About:
*Member Hosted Event
Thomas Laird will discuss the origins and course of his work in Tibet and then discuss the ways block chain, AI and VR are shaping it today. His recent book, Murals of Tibet, (500 pages, 29x19 inches) will be on view and he will also present a one minute video previsualizing work in progress.
Using novel digital imaging tools and methods Laird makes gigapixel images of ancient murals, as large as 16 x 60 feet: 50 GB PSB files. He will discuss the methods and tools developed to create such images. He will also discuss the range of narratives visualized in Tibetan murals, from the history of Buddhism in India and Tibet to the evolution of ‘mind science’ ideas that underlie what we know as meditation, mindfulness, and yoga.
Drawing on Laird’s images TASCHEN published Murals of Tibet, in its famed sumo format; a 1,000 page book with the plates in a 29x 20 inch volume: the largest book published by a resident of New Orleans since Audubon. The work with Tibetan murals grew out of 50 hours of interviews with the Dalai Lama, for a history of Tibet they published. Once Laird understood the importance of the murals (from the Dalai Lama) and their scale (during multiple expeditions) he saw a problem: a vital part of Tibetan heritage was being lost without images of it. In response he created site specific, methods to capture and render vast murals, at life size. The suite of imaging tools and methods he developed has many applications.
These days Laird is developing new museum exhibitions, prints for collectors, projection mapped immersive shows with partners, as well as VR experiences, training an AIchatbot and an AI image generator all with IP in his archive.
When he began this work professional digital images were just being born, and no one had heard of AI, NFT’s, block chain, or VR. Today Laird is developing new projects, globally, marrying these new tools and platforms with his digital archive. At the conclusion there will be Q&A and discussions.
New Orleans photographer and writer Thomas C. Laird explores the art, culture, and history of the Himalayas. Based in Asia for decades, his reporting and photography has been published globally by The New York Times, TIME, National Geographic, and others. His nonfiction books include a history of Tibet written with the Dalai Lama, published in 14 languages. Since 2008, using novel digital methods he developed the world’s first life-size images of enormous Tibetan wall murals—as published by TASCHEN. In support the Dalai Lama signed all 998 copies of Murals of Tibet. Laird’s fine art prints of mural images have been exhibited in London and New York and are held in both public and private collections.