Silk Road Oasis Symposium: Exploring Dunhuang’s Legacy
The International Dunhuang Project (IDP) is an international cultural project established by the British Library in 1994. This project aims to unite global collecting institutions to protect, catalogue and digitize manuscripts, paintings, artworks, etc. from Dunhuang and the archaeological sites in the eastern section of the Silk Road scattered around the world.
This seminar, as the closing event of the "Silk Road Oasis Seminar - Exploring the Diverse Heritage of Dunhuang" exhibition, attracted many internationally renowned scholars and young talents. Dr. Zhenru Zhou's speech provided a new perspective for understanding the inheritance and transformation of Dunhuang culture in the contemporary context.
She analyzed the experimental nature of "Dunhuang Vision" from two levels. On the one hand, through exhibition narration, chapter arrangement, space design and installations, she deliberately created a visual image and multi-sensory experience of "approaching the Mogao Grottoes", and organized the narration by means of spatial sequence and temporal juxtaposition, transcending the narrative logic of purely visual things. On the other hand, by introducing landscapes, art history and material art related to Dunhuang, and skillfully arranging the positions of contemporary, modern and historical works within this visual field, she aimed to trigger connections, stimulate imagination and prompt people to reflect on existing concepts, thus breaking through preconceived frameworks.
Seminar content on February 21:
The theme of the first day was "Thousand Buddha Caves: Perceiving the Religion of Dunhuang". Professor Michelle Wang explored the significance of the phenomenology of the Thousand Buddha theme. From this theme, contents such as archaeological insights of Dunhuang in the Han Dynasty, research on geographical literature, and Buddhist slave trade were extended, covering multiple fields such as archaeology, history, and religion, demonstrating the diversity and depth of Dunhuang research.
"The Thousand Buddhas: Sensing Religion at Dun-huang"
-- Michelle Wang,
Georgetown University
"'All quiet on the Western front?': New Archaeolog-ical Insights on the Dunhuang Imperial Comma-ndery during the Han Dynasty"
-- Arnaud Bertrand,
Musée Guimet
"Dunhuang Geographical Docu-ments: Knowledge Production and Local History during the Tang"
-- Alexis Lycas,
École Pratique des Hautes Études
(EPHE – PSL)
"Buddhist Slave Trade on the Silk Road?"
-- Cuilan Liu,
University of Pittsburgh
"Echoes of the Wind:
Dunhuang Banners in Commemoration and De-votion"
-- Yoonah Hwang,
Pepperdine University
"Letters of Legacy: The Sogdian Influence on Old Uyghur,Mongolian and Man-chu Writing"
-- Nan Ni,
SOAS
"New Thoughts about the Dating of Mogao Cave 464’s Murals"
-- Qi Xiaoqing,
Dunhuang Academy
"Medicine on the Silk Roads"
-- Vivienne Lo,
UCL
"The Tibetan Empire at Dunhuang: Buddhism and Be-yond"
-- Moderated by Sam van Schaik – British Library,
Lewis Doney – University of Bonn,
Channa Li – Institute for the Cultural and Intellectual History of Asia,
Tsering Samdrup – University of Leeds.
Seminar content on February 22:
On the second day, He Peibin focused on "Daily Life and Everydayness in Dunhuang", presenting the life of local residents from a new perspective. Diego Tamburini introduced the research on Dunhuang textiles and dyes at the British Museum. Colin Brisson talked about the significance of digitizing Dunhuang manuscripts. Based on this, research on ancient languages in Xinjiang, Tocharian paper documents, etc. was extended, as well as discussions on many aspects such as the Library Cave, Dunhuang clothing, Dunhuang music, and Dunhuang curation, comprehensively and deeply excavating Dunhuang culture.
"Everyday and Everydayness in Dunhuang"
-- Puay Peng Ho,
National University of Singapore
"Textiles and Dyes from Dunhuang – An Overview of Scientific Research at the British Museum"
-- Diego Tamburini,
British Museum
"The Dunhuang Manuscripts as a Stepping Stone toward Mass Digitisation of China’s Literary Heritage"
-- Colin Brisson,
École Pratique des Hautes Études
"Using Sound to Explore Ancient Languages of Xin-jiang"
-- Colin Chinnery,
Sound Art Museum
"Analyses of Tocharian Paper Documents Stored at the Bibliothèque nationale de France:Revealing Connections Between Central Asian Peoples"
-- Emilie Arnaud-Nguyen,
Freelance paper conservator
"Researching, Reconstructing, and Reimagining: the Dun-huang Library Cave"
-- Xiaoze Xie,
Stanford University
"Understanding Origins, Illuminating the Path A-head: the Inheritance and Innovation of Dunhuang Costumes"
-- Chu Yan,
Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology
"Plurality & Transformation: The Music of Dunhuang"
-- Xiaoshi Wei,
China Database for Traditional Music
"Seeking Dunhuang Beyond its Borders: Overview of Staging Dunhuang Exhibition at Dunhuang Contemporary Art Museum"
-- Zhenru Zhou,
Tsinghua University
Zhenru Zhou
A scholar of architectural history is currently working at the School of Architecture, Tsinghua University. She has studied and interned at the University of Chicago and the Dunhuang Academy. Engaged in the research of Dunhuang architecture, integrating traditional research objects such as architectural images, grottoes and wooden architecture, to reveal the comprehensive spatial art of ancient Buddhist architecture.
Her doctoral dissertation "Real and Illusory: The Transformation of Dunhuang Grotto Architecture from Tang to Song Dynasties" won the best dissertation award of the Department of Art History at the University of Chicago and the doctoral dissertation fellowship of the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts of the National Gallery of Art in the United States. She has participated as an academic advisor in the exhibition "Millennium Construction: The Beauty of Architecture in Dunhuang Murals" held by the Dunhuang Academy.
She is the curator of the "Staging Dunhuang" exhibition at the Dunhuang Contemporary Art Museum. And she jointly created the work "The Mogao Cliff Lightened" with Mr. Chen Zhihao using digital art techniques.