“Buddhist Japonisme: Negotiating the triangle of religion, art and nation” is a Symposium at Musée d’ethnographie de Genève, Switzerland, being held on occasion of the Exhibition “The Buddhism of Madame Butterfly – Buddhist Japonism” (September 9th 2015 – January 10th, 2016).
The scholarly aim of the symposium is to better understand the conceptual dynamics that shaped the acquisition, display and reception of the major collections of Japanese Buddhist objects both in Europe and in Japan. This will open a window onto the concrete way abstract notions of religion, art, and nation were at play in late 19th to early 20th century Europa, and how they interacted with the flux of icons and objects associated with Asian religion. It will thus contribute to a grounded history of concepts as well as to the history of European-Asian entanglements.
A detailed program is available at this site of the exhibition.