High Line Plinth unveils Buddha homage
- The High Line unveiled Tuan Andrew Nguyen’s “The Light That Shines Through the Universe,” a 27-foot sandstone Plinth commission honoring Afghanistan’s destroyed Bamiyan Buddhas. - Installed above 10th Avenue and 30th Street, the sculpture reimagines “Salsal” with brass hands cast from Afghan artillery shells in mudras. - The work replaces Iván Argote’s “Dinosaur” and runs through fall 2027 on the High Line Plinth. (thehighline.org)
A 27-foot sandstone Buddha now stands over 10th Avenue on Manhattan’s High Line as Tuan Andrew Nguyen’s newest Plinth commission. (6sqft.com) (theartnewspaper.com) The work is titled *The Light That Shines Through the Universe* and opened this week at the Spur at 30th Street and 10th Avenue. The High Line says it will remain on view for 18 months, through fall 2027. (6sqft.com) (artsy.net) Nguyen, a Vietnamese American artist, based the sculpture on the Bamiyan Buddhas, the monumental figures carved into Afghanistan’s sandstone cliffs around the 6th century and destroyed by the Taliban in 2001. The High Line says the piece is not a replica but an “echo” of the larger Buddha known locally as Salsal. (thehighline.org) (theartnewspaper.com) The title comes from that local name, Salsal, which the High Line says translates to “the light shines through the universe.” UNESCO says the Bamiyan Valley was added to the World Heritage List in 2003 after the statues’ destruction left two empty niches in the cliff. (thehighline.org) (whc.unesco.org) Nguyen changed one of the most recognizable missing parts of the original statues: the hands. His version uses monumental brass hands cast from melted artillery shells sourced from Afghanistan and posed in mudras associated with fearlessness and compassion. (thehighline.org) (theartnewspaper.com) The High Line says the hands sit slightly apart from the sandstone body, leaving a visible gap that signals damage that cannot be fully repaired. In Nguyen’s telling, the sculpture turns war material into a memorial object. (6sqft.com) (thehighline.org) The piece also marks a sharp visual shift for the High Line’s Plinth program. It replaces Iván Argote’s 16-foot aluminum pigeon *Dinosaur*, which had occupied the same site from October 2024 until April 6, 2026. (6sqft.com) (thehighline.org) Cecilia Alemani, director and chief curator of High Line Art, told *The Art Newspaper* that the sandstone figure against Hudson Yards’ steel and glass creates a jolt of “time travel.” The contrast is part of the point: an ancient image, remade in Vietnam, installed in one of New York’s newest districts. (theartnewspaper.com) Nguyen told *The Art Newspaper* the sculpture was carved and cast in Vietnam before being shipped to New York. He said the work was not meant for this exact political moment, but now “does resonate with what is happening in today’s wars.” (theartnewspaper.com) So the High Line’s latest landmark is not a reconstruction of Bamiyan. It is a New York memorial built from sandstone, brass and the record of what was destroyed. (thehighline.org) (whc.unesco.org)
