Our new project: TEXT, ART AND PERFORMANCE IN BON RITUAL

It is our great pleasure to announce that CIRDIS' “Bon-Project” has been approved by the FWF (Austrian Science Fund).

Quick facts:
Director and Coordinator: Prof. Deborah Klimburg-Salter
Principal investigator: Prof. Charles Ramble (CRCAO, Paris)
Project members: Kami Gurung, Uwe Niebuhr, Jürgen Schörflinger
Start: 2nd half of 2012
Funding period: 3 years

The aim of this project is to carry out fundamental research on rituals and art of the Bon religion. The three axes of research indicated by the title are intended to underscore the principle that none of these components can be adequately represented in isolation, and that an integrated approach must be adopted to do justice to the richness of the material. Research will focus on the examination of unpublished Tibetan ritual texts, performances based on these works, Bon art and the material culture associated with the ceremonies. The documentation of these objects will in turn require the study of published – mainly canonical – Tibetan commentaries and interviews with contemporary artists, craftsman and lamas.
The Bon-Project benefits from CIRDIS' unique framework that is built on many years of experience in interdisciplinary research and net-based transdisciplinary publications on Tibetan culture. The Bon-Project's members have developed the expertise necessary to create a web-based resource that can adequately represent the complexity of the project’s anticipated outcome.