17th Street Farewell Ceremony

The Rubin is transforming. On October 6, 2024, the Rubin will close its 17th Street galleries and transition into a global museum model, continuing to present Himalayan art through traveling exhibitions, digital experiences, and collaborations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and beyond.

To mark this shift, Museum visitors are invited to a public ceremony, where as many as 2,500 flags of good wishes will be displayed outside the building, echoing the way the Rubin opened the building twenty years ago on October 2, 2004. The ceremony will take place outdoors in front of the Museum, weather permitting.

The ceremony will be conducted with performances by the noted Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts trained singers Tenzin Donsel, Rinzin Dolma and Tenzin Dolkar and “gorshay” circle dances by the New York Lhakar group as flags are hung from the building facade to mark the doors closing for the final time. This is a culmination of the Rubin’s Flag Project 2024. From September 1 through October 6, Museum visitors cocreated these flags bearing their wishes for the future. The flag templates were designed by five artists whose work is included in the exhibition Reimagine: Himalayan Art Now, including Asha Kama Wangdi, Kabi Raj Lama, Losel Yauch, Shushank Shrestha, and Yangdzom Lama.

This collaboration between Himalayan diaspora artists and the general public draws upon the prayer-flag tradition of the mountain regions of Himalayan Asia. Prayer flags (dhar ho in Tibetan) are displayed in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition to generate merit and increase one’s life force.

Reimagine: Himalayan Art Now is supported by Bob and Lois Baylis, Barbara Bowman, Daphne Hoch Cunningham and John Cunningham, Noah P. Dorsky, Marina Abramović Institute (MAI), Mimi Gardner Gates, Fred Eychaner, Jacques and Natasha Gelman Foundation, Jack Lampl, Dan Gimbel of NEPC, LLC, Agnes Gund, New York Life, Matt and Ann Nimetz, Namita and Arun Saraf, The Prospect Hill Foundation, Eileen Caulfield Schwab, Taipei Cultural Center in New York, and UOVO.

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council.

The Rubin Museum’s programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.

This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.