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The Arts Intel Report

A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler

Transforming Minds: Kyabje Gelek Rimpoche and Friends

Sept 21 – Dec 12, 2021
22 W 15th St, New York, NY 10011, United States

“I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked,” Allen Ginsberg famously wrote in his epic poem “Howl.” Yet the writer, photographer, and father of the American Beats also saw some of the best minds enlivened. A lifelong spiritual quest and friendship with composer Philip Glass led him to study Tibetan Buddhism with renowned lama Gelek Rimpoche, who taught and befriended a number of American cultural luminaries. A new exhibit at the Tibet House U.S. collects Ginsberg’s images from 1989 to 1997, during which he photographed friends, teachers, and peers. From the Dalai Lama to Patti Smith, Ginsberg’s photographs offer an intimate glimpse into a movement that would forever shift the shape of American culture. —Sarah Nechamkin

Gelek Rimpoche, “First Avenue and Thirteenth Street, New York City, September 25,” 1995. Courtesy of Tibet House.