On 14 June, high wire artist Philippe Petit will engage in a freewheeling conversation with photographer Tom Wool, whose images of Tibet’s Rongbuk Valley are the subject of a current exhibition at the Rubin Museum of Art. Wool’s Rubin Museum exhibition, In the Shadow of Everest, presents images of life in the villages of the valley. In 2001, accompanied by two yakmen and a tiny horse, Wool followed the route taken during the first British expeditions through this area, including that taken by George Mallory and Andrew Irvine as they attempted their ill-fated Everest climb in 1924. Petit and Wool will talk about everything from heights and altitude, to Tibet, to education, to the nature of creativity and motivation. The conversation will take place in the Rubin Museum of Art (150 West 17th Street, New York), at 7pm on Monday, 14 June. Tickets are available via the website below, priced at $15.

Website: Rubin Museum

Press Release

Man on Wire’s Philippe Petit in conversation with Photographer Tom Wool

WHEN  

Monday, June 14, 7:00 p.m.

WHAT  

High wire artist Philippe Petit engages in a freewheeling conversation with photographer Tom Wool, whose images of Tibet’s Rongbuk Valley are the subject of a current exhibition at the Rubin Museum.

The pair will speak on everything from heights and altitude, to Tibet, to education, to the nature of creativity and motivation. 

PHILIPPE PETIT

Petit was born in France and took his first steps on the wire at age 16. He learned everything by himself while being expelled from five different schools. Petit uses his wire to extend the boundaries of theater, music, writing, poetry and drawing. On August 7, 1974, in what may be considered one of most incredible “artistic crimes” of the century, Philippe walked a high wire illegally stretched between the rooftops of the Twin Towers, making eight crossings over the course of an hour. Philippe’s adventure is the subject of the Academy Award-wining documentary film, Man on Wire.

TOM WOOL

Wool was born in London in 1961, and grew up in the South of France and England. His career as a fashion photographer lasted nearly two decades before his fascination with cultural diversity, people, and how they are affected by their environments, inspired him to work on his own personal projects. Within the last several years, Wool has photographed such places as Bolivia, India, Kenya, Papua New Guinea, Morocco, Tanzania and Venezuela, focusing on humanitarian concerns. 

Wool’s Rubin Museum exhibition, In the Shadow of Everest, presents images of life in the villages of Tibet’s Rongbuk Valley. In 2001, accompanied by two yakmen and a tiny horse, Wool followed the route taken during the first British expeditions through this area, including that taken by George Mallory and Andrew Irvine as they attempted their ill-fated Everest climb in 1924. Wool’s photographs epitomize the Valley’s harsh terrain that has been marked by mud brick homes, populated by Buddhist monks and yogis, and inhabited by yaks, sheep, and goats for centuries. Within several years of Wool’s documentation, this remote area saw the encroachment of modernity when a road was created to bring the Olympic torch from Mount Everest to Beijing.

TICKETS

$15. Tickets are available online at www.rmanyc.org/tickets, in person, and by calling the box office at (212) 620 5000 x344. Tickets include admission to the galleries.

RUBIN MUSEUM OF ART

150 West 17th Street, at Seventh Avenue

MEDIA CONTACT:

Alanna Schindewolf, Media Relations Coordinator, Rubin Museum of Art. Aschindewolf@rmanyc.org; 212.620.5000 x335

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