Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art
Gods, hungry ghosts, denizens of hell, and a rooster all have their walk-on parts as we explore the Buddhist Wheel of Life and Interdependence. One painting, six realms, eight episodes.
For centuries, the Wheel of Life has mapped the realms of existence in a single ever-turning image, a teaching in painted form that shows how cause and effect bind every one of us together. For Awaken's fifth season, a painting of the Wheel from the Rubin's collection becomes our map, and interdependence our territory.
Hosted by singer, songwriter, and artist Devendra Banhart, the season pivots through eight episodes, each pairing a realm of the Wheel with a corner of contemporary life - the god realm and the communities we build around us, the hungry ghost realm and our collective obligations, the animal realm and the environment, the hell realm and our health, and the human realm, where technology and culture meet us every day.
Alongside social scientist Nicholas Christakis, Buddhist scholar Annabella Pitkin, and meditation teacher Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, each episode brings in a guiding voice: author and futurist Mia Birdsong, journalist A.J. Jacobs, Indigenous musician and organizer Lyla June Johnston, Tibetan physician Dr. Nida Chenagtsang, transmedia artist Stephanie Dinkins, visual storyteller Osheen Siva, and pastoral counselor Pamela Ayo Yetunde. A cast as interdependent as the subject itself.
Client
Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art
Project
Awaken Season 5
Services
Concept Development - Creative Direction - Research - Naming - Production - Interviews - Sound Design - Post Production - Distribution Strategy
Voices
Devendra Banhart, Mia Birdsong, Dr. Nida Chenagtsang, Nicholas A. Christakis, Stephanie Dinkins, A.J. Jacobs, Lyla June Johnston, Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, Annabella Pitkin, Osheen Siva, Pamela Ayo Yetunde
Share:
Our Process
How to hold complexity and clarity.
Opportunity
Connecting the complex yet enlightening ideas of the Rubin's collection to an ever-growing global audience of the curious. To do this with clarity and in a deepening collaboration with the Rubin's creative, curatorial, and editorial teams.
Insight
Everything is both more complex and simpler than we can immediately comprehend, and it's happening all at once. At its core, the work is to speak with the audience, not to talk down or preach. A balance of complexity and simplicity.
Outcome
Eight episodes carrying the Webby Honoree series into its fifth season with eleven voices from Buddhism, medicine, social science, art, and activism. A season that asks us to wake up to a simple fact: we are all in this together.
