Islamic Art: Past, Present and Future
7th Biennial Hamad bin Khalifa Symposium on Islamic Art
November 2-4, 2017
The question of what the term “Islamic art” means is challenging. Is it even a useful term? Are there any better alternatives? The problem is particularly difficult when addressing modern and contemporary art. Does the work of art have to be made by a Muslim? Or does the artist have to come from the Middle East? Does the art have to have a religious component? Is Arabic calligraphy an essential part? Are there other features that define the term?
This symposium will grapple with these broad questions from a range of viewpoints, including scholars who use or don’t use the term to write about the art, collectors and curators who buy and exhibit it, and artists who make it.
Please join us to be part of the conversation at the 7th Biennial Hamad bin Khalifa Symposium on Islamic Art, titled Islamic Art: Past, Present and Future, November 2-4, 2017 in Richmond, Virginia at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Symposium speakers include HE Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad Al Thani, the contemporary artists Lalla Essaydi, Shahzia Sikander and Hassan Hajjaj, and some of the leading curators, collectors and leaders in the field of contemporary Islamic art.
The conference program
Thursday, November 2, 2017
Location: Cheek Theater, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
4:30 – 5pm: Registration
5 – 6:45pm: Opening Ceremony and Keynote Address
Opening Address: HE Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad Al Thani
Keynote Address: Lalla Essaydi, Gender, Power, and Tradition
Friday, November 3, 2017
Location: Cheek Theater, VMFA
8:30 – 9am: Registration
9 – 9:15am: Opening Remarks, Sheila Blair and Jonathan Bloom, Symposium Co-Chairs and shared holders of the Hamad bin Khalifa Endowed Chair in Islamic Art at VCU
9:15 – 10am: Wijdan al-Hashemi, Contemporary or Modern Islamic Art?
10 – 10:45am: Nada Shabout, Contemporary Trajectories: Iraqi Art in Context
10:45 – 11:15am: Coffee Break
11:15am – 12pm: Nacim Pak-Shiraz, Iranian Cinema Today: An Ode to the Past and New Directions in the Future?
12 – 12:45pm: Mohammad al-Asad, Whose history Is It Anyway: The Presence of the Past in the Architecture of the Arab Middle East over the Past Century and a Half
1 – 2:15pm: Lunch (Note: lunch is not provided by the Symposium; the VMFA has both a restaurant and a café that are open during the week)
2:30 – 3:15pm: Newsha Tavakolian, A Shah, a Russian and My Grandfather: Iranian Photography, a History
3:15 – 3:45pm: Audience questions and discussion
Saturday, November 4, 2017
Location: Cheek Theater, VMFA
8:30 – 9am: Registration
9 – 9:15am: Opening Remarks, Sheila Blair and Jonathan Bloom, Symposium Co-Chairs and shared holders of the Hamad bin Khalifa Endowed Chair in Islamic Art at VCU
9:15 – 10am: Linda Komaroff, Islamic Art Now and Then
10 – 10:45am: Venetia Porter, Narratives of the Middle East: What Does the Contemporary Art of the Middle East Tell Us about the Cultures, History and Politics of the Middle East Today and How Does this Collecting Fit within the Context of the British Museum?
10:45 – 11:15am: Coffee Break
11:15am – 12pm: Stefano Carboni, Collecting ‘Islamic’ Art in Southeast Asia and Australia: Past, Present and Future
12 – 12:45pm: Sultan Sooud al-Qassemi, Politics of Arab Art
1 – 2:15pm: Lunch (Note: lunch is not provided by the Symposium; the VMFA has both a restaurant and a café that are open during the week)
2:30 – 3:15pm: Hassan Hajjaj, Hub Wahad: On Finding Inspiration in a Community of Nomads.
3:15 – 4pm: Shahzia Sikander, Paper Title TBD
4 – 4:30pm: Audience questions and discussion
4:30 – 5:15pm: Closing Reception
For more information please click "Further Official Information" below.