[Tlc] Lao event

[justinm at ucr.edu]

Dear Friends and Members of LHF,

We are pleased to announce a very important cultural
exhibition taking place in Luang Prabang, Laos this fall. 
This is a culmination of three years of collaboration between
scholars, artists, local communities and officials, UNESCO,
and the Department of Information and Culture.  Among the
distinguished artists is our very own Prince Nithakhong
Somsanith, who will unveil the long-awaited product of his
many years' dedication to the project.  If you plan on
attending, he will be delighted to see you.  Please let him
know at tiaonith at laoheritagefoundation.org

Below is the press release.

Sincerely,

Niphasone Souphom
President, LHF
http://www.laoheritagefoundation.org


PRESS RELEASE

THE QUIET IN THE LAND art and education project invited
between 2004 and 2006 more than 40 artists and scholars from
the Lao PDR, the Mekong Region, and elsewhere to visit Luang
Prabang, Laos and collaborate with a wide range of local
community members.

>From October 6 to October 11, 2006 THE QUIET IN THE LAND is
organizing in Luang Prabang a reunion/symposium with many of
its participants (artists, scholars, educators) who came to
Luang Prabang, Laos as part of our residency program.

We have also invited many of our supporters to attend this
private event. The goal of the reunion is to discuss the
artists’ projects and collaborations with the communities of
Luang Prabang, as well as our work in the fields of education.
We also wish to discuss Phase 2 of our project that would take
place from 2007 to 2010.

The program of these five days will consist of a seminar,
openings of the exhibitions, meetings, discussions,
celebrations and visits of the 24 monasteries as part of Boun
Ok Pansa, The Quiet in the Land has been collaborating and
supporting, for the past few years, the 24 monasteries of
UNESCO’s World Heritage Site Protected Area to encourage the
creativity around this typical Luang Prabang festival.

We wanted our Reunion/Symposium to coincide with this very
special event.  During the rainy season, which lasts about
three months, the monks traditionally remain in their
monasteries.  At the end of this period of retreat, Luang
Prabang celebrates a Festival of Light (Boun Ok Pansa) where
all the monasteries and houses in the city are lit throughout
one night with lanterns made of bamboo and paper.  In the
previous days, monks and novices, families and other groups of
lay people, start making decorations, bamboo boats and rafts
of different sizes.  After a ceremony of blessings at Vat
Xieng Thong, the fireboats float downstream.

Many of the exhibitions will take place at the LUANG PRABANG
NATIONAL MUSEUM (former Royal Palace) in the newly restored
temporary exhibition rooms around the courtyard, as well as in
The House of Guards (behind the museum), from October 7 to
March 7, 2006.

The official opening ceremony at the Museum will be on October
7, 2006 at 2 PM.  Projects by artists Hans Georg Berger, Ann
Hamilton, Allan Sekula, Shahzia Sikander, Dinh Q Le and
Nithakhong Somsanith, Janine Antoni, Vong Phaophanit, and
Rirkrit Tiravanija will be presented.

The film project of Shirin Neshat will continue during our
second phase as well as the project of Marina Abramovic The
film of Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba will be presented in Luang
Prabang in January 2007, and the artist Cai Guo-Qiang will be
in residency at Vat Pou Khouay Monastery in October 2006 after
the reunion.

For more information, please contact THE QUIET IN THE LAND
project at fmorin5627 at aol.com or call the Project House in
Luang Prabang at + 856 71 212 849.

______________
Dr. Justin McDaniel
Dept. of Religious Studies
2617 Humanities Building
University of California, Riverside
Riverside, CA 92521
951-827-4530
justinm at ucr.edu