The Power of Intention: Reinventing the (Prayer) Wheel

We may not think of intentions as sources of power, but our intentions define the quality of any action. We can use our intentions to empower us to create positive change for ourselves and others. 

Inspired by Tibetan prayer wheels, The Power of Intention: Reinventing the (Prayer) Wheel brings together select examples of traditional and contemporary art to illuminate the relationship between our intentions, commitments, and actions. Prayer wheels are ritual objects containing thousands, even millions of written prayers and mantras.

The clockwise rotation of the wheels—set in motion by the power of a hand or the elements—is believed to release the positive energy of the prayers into the world.

Taking the Tibetan prayer wheel as a metaphor for the power to create positive change, the exhibition highlights key ideas related to prayer wheels and their processes of creation, activation, and meaning. International artists Minika Bravo, Alexndra Dementieva,  Youdhisthir Maharjan, Charwei Tsai, and Scenocosme’s Grégory Lasserre & Anais met den Ancxt take the Tibetan prayer wheel on a conceptual spin, and their works manifest in visible and tangible forms the power of intention, commitment, repetition, accumulation, and belief.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.