The National Museum of Asian Art has created an app that enables visitors to explore its Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room Courtesy of the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Galvanised by the popularity of its online Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room and meditation podcasts amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the Rubin Museum of Art in New York has cleared out its third-floor galleries to make way for an interactive Mandala Lab that invites visitors on a social and emotional journey to self-awareness. The $1m project, which is expected to open in autumn 2021 and cater to families and school groups, is echoed by a variety of offerings at US museums with Himalayan art holdings that have struck a chord among people suffering from anxieties related to the coronavirus or to the US elections. From the Rubin to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art (comprising the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery) in Washington, DC, to the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, such institutions see it as part of their mission to offer solace at a fraught time.