdo Dialect)
Subtitles:
English
Runtime:
101 min.
Country:
France/China
Screening Times
  • Thursday, Aug. 21, 7:00 PM
  • Followed by a discussion with Dorje Tsering Chenaktsang
  • Friday, Aug. 22, 4:00 PM
  • Saturday, Aug. 23, 1:30 PM
  • Sunday, Aug. 24, 2:00 PM
  • Monday, Aug. 25, 4:00 PM
  • Tuesday, Aug. 26, 4:00 PM
  • Wednesday, Aug. 27, 4:00 PM
get tickets at moma.org

Silent Holy Stones [+]

It happens in just forty-eight hours: "Little Lama," a ten-year-old Tibetan boy, who's training to become a monk, returns home for New Year's celebrations. After a long journey on horseback over icy steppes, he finds solace in his family's new TV, unable to pull away from serials of Buddhist stories in this home away from the isolation of his monastery. "You dream too much for a young monk," his family tells him, and they're right: the more he watches, the more it becomes clear there's no going back to his religious practices. Filmed on location at the Guwa Monastery, Silent Holy Stones is the "astonishing" (Cinema Scope) and "delightful" (Variety) first film of visionary Tibetan director Pema Tseden—an official selection of the Pusan International Film Festival, the International Buddhist Film Festival, the International Film Festival Rotterdam, and the San Francisco International Film Festival.
Year:
2005
Director:
Pema Tseden
Language:
Tibetan and English
Subtitles:
English
Runtime:
102 min.
Country:
China
Screening Times
  • Friday, Aug. 22, 7:00 PM
  • Followed by at discussion with Pema Tseden
get tickets at moma.org

Nowhere to Call Home:
A Tibetan in Beijing [+]

North American Premiere
Widowed at twenty-eight, Tibetan farmer Zanta defies her tyrannical father-in-law and refuses to marry his other son. When Zanta's in-laws won't let her seven-year-old go to school, she flees to Beijing to become a street vendor. Destitute, she inveigles a foreign customer into paying her boy's school fees. On a holiday trip back to her village, Zanta's in-laws take her son hostage, drawing the unwitting American into the violent family feud. The two women forge a partnership in a bid to out-maneuver the in-laws. A "deeply moving” and “ethically challenging" story (Jonathan Watts, the Guardian), Nowhere to Call Home provides an intimate and brutally frank view of village family life and the struggles Tibetan migrants face in Beijing.
Year:
2014
Director:
Jocelyn Ford with Zanta
Language:
Qiang, English, Chinese
Subtitles:
English
Runtime:
77 min.
Country:
USA
Screening Times
  • Saturday, Aug. 23, 4:00 PM
  • Followed by a discussion with Jocelyn Ford
  • Friday, Aug. 29, 4:00 PM
get tickets at moma.org

The Sun Beaten Path [+]

New York Premiere
This debut feature from the cinematographer of Silent Holy Stones, as well as Embrace (both also in the exhibition), presents the story of a young man making a pilgrimage to Lhasa to overcome the guilt of causing a family member's death. Based on a true story.
Year:
2011
Director:
Sonthar Gyal
Language:
Tibetan and Chinese
Subtitles:
English
Runtime:
89 min.
Country:
China
Screening Times
  • Saturday, Aug. 23, 7:30 PM
  • (Followed by discussion with Sonthar Gyal)
  • Saturday, Aug. 30, 1:30 PM
get tickets at moma.org

Summer Pasture [+]

In recent years growing pressures from the outside world have posed unprecedented challenges for Tibetan nomads. Rigid government policies, rangeland degradation, and the allure of modern life have prompted many nomadic families to leave the pastures for permanent settlement in towns and cities. Summer Pasture chronicles one summer with a young family amid this period of great uncertainty. With their pastoral traditions confronting rapid modernization, Locho, his wife Yama, and their infant daughter, nicknamed Jiatomah, must reconcile the challenges that drastically threaten to reshape their existence.
Year:
2010
Director:
Lynn True, Nelson Walker, Tsering Perlo
Language:
English, Tibetan
Subtitles:
English
Runtime:
85 min.
Country:
Tibet/USA
Screening Times
  • Monday, Aug. 25, 7:00 PM
  • (Followed by discussion with Lynn True and Nelson Walker)
get tickets at moma.org

Daughters of Wisdom [+]

This intimate portrait of the lives of a rare sect of nuns of the Kala Ringo Monastery is shot in remote and rural Nangchen, Tibet. Under the leadership of a progressive teacher, the nuns are receiving unprecedented educational and religious training, and preserving their rich cultural heritage even as they slowly reshape it.
Year:
2007
Director:
Bari Pearlman
Language:
Tibetan
Subtitles:
English
Runtime:
68 min.
Country:
USA
Screening Times
  • Tuesday, Aug. 26, 7:00 PM
  • (Followed by a discussion with Bari Pearlman)
get tickets at moma.org

A Gesar Bard's Tale [+]

As a boy, Dawa was an illiterate Tibetan nomad whose life revolved around herding yaks. At thirteen, his life changed: through a series of visions, Dawa acquired the gift of telling Tibet's King Gesar epic story. Now, at thirty-five, Dawa receives a salary from the Chinese government as a guardian of national cultural heritage and is regarded as a holy man by his community. When an earthquake reduced his hometown to rubble, Chinese redevelopment of the region takes a giant leap forward. In the midst of such seismic shifts, Dawa seeks healing from King Gesar and other divine protectors of the land.
Year:
2013
Director:
Donagh Coleman, Lharigsto
Language:
Tibetan
Subtitles:
English
Runtime:
82 min.
Country:
China/Finland
Screening Times
  • Wednesday, Aug. 27, 7:00 PM
  • (Followed by a discussion with Donagh Coleman and Lharigtso)
get tickets at moma.org

The Son of a Herder [+]

World Premiere
A herder's son, Gonpo Tseden, has just completed training at the vocational school, and is eager to reorient his ideals and ambitions beyond pastoral life. But reality presents him with a challenge and burdensome responsibility -- horseracing, nomadic migration, and an illness in the family all compel him to follow the traditional role and values of a herdsman. This film, gorgeously shot in eastern Tibet's Zehok region, shows us an unembellished portrait of the life of a plateau herder, an existence caught between ideals and reality, modernity and tradition, and individual choices.
Year:
2014
Director:
Tashi Chopel
Language:
Tibetan
Subtitles:
English
Runtime:
64 min.
Country:
China
Screening Times
  • Thursday, Aug. 28, 4:00 PM
  • Sunday, Aug. 31, 5:00 PM
get tickets at moma.org

Tantric Yogi [+]

Tantric Yogi is a documentary about an enormous ngakpa (“weathermen”) gathering in Amdo that happens just once every sixty years. The film follows one group of ngakpa as they prepare to undertake the trip from the filmmaker's home village. Tantric Yogi offers an intimate glimpse into the life and practice of these “weathermen” and their families.
Year:
2005
Director:
Dorje Tsering Chenaktsang
Language:
English, Tibetan
Subtitles:
English
Runtime:
50 min.
Country:
France/China
Screening Times
  • Thursday, Aug. 28, 7:00 PM
  • Sunday, Aug. 31, 2:00 PM
get tickets at moma.org

Embrace [+]

North American Premiere
Embrace presents the complex reciprocal saturation of human communities, gods, Buddha Dharma, and natural landscape marked with religious significance. Through the narratives of a father and a son, the film documents a ritualized relationship between people, the place of their dwelling, and natural surroundings. Built around ngakpa tradition and the challenges it faces in a modern world, the story is thoroughly researched, thoughtfully produced, and beautifully shot, providing a glimpse into a rarely seen world.
Year:
2011
Director:
Dan Smyer Yu, Pema Tashi
Language:
English, Tibetan
Subtitles:
English
Runtime:
55 min.
Country:
China/Germany
Screening Times
  • Thursday, Aug. 28, 7:00 PM
  • Sunday, Aug. 31, 2:00 PM
get tickets at moma.org

The Valley of the Heroes [+]

North American Premiere
This documentary, a project of Kham Film Project, offers a rare portrait of Tibetan Muslims in the Hualong area of eastern Tibet/Qinghai Province. Issues of identity and language are explored in this intimate and sensitive film.
Year:
2013
Director:
Khashem Gyal
Language:
Tibetan, Chinese
Subtitles:
English
Runtime:
53 min.
Country:
China
Screening Times
  • Friday, Aug. 29, 7:00 PM
  • Saturday, Aug. 30, 4:00 PM
get tickets at moma.org

Kokonor [+]

For centuries, Tibetan nomads were the only inhabitants on the banks of the sacred Lake Kokonor—the Blue Lake—in Amdo (eastern Tibet). Starting in the 1990s, the area saw a dramatic rise in domestic tourism: It was not just the lake's beauty that drew tourists but the Tibetan culture in general. This influx of tourists came at a cost: the locals found themselves having to adapt to new roles in the tourism industry. This glimpse at the Kokonor community examines the transformation of the lives of the Tibetans who live there.
Year:
2005
Director:
Dorje Tsering Chenaktsang
Language:
Tibetan, Mandarin, English
Subtitles:
English
Runtime:
50 min.
Country:
France/China
Screening Times
  • Friday, Aug. 29, 7:00 PM
  • Saturday, Aug. 30, 4:00 PM
get tickets at moma.org

Gendun ChopelModernArtist

A conversation with leading
Gendun Chopel Scholar Donald Lopez

May 22, 6:30–8:30 PM

Gendun Chopel, one of the most important figures of the twentieth century, was famous for his skills as a poet and infamous for his controversial views. In addition to being a poet, he was a talented artist who developed a style previously unknown in the long and illustrious history of Tibetan painting. Join us for the inaugural event of Gatön: a book launch of our publication Gendun Chopel: Tibet’s First Modern Artist and a conversation with the author, Donald Lopez, a leading Gendun Chopel scholar.

Presented at Trace Foundation

132 Perry Street, Suite 2B
New York, NY 10014
get directions

About the Book

The Gendun Chopel Centennial Conference, the first major event organized by Latse Library, convened twenty-two friends, family members, scholars, and collectors to cover all aspects of Gendun Chopel’s legacy. We invite you to read the proceedings from the conference and order the book inspired by this conference, featuring Gendun Chopel’s remarkable watercolors and pencil sketches – works that attest to his distinction as Tibet’s first modern artist.

get your copy from Serindia