Wednesday Night Open Talks at IDP - Nothing & Everything with Ellen Pearlman
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Author Ellen Pearlman discusses the impact of Buddhism on post-war American culture, particularly on performing, visual, sonic, inter-media and literary arts in New York City. Her new book, Nothing and Everything - The Influence of Buddhism on the American Avant Garde: 1942–1962, brings into focus how America in the late 1950s and early 60s, became a legitimate artist’s tool, aligning with Zen Buddhism’s emphasis on “enlightenment at any moment” and living in the now. Simultaneously and independently, parallel movements were occurring in Japan, as artists there, too, strove to break down artistic boundaries.
Tracing Buddhist ideas in the art and cultural worlds through artists such as John Cage, Jack Kerouac, and Allen Ginsberg, she will explain how this led to startling breakthroughs in artistic and literary style and influenced an entire generation.
Praise for Nothing and Everything:
“Ellen Pearlman has done the heroic work of bringing the extraordinarily powerful and radical ‘conjunct’ between Buddhism and the American avant-garde into intelligent scrutiny and focus. It’s a tale that needs telling, one that educates as it elucidates. This is the mysterious koan of any time: why the experience of mortality and impermanence inspires such lucid contrapuntal energy and passion for artistic endeavor. We are here to disappear. Let art guide the way and stay awhile.” —Anne Waldman, poet; co-founder and professor, The Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, Naropa University
“The avant-garde is not ahead of its time; it is in it. Ellen Pearlman's book about the ripple effect Buddhism had in American contemporary art is a time capsule filled with treasures.” —Michael Goldberg, director of the D. T. Suzuki Documentary Project
Ellen Pearlman is founder of the the Brooklyn Rail and early contributor to Tricycle Magazine. She has taught at Columbia University, Parsons School of Design, and The New School as well as lecturing worldwide. She lives in Brooklyn, NY.
Read the Book Press Release Here
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Wednesday Night Open Talks • Every Wednesday 7:30 - 9:00pm
No Previous Meditation Experience Required.
Bring your friends and hang out for tea afterwards!
$10 -$15 Suggested Donation
(No one will be turned away for lack of funds.)
Cash, Check and Credit Card Payments accepted at the door
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May is Arts Month at IDP. Click here for a full list of Arts related Events, lectures & workshops.
Arts Month is co-sponsored by Pinned NYC: A new website for community-based Activism at the intersection of Art and Spirit.
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