Last week, Asia Society had to delay the press preview for its Mariko Mori show after “typhoon conditions” delayed the Japanese artist’s arrival in New York. Five days later, the Upper East Side museum has happier news to report: its exhibition of Buddhist art from Pakistan, delayed for six months because of political turmoil in that country, is going forward.
Asia Society director Melissa Chiu told The New York Times today that anti-Americanism in Pakistan after the killing of Osama bin Laden caused delays in arranging loans for the show, which had already suffering setbacks following the death of U.S. diplomat Richard Holbrooke, who had been assisting with logistics.
State Department warnings about Americans traveling to Pakistan also hindered matters, but the museum eventually hired a German company to crate works and secured visas for Pakistanis to bring the works to the U.S. through Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s office.
The exhibition, “The Buddhist Heritage of Pakistan,” opens Aug. 9.
