About this event

Important Event Announcement!

Conversation@PAM: The Power and Eccentricity of Balinese Temple Masks was held as an online-only event due to unforeseen circumstances and travel complications.

Guests joined the program via Zoom webinar using the link below:

When: Apr 14, 2022, 06:30 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Topic: Conversation@PAM: The Power and Eccentricity of Balinese Temple Masks

https://usc.zoom.us/j/96642198033?pwd=WFM2NjVVWFJ3TWtCalI2d1R1enFFdz09

Passcode: 012273

More about the program:

Forces both demonic and divine made a visible presence in Balinese life through the vehicle of empowered temple masks made mobile on the bodies of their entranced mediums. Facsimiles were used in secular performances and sold as souvenirs throughout Bali.

In this presentation, anthropologist Laurel Kendall described the acts of production and magic that made a temple mask, then offered some eccentric counter-examples of masks that, in the words of one Balinese interlocutor, became “sacred by accident.”

Co-sponsored by: USC Department of Anthropology, USC Visual Studies Research Institute, and USC Provost’s Interdisciplinary Teaching Initiative

USC PAM Public Programs were made possible by individual and foundation support. To ensure free or low-cost programming, a donation of $10 was suggested. All donations went directly to USC PAM public programs. Thank you for helping us keep art programming accessible to all.