A Buddha Is Reborn on the High Line
Hyperallergic reports that artist Tuan Andrew Nguyen installed a 27-foot-tall sandstone-and-brass sculpture, “The Light That Shines Through the Universe” (2026), on the High Line at West 30th Street and 10th Avenue, where it will remain on view through Spring 2027. The work, the park’s fifth site-specific commission, was selected from nearly 60 proposals and references the Bamiyan Buddhas—6th-century monumental figures in Afghanistan destroyed by the Taliban in 2001—particularly the larger Buddha known as “Salsal,” meaning “the light that shines through the universe.” Nguyen sourced artillery brass from Afghanistan and recast it into detached hands forming Buddhist mudras (Abhaya for fearlessness and Varada for compassion), while the sandstone body was sourced and carved in Vietnam. High Line curator Cecilia Alemani said the sculpture emphasizes non-linear temporality, and Nguyen described the piece as an “echo” rather than a replica, intended to keep cultural memory alive through retelling and remaking.
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This story was covered in Museum Money Games and AI’s New Frontier