at Asia Society Museum (725 Park Avenue, New York City)
With an assassination, delayed visa’s, anti-American protests and travel restrictions the newest exhibit at at Asia Society almost didn’t happen. The project will finally open today. The exhibit features Buddist art from the Gandhara civilization which lived in the country around 2,000 years ago. The last exhibition in the United States that featured art from the society was back in 1960.
“I persisted because this is a unique opportunity for us to show the cultural heritage of Pakistan at a time when U.S-Pakistan relations are probably at their lowest ever,” Melissa Chiu, the director of the Asia Society Museum, told the New York Times.
Chiu went to great lengths to have the exhibit brought to New York, including multiple trips to Pakistan in which she convinced museum boards and governors of provinces to part with their art for three months.
For more information, visit www.asiasociety.org/arts/asia-society-museum.