EUGENE, Ore. – (February 2, 2018) - Sundaram Tagore’s feature-length documentary “Louis Kahn’s Tiger City” opens the winter season of Schnitzer Cinema on Thursday, February 22, at 7 p.m.. Hosted by the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art on the University of Oregon campus, Schnitzer Cinema is curated by Richard Herskowitz, JSMA Curator of Media Arts and includes free refreshments.
In 1985, Tagore, a UO alumnus (M. Arch 1987) received a scholarship to go to Bangladesh to study the buildings designed by the great American architect Louis I. Kahn, including Sher-e-Bangla Nagor, also known as the Tiger City. The parliamentary complex was the beating heart of the newly formed democratic nation. As he recalls, “I was unprepared for the raw emotional power and poetic beauty of these buildings. Tiger City looked futuristic and ancient at the same time…. I traveled in the architect’s footsteps to see and experience what he experienced, to understand how this American visionary came to South Asia to build his masterpiece.”
This film brings to life the story of the Bangladesh’s independence movement, and offers a thoughtful portrayal of Kahn’s architectural feat that conveys his artistic vision and the spirit of the Bangladeshi people.
”I have had the great pleasure of getting to know Sundaram Tagore for a number of years in his capacity as an international gallerist. His passion for cultural dialogue guides him in championing and presenting artists around the world,” says JSMA Executive Director Jill Hartz. “Not only does he show their work in his galleries in New York, Singapore, and Hong Kong, but he participates in many international art fairs. It was during one of these that Richard Herskowitz and I learned he had turned his talents to filmmaking. We were thrilled when he accepted my invitation to present ‘Louis Kahn’s Tiger City’ at the JSMA.”
In 2015, his special exhibition “Frontiers Reimagined” was one of the most important events during the 56th Venice Biennale. “The exhibition, on view at the historic Museo di Palazzo Grimani, featured forty-four painters, sculptors, photographers and installation artists from twenty-five countries who explored cultural boundaries.
Oxford-educated, Tagore was born in India in 1961 and grew up traveling between Calcutta, New Delhi and the Himalayas. He is a descendent of the influential poet and Nobel Prize-winner Rabindranath Tagore.
Schnitzer Cinema continues on Wednesday, March 14 with “Acts and Intermissions” and a Skype Q&A with director Abigail Child. On Wednesday, April 18 this year’s season will conclude with Short Films from the 2017 Ashland Independent Film Festival.
Schnitzer Cinema is made possible in part with a grant from the UO Office of Academic Affairs.
About the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art
The University of Oregon's Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art is a premier Pacific Northwest museum for exhibitions and collections of historic and contemporary art. The mission of the museum is to enhance the University of Oregon’s academic mission and to further the appreciation and enjoyment of the visual arts for the general public. The JSMA features significant collections galleries devoted to art from China, Japan, Korea, Europe, and the Americas as well as changing special exhibition galleries. The JSMA is one of seven museums—and the only academic art museum-- in Oregon accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.
The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art is located on the University of Oregon campus at 1430 Johnson Lane. Museum hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesdays, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for senior citizens. Free admission is given to ages 18 and under, JSMA members, college students with ID, and University of Oregon faculty, staff and students. For information, contact the JSMA, 541-346-3027.
Contact: Debbie Williamson Smith, 541-346-0942, debbiews@uoregon.edu
Links: Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, http://jsma.uoregon.edu
