Routes and Remedies: Asian wisdom for living in London
10 August 2006
A multimedia exhibition at Asia House, London
30 September-7 October 2006
'Routes and Remedies' is a multimedia showcase held at Asia House, highlighting the living traditions of Asian medicines and physical cultures found throughout the Asian diaspora and its British descendents.
The exhibition explores the creation and recreation of Asian cultural identity through everyday practice by bringing together Asian ideas about the body, beauty, health and illness, growing up, love and marriage, and sexual health, and examines what it means to be Asian and living in the UK today.
Funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Arts Council England, the team responsible for this project are based at the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at University College London (UCL). Dr Vivienne Lo, lecturer of history of Chinese medicine, explains: "With a team made up of London-based Asian artists, designers, parents, health workers, body artists and cooks, we have been capturing traditional techniques of health and wellbeing preserved among Asian communities based in the UK. This unique exhibition reveals for the first time some of our archive of film, recipes and art as part of a series of exciting new installations on display in Asia House."
From inner alchemy to oral hygiene, this exhibition celebrates the lineage of Asian healing practices. 'Routes and Remedies' takes visitors on a trip around the living traditions of Asian health and wellbeing in London: food, exercise, medicines, meditation and prayer. Following the great success of the 'Asia: Body Mind Spirit' exhibition in 2004, Asia House is the perfect host for this new exhibition. Visitors to the exhibition can record themselves in a film-me booth, listen to tales of transformation in our Mongolian 'ger' (known in English as a yurt – a type of circular tent), explore the drawers of our medicine cabinet and leave offerings at our new look ancestral shrine. Tell us your stories and leave us your recipes.
During the exhibition a programme of events will take place, including classes and demonstrations of Asian exercise traditions, treatments and therapies. Further to this there will be lectures on the transformation of Asian traditions by leading academics.
Over the last 18 months the 'Routes and Remedies' team has also been working with primary schools in the London boroughs of Westminster and Camden. Central to the schools' project are arts workshops led by Artistic Director Chila Burman, who uses images and activities associated with Asian medicine, food and family life to enable young people to express their own ideas and experiences.
Press preview
There will be a tasting of remedies and recipes between 12.00 and 14.00 on 29 September 2006 at Asia House.
For more details please contact:
Mike Findlay
Media Officer, Wellcome Trust
E
m.findlay@wellcome.ac.uk
T +44 (0)20 7611 8612
Notes to editors
1. 'Routes and Remedies: Asian Wisdom for Living in London' will be shown from 30 September to 7 October 2006 at Asia House, 63 New Cavendish Street, London. The exhibition is open Monday to Saturday, 10.00-18.00.
2. Public lectures, demonstrations and workshops
'Routes and Remedies' presents three evening lectures exploring the tradition migration, and modernisation of Asian medicine and the healing arts. In keeping with the theme of this exciting new multimedia exhibition, leading academics will cover a range of topics, including contemporary Chinese medicine, yoga practice and ayurvedic medicine. They will also present anecdotal evidence and experience of these practices today and how they fit into the rich tapestry of wellbeing in London and the UK. These lectures are open to the public at a cost of £7.00 or £4.00 for concessions.
During the exhibition there will be a number of free workshops available for you to attend. These will include addiction treatment, yoga classes, and art and massage workshops. There will also be demonstrations of martial arts, acupuncture and tastings of selection of recipes and remedies that have been collected during the course of the project. You can also see the archive to watch and read what the contributors have submitted.
For further information on these lectures and other 'Routes and Remedies' events please visit the Asian Remedies website.
3. Partners
Brook Advisory Centres is the only national voluntary sector provider of free and confidential sexual health advice and services specifically for young people under 25. Brook is a registered charity, and has 40 years' experience of providing professional advice through specially trained doctors, nurses, counsellors, and outreach and information workers to over 100 000 young people each year.
The Wellcome Trust is the most diverse biomedical research charity in the world, spending about £450 million every year both in the UK and internationally to support and promote research that will improve the health of humans and animals. The Trust was established under the will of Sir Henry Wellcome, and is funded from a private endowment, which is managed with long-term stability and growth in mind. The Trust is contributing £30 000 to this project.
The Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL is the largest centre for the study of the subject in the world, with up to 90 colleagues working on diverse topics across the field, and thriving PhD, MA and BSc programmes. Its aims are to research and disseminate the history of medicine, both as an academic discipline and as a subject of broader public interest. Together with the Trust and the Wellcome Library, the Wellcome Trust Centre at UCL is committed to promoting a vision of medical history that is comprehensive in chronological, geographic and thematic range, and that draws upon a wide field of scholarly expertise. While primarily devoted to research, the Centre will also play a prime role in outreach and in fostering public understanding of the subject.
Arts Council England works to get more art to more people in more places. It develops and promotes the arts across England, acting as an independent body at arm's length from Government. Between 2006 and 2008, it will invest £1.1 billion of public money from Government and the National Lottery in supporting the arts. This is the bedrock of support for the arts in England. The Arts Council England believes that the arts have the power to change lives and communities, and to create opportunities for people throughout the country. It has contributed £5000 to this project.
Asia House is the 'must visit' centre for everyone with an interest in the rich and varied cultures and economic vibrancy of Asia. As a leading pan-Asian organisation, Asia House offers a range of unique opportunities to gain a greater appreciation and understanding of business, diplomatic and cultural interaction between Asia and Britain. Its remit covers Asia in the widest possible geographic context – from Iran to Japan and from the central Asian Republics to Indonesia.