The Kimbell Art Museum announced Thursday, May 31, its new, free podcast called “ARTMinded,” which aims to offer new perspectives on the works in the Museum’s permanent collection and special exhibitions, a news release said.
The Kimbell said each episode will provide unusual viewpoints that enhance and sometimes will challenge one’s customary engagement with artworks.
“The range of responses to works of art—-colored by our individual personal experiences and interests—-is infinite,” Kimbell Director Eric M. Lee said in the release. “Sharing those singular responses to artworks provides fresh insights and perceptions. This project will introduce some of those perspectives with guests from various disciplines and will allow listeners to explore these works with new eyes. The Kimbell’s rich permanent collection and constantly changing exhibitions of works from across the globe provide ARTMinded with endless possibilities.”
The inaugural season of “ARTMinded” is a series of guided meditations for both experts and novices alike produced in collaboration with Elemental Yoga and the Mind Arts. The episodes will be hosted by Jennifer Casler Price, curator for Asian and non-Western art at the Kimbell, while the guided meditations will be led by Elemental Yoga co-owners Brynn Byrne and Michael Dardanes.
Each 15-minute guided meditation will focus on a work of art in the special exhibition From the Lands of Asia: The Sam and Myrna Myers Collection. Byrne and Dardanes aim to take listeners on a journey to deep, mindful relaxation with illustrative visualizations and breathing techniques.
“Even though we are experiencing these works in the setting of a museum gallery, it’s important to remember that they originally served a devotional purpose and are still, in fact, functional and animated objects. By engaging them through these guided meditations, we are activating them, as they were centuries ago,” Price said in the release.
The release included a description of Episode 1 of “ARTminded”:
The first episode in the meditation series focuses on a 12th-century Japanese sculpture of the Amida Buddha in the Sam and Myrna Myers Collection. The Buddha, cast in bronze and slightly smaller than life-size, is seated in meditation. Amida Buddha, in the Japanese esoteric Buddhist tradition, is the “Buddha of the Western Paradise”; his followers believe that they can enter into this paradise by chanting Amida’s name and meditating upon the Buddha. Throughout the guided meditation, listeners will focus on gradually and methodically relaxing the body, controlling their breathing and using the inward senses to study the Buddha and visualize an interaction with him.
Meant to be enjoyed anywhere from the listeners home to within the museum, “ARTminded” will be available from one’s podcast provider, including iTunes and Google Play. Additionally, links to the episodes will be available online at kimbellart.org.