hangri La partners with the Honolulu Museum of Art, the University of Hawaii, the East-West Center, and other institutions to offer a variety of lectures, performances, films and other events focused on Islamic arts and cultures.

Upcoming Events

THEATRE PERFORMANCE and LECTURE
West Sumatran Minangkabau Traditions: A Randai Theatre Performance and Illustrated Lecture 

• Performers: Students from the University of Hawai'i at Manoa Theatre and Dance Department
• Lecturer: Edy Utama
• When: Saturday, February 4, 2012 from 1:30-3:30 p.m. 
• Where: Shangri La
• Details: $15 per person. Purchase Tickets 

West Sumatran Minangkabau culture is the result of a long process of dialogue between various world cultures with a matrilineal kinship system in combination with Islamic religion. This saoln focuses on elements of Minangkabau culture beginning with dance and musical selections from the Randai theatre production The Genteel Sabai performed by students from the University of Hawai'i at Manoa Theatre and Dance Deparment. Sumatran Minang cultural expert, scholar, and photographer Edy Utama will follow the performance with an illustrated talk, Contemporary West Sumatran Minangkabau Traditions with the aid of interpreter, Rohayati Paseng. The talk will focus on the characteristics that make up this unique culture and the ways in which the culture is changing due to pressure from the Indonesian government and an increasingly westernized world.

This event is co-sponsored by the East-West Center and the University of Hawai'i at Manoa Theatre and Dance Department.

LECTURE
Commissioning on the Move: Doris Duke's Travels and Patronage of "Living Traditions" in India, Morocco and Iran

• Speaker: Dr. Keelan Overton, Curator of Islamic Art at Shangri La
• When: Saturday, February 11, 2012 from 1:30-3:30 p.m.
• Where: Shangri La
• Details: Seating is limited and reservations are required. Register here.

In the 1930s, Doris Duke and her then husband James Cromwell traveled extensively throughout the Middle East.  This passion for exploration led them not only to collect historic Islamic art but also to commission new work by living craftsmen.  This lecture examines the Cromwells' three major commissioning efforts of the mid-to-late 1930s: India in 1935; Morocco in 1937; and Iran in 1938.  The results of this patronage can today be appreciated throughout Shangri La, from the marble bedroom suite, to the expansive ceilings in the living room and foyer, to the tiles covering the walls throughout the property.  This lecture will focus primarily on the Morocco commissions and will share new findings from fieldwork conducted in the fall of 2011.

Dr. Keelan Overton, Curator of Islamic Art at Shangri La, holds a Ph.D. in Islamic Art History from the University of California, Los Angeles (2011) and a Masters Degree in Art History from Williams College in Massachusetts (2004).  She is the recipient of a University of California President's Fellowship and a Theodore Rousseau Fellowship from the Department of Islamic Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.