Dr. Bee Yun, a current Fellow at the IKGF, speaks about medieval murals in the vaulted Great Chamber of the Longthorpe Tower in Peterborough, England. These murals are parts of a fresco cycle of the fourteenth century. Dr. Bee Yun researched the murals in the course of his research on the medieval symbolism of fortune and fate and endeavored to decipher the images. He summarizes his results with the aid of some images of these murals.

Dr. Stephan N. Kory, a current Visiting Fellow, explains the different components of a feng shui compass and their function. It is the primary tool used in the Chinese mantic art of fengshui, geomancy, or topomancy The Chinese luópán is a self-registering orientor, a mirror of space and time, and a dynamic model of a locative cosmography. The 18 rings of Master Lin Mingdes luópán are used to measure the conditions of a site. The measurements are then interpreted to prognosticate the auspiciousness and inauspiciousness of a site, particularly as it pertains to persons associated with it. The underlying concept is that the fate or the mandated life trajectory of a person is fixed according to contingencies, like the position of an ancestors grave or the layout of a house or business.

At the IKGF a conference with and about Nobel laureate in literature Gao Xingjian took place from 24-27 October 2011. By documenting Gao´s visit of several days and through Michael Lackner’s interview with him, Gao’s artistic transposition and personal attitude towards fate and freedom are revealed. Gao’s writing, painting, and cinematic art reflect his inner and outer journey into exile – an exile that is fated. During the conference, several parts of the opus of the laureate were exhibited. The Museum Tucherschloss in Nuremberg presented in a special exhibition the artist’s ink on rice paper paintings, the E-Werk in Erlangen showed his films (“La silhouette sinon l’ombre”, “Après le déluge” and “Snow in August“), and the City Library in Nuremberg gave a reading on his novel “Soul Mountain”. Academics, translators and artists, such as Mabel Lee, Wang Liying, Kwok-kan Tam, Renate Reifenscheid, and John McDonald, describe their impressions of Gao´s opus.

At the IKGF a conference with and about Nobel laureate in literature Gao Xingjian took place from 24-27 October 2011.

During the research stay of former IKGF visiting fellow, Prof. Dr. Donatella Rossi (Sapienza Univ. of Rome), who worked on the ancient Tibetan Zhang Zhung Ju thig divination system, Tibetan Bon-master Lopon Trinley Nyima Rinpoche was invited to a two-week research visit at the IKGF. Since 1992, Venerable Trinley Nyima Rinpoche has been the appointed Lopon (Head Teacher) of the Bon Dialectic School in Dolanji, India, which is the Bon religion’s major institution of higher education in exile. During his stay, a video featuring an interview on Zhang Zhung Ju thig and other Tibetan divination methods, as well as an actual divination carried out by him, was produced.