Visual Dhikr™

Saif Gaddafi’s Islamic art museum at a standstill

2011-05-02T21:29:00.004+01:00

Libyan conflict has halted construction on—and acquistions for—new museum in Tripoli due to open in September.

TRIPOLI. The Libyan conflict has halted the creation of a museum of Islamic art in Tripoli, due to open in September to celebrate the anniversary of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s rise to power. The acquisition of exhibits was underway and pieces are known to have been bought from London auction houses over the past three years.

As patron of the department of archaeology, Saif Gaddafi, the son of the Libyan leader, was supporting the project. He is thought to have wanted a collection to show international guests. It was due to be housed in a summer palace built for the Ottoman Yusuf Pasha in the 18th century.

Hafed Walda, a Libyan who advises the country’s department of archaeology on cultural projects, including the new museum, said work on the project had now stopped.

Walda was unwilling to disclose which pieces had been bought for the collection and where they were currently being stored. He said, however, that works are no longer being purchased. He added that the future of the collection is uncertain but hoped it could also incorporate objects from Libya’s own history, which includes the Roman ruins of Leptis Magna.

“It’s important that locals begin to connect their cultural heritage with their national identity, rather than viewing the imperialist influences as incompatible with modern politics,” he said.

The Tripoli War Museum, designed by Camillin Denny Architects, was also scheduled to open this year. Walda said that it remains in “the planning stages”. Tripoli’s National Museum has not reported looting or damage since the outbreak of conflict.

Riah Pryor

source

Faith In The City: The Mosque in the Contemporary Urban West

2010-10-31T17:05:00.002Z

A two part investigation into the spatial and social role of faith buildings in the urban fabric of the "Western" world. With particular focus upon the social and spatial role of the mosque, the symposium brings an international array of speakers to the UK to take a keen look at the vital questions raised by the banning of minarets in Switzerland and US outrage at proposals for Park51 - or the 'Ground Zero Mosque'. An exploration of the place of religious and minority identity within the cities of Europe and the USA, and the role architecture and design can take in negotiating this territory today.

Featuring a keynote lecture from Park51's designer, Michel Abboud, SOMA

Read more

Islamic Design House store opens in Jordan, stocks Visual Dhikr t-shirts

2010-10-09T10:52:00.003+01:00

The new Islamic Design House store opens in Jordan this month at the Sweifia Mall. Stocking Visual Dhikr t-shirts and Silk Route Jilbabs/Abayah's. If you're in Amman, go check it out!

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Islamic-Design-House/141224181394

Jameel Prize Exhibit: A modern twist on traditional Islamic art

2010-10-04T17:52:00.005+01:00

The works of nine artists short-listed for the Saudi-sponsored Jameel Prize have been exhibited in venues throughout the Arab world, underlining a new cultural collaboration between countries and boosting interest in contemporary interpretations of traditional Islamic art.

The exhibition was launched at London's Victoria and Albert Museum in July and has since travelled to Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and now Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Read more

First Look Inside Park51

2010-10-03T13:20:00.002+01:00

I'm loving the proposed designs for Park51, very strong sense of traditional geometric framework weaved into the architecture of the building.

source

Bangladeshi Calligrapher Mohammad Abdur Rahim

2010-09-07T20:52:00.003+01:00

The blog and artwork of Bangladeshi calligrapher Mohammad Abdur Rahim.

Visit his blog

Global artists compete to beautify Mecca

2010-08-16T19:58:00.001+01:00

Hundreds of artists from all over the world are competing in a contest for the beautification of Islam’s holiest city, Mecca.

"The objective of the competition is to spread the art culture through paintings that depict the Islamic heritage of the holy city," said Dr. Osama Fadl al-Bar, Mecca’s mayor and supervisor of the first Islamic competition to beautify Mecca.

Dr. al-Bar also added that the competition aims to bring Islamic artists together to exchange expertise.

There are 442 registered artists and 306 art works have been submitted, however only 12 paintings will be chosen. Al-Bar said that all participants will work together under the competition’s slogan "In love of Mecca we gather” to make the corners of the holy city an open museum for Islamic art with a view to beautify the city and enhance society’s aesthetic tastes.

The 12 paintings to be chosen will follow a fair process, as each artwork had been classed by a secret code so that the names of the artists could not be seen.

Tough competition

Despite the registration of 442 pieces of art work only 306 were submitted, and around half of these paintings were found to be just substandard, said Dr. Mohammad Saeed Farsi, former mayor of Jeddah.
"A total of 152 paintings were discarded because they were not up to the standard," Dr. al-Bar said.

Dr. Farsi said the artists who submitted entries were from: Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Yemen, Qatar, Iraq, Morocco, Algeria, Turkey, Iran, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Egypt, Mauritania, Somalia, Pakistan, Malaysia, China, India, Italy and the U.S.. The judging panel consisted of renowned artists, designers and experts in philosophy and fine art from Egypt, Morocco, Malaysia and Cote d'Ivoire.

The names of the winners will be announced on September 27 during a special function and will receive prizes totaling $300,000.

Mecca should be the most developed city: Saudi Prince

Mecca Governor Prince Khaled Al-Faisal has launched the competition in Jeddah Wednesday evening and said Saudi Arabia has a responsibility to present Mecca as a model of beauty and development.

He said Saudi leaders were determined to make Mecca one of the cleanest and most developed cities in the world.

"Had it not been for Mecca, the region would not have occupied this high civilized, political and cultural position," he said.

"We are responsible for serving the Grand Mosque and making Mecca a safe haven for pilgrims and visitors."

Prince Khaled Al-Faisal is the sponsor of the art contest and has asked private companies and businessmen to support the first international competition to beautify Mecca.

Recently Saudi Arabia has activated the tallest clock tower in the world in the first day of Ramadan.

source

Long wait over as Cairo Islamic art museum reopens

2010-08-10T14:32:00.002+01:00

Egyptian Minister of Culture, Farouk Hosni and Secretary General of The Supreme Council of Antiquities, Dr Farouk Hosni went on a tour of the archaeological Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) at Bab El-Khalq area, to inspect the progress of the latest restoration projects.

Several years ago the MIA was closed for comprehensive rehabilitation, not only of its building and interior design, but also of its exhibition design and displays. Over the last six years, massive renovation work has been completed to the tune of LE90 million.

The MIA first opened in 1881 in the arcades of the mosque of the Fatimid Caliph Al-Hakim, displaying 111 objects gathered from mosques and mausoleums across Egypt.

Due to the rapid increase in size of the collection, a new building was constructed in the courtyard of the mosque in 1883. In 1899, the government began the construction on the present building at Bab El-Khalq, and in 1903 the Islamic Museum opened with a collection of 3,154 objects originating from Egypt and other countries.

Since its inception, the museum had never once been renovated, except for an attempt to clean the walls and renovate the displays in 1983. Attempts at a more comprehensive renovation were frustrated in part by the building's upper floor being occupied by a separate institution, the Dar Al-Kotob Al-Masreya.

In 2003, the Ministry of Culture launched a major restoration project with the goal of returning the museum to its former glory. The master plan for the renovation work and the new exhibition design was drawn up by French designer and museographer, Adrien Gardère, in cooperation with the Islamic Department of the Louvre Museum in Paris, which has advised on the re-organization of the museum's collections.

The museum's main entrance, located on Port Said Street, includes an introductory gallery that discusses Islamic art and the Middle East through a mixed media display of panels, maps and objects from the collection. The geography of historic Cairo and the early Islamic city of Fustat, the oldest Islamic settlement in Egypt, is also discussed here.

Mohamed Abdel Fatah, Head of the Museums Department at the SCA, said that the renovated museum is divided into two large wings. The right wing is devoted to the chronological exhibition of Islamic artifacts taken mainly from monuments in historic Cairo located just a few steps away from the museum. The left wing will display materials from other countries besides Egypt, including calligraphy, manuscripts, ceramics, mosaics, textiles, grave stones, mashrabiya, woodwork, metal and glass vessels, incense burners and caskets, pottery, metalwork and glass lamps dating from different periods in Islamic history. These objects will be displayed both according to chronology and according to theme, provenance and material.

In addition to its renovated exhibition space, the museum is now equipped with a state-of-the art security and lighting system, as well as a fully-equipped conservation laboratory, a children's museum and library.

Islamic Arts Magazine

2010-05-03T10:58:00.003+01:00

Came across this publication/magazine recently:

http://www.islamicartsmagazine.com/

Iranian Student With $750 Turns Billionaire Made by Islamic Art (Nasser Khalili)

2010-04-06T01:27:00.004+01:00

Found a recent article on Nasser Khalili, who has one of the largest private collections of Islamic Art.

By the way, he's Jewish and not Muslim, and some people refer to him as “an ambassador for the culture of Islam”. I think he deserves that title.

March 30 (Bloomberg) -- Nasser David Khalili stands in an exhibition hall in St. Petersburg’s Winter Palace, gazing at an 18th-century painted enamel of flowers that’s one of 25,000 works of art he owns. “I’d have paid anything for it,” he says, appraising this miniature by Frenchman Philippe Parpette. “There’s no way I’d have let anybody else buy it.”

Khalili, 64, an Iranian-born billionaire who lives in London, has come to Russia to unveil his fifth art collection: On this overcast December afternoon, 320 of his 1,200 enamel treasures will go on display at the State Hermitage Museum, home to the collection of Catherine the Great, Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its May issue.

Having flown in on a chartered plane, Khalili is relishing a private preview, peering through tinted eyeglasses at such possessions as a gilded clock with matching candelabras that once adorned the home of U.S. railroad tycoon William Vanderbilt. Khalili, who says he has a photographic memory, recalls paying $16,500 for these three pieces 34 years ago. He estimates that they’d now cost $600,000.

full article

Mus’haf Qatar release today

2010-03-15T11:22:00.002Z

BY Huda NV

DOHA: After almost two decades of waiting, Qatar will today release the first editions of its print of the Holy Quran (Mus’haf Qatar), under the patronage of the Emir H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.

Once released, it will be the latest print of the Holy Book available in the Arab and Islamic world, prepared after one of the biggest international calligraphy competitions ever.

The idea of preparing Mus’haf Qatar originated in the 1990s and the project came to fruition after a decade, when it got approval from the Emir, in May 2000. With the assistance of a reputed Turkish research centre, an international competition of renowned international Arabic calligraphers was held in Doha in 2001 and two calligraphers were selected to prepare the new manuscripts in 24 months. After the comparison between the works of the two calligraphers, the work by Obaida Al Banki, from Syria, was selected.

The Mus’haf Qatar project included three phases — writing, editing and printing — supervised by a panel comprising experts from the Arab and Islamic world. The handwritten copy was to be thoroughly checked to ensure their full conformity with the original text of the Quran. The manuscripts were ready by June 2006 and they were submitted to the expert panel for the final selection. Qatar had set a budget of QR25m for printing of the Mus’haf Qatar.

The Qatari-print will be one of the foremost both in terms of artistic and aesthetic value.

Al Banki had used natural inks for writing and designing decorations. Alongside the launch, Qatar Islamic Culture Centre (Fanar) will launch ‘Aqlam Expo’ tomorrow, under the supervision of the Ministry of Awqaf.

Continued from page 1

More than 22 artists have arrived in Doha, for the exhibition from March 10 till 15, which pays tribute to the Islamic art of calligraphy. The exhibition includes a number of live art workshops of calligraphy, gilding and Ebro that will allow visitors to observe great artists at work on fine artistic pieces, which is in itself a unique experience.

The Aqlam Expo features a unique and original collection of the different styles and scripts of magnificent Arabic calligraphy, such as the Thuluth script, the Naskh, the Ta’liq, the Diwani, the Thuluth Al Jali, the Diwani Al Jali. The exhibition also presents artifacts that represent the finest and most beautiful works of the art of gilding, and some of the exquisite Ebro (water marbling).

The exhibition presents a closer look at the development stages of the Mus’haf of Qatar from beginning to end. It presents the original copies of the 122 calligraphers who participated in the preliminary rounds of the competition before the finals, as well as a works of comparison between artists Obaida Al Banki and Sabah Al Arbili up to the final stages.

The exhibition will also include the original gilding copies of the Mus’haf, and finally visitors will be able to see the original copy of the Mus’haf Qatar for the first time. There will also be seminars, lectures and workshops about Islamic Arts held live in Fanar’s auditorium and ground floor.

Also, a specialised institute for the preparation and rehabilitation of young talented Qatari calligraphers will be inaugurated. There will be an attempt to record the biggest gilded painting in the world in the Guinness Book of World Records through Fanar.

The Peninsula

Ghost Writing

2010-03-08T11:36:00.000Z

While the demand for Arabic calligraphy thrives abroad, interest at home is condemned to the past Calligraphy once held a venerated position in Arab culture, and as a center of creative thought, Cairo played a significant role in the development of the art. Throughout history, the florid nature of the Arabic language has been reflected in the intricate works of calligraphers blending words and images into art. Yet the inherent value of calligraphy escapes most people wandering the city streets today, who prefer their words in text messages and emails rather than artistic scrolls. The decline of calligraphy signifies more than a mere adjustment to modern life; it suggests a disheartening willingness to sacrifice history for convenience.

In today’s fast paced world, traditional calligraphy has become a luxury with a dwindling national audience. Competition with the near-immediate production possibilities of graphic designers, high-resolution printers and photocopiers has forced many artists to look beyond the written word to make ends meet. Storefront designs, signs and religious texts, all former staples of the calligraphy industry, are produced faster and cheaper with the click of a button than the scratch of a quill.

To understand the declining state of the art, Egypt Today met with one of calligrahy’s strongest proponents, Mosa’d El Khodeir, in his studio in Islamic Cairo’s Beit El-Kadi. With ornate renderings of centuries-old poetry and ayat (verses) from the Qur’an adorning the walls, the studio is a tour of our literary heritage. Khodeir, who founded the Calligraphy Academy in Bab Al-Louq, laments the deterioration of his art, viewing it as a casualty of the march of technology, and questions whether the end result has, in fact, been progress.

“The computer caused the deterioration of writing and the unemployment of calligraphers,” Khodeir says. But Bill Gates and Steve Jobs aren’t the only ones to blame for the pen being taken off the paper. The decline of calligraphy is also a result of neglect here at home. For a long time, few galleries have made space for calligraphy exhibitions, and calligraphy has been on the low end of government-sponsored grants for the arts.

Yet aspiring artists continue to train in the historic trade. Roughly 12,000 calligraphers graduate in the art form annually, but there are fewer career prospects to look forward to. With a small market that continues to shrink, the number of students may well decline and capable calligraphers may be tough to find in coming years.

“I’m frustrated,” says Abdul Rahman Ahmed, a student at the Calligraphy Academy. “I’m considering not taking my exams because I don’t see any hope in the future of calligraphy.”

Although Khodeir and his academy are dedicated to promoting calligraphy, he is swimming against the tide. One of the main obstacles he is attempting to overcome is achieving accredited status for the Calligraphy Academy, a move that would ease the transition for graduates into teaching and provide the possibility of making a living through calligraphy. Regardless of interest in the marketplace, Khodeir is among those who believe that it is essential to preserve the art as a link to history.

“My ultimate aim is restoring the prestige of calligraphy, but I cannot do it alone,” he says.

Illustrative Past Ignored

In the past, many of the signs and advertisements displayed in heavily trafficked areas of Cairo displayed the work of local calligraphers. Yet in the last quarter century, not only has the calligraphy begun to disappear, but the Arabic as well. An increasing number of vendors have chosen to make their displays in transliterated Arabic using Latin letters. According to Mohammed Hamam, a professor at the Calligraphy Academy, this movement exemplifies the indifference that exists towards calligraphy on many levels.

Things have not always been this way. Egyptian calligraphy has played an integral role in the development of the art form since its inception. Al-Fustat, an area of what is now Cairo, was the first Islamic capital in the region, a focal point for religious arts and integral to the stylistic development of calligraphers. Traditionally, calligraphy has been regarded as a method of preserving the Qur’an, and therefore took on religious as well as aesthetic significance. For centuries, artists from historic learning centers like Baghdad and Damascus flocked to Egypt, bringing with them a variety of regional calligraphic styles that contributed to the artistic diversity within the city.

Centuries later, however, Arabic calligraphy is no longer appreciated by Egyptians, according to Khodeir. He points out that foreigners take more interest in the country’s script than many natives, actively seeking to acquire scrolls and tablets — some centuries old — as mementos of their visit.

Although the smuggling of antiquities outside the country is prohibited by law, ancient Egyptian calligraphic art has been finding a market in Europe, where single works can garner thousands of dollars.

Hamam places much of the blame for the waning interest on the public here at home, including government officials who he believes should invest more in promoting the art. “Negligence of calligraphy is negligence of our Arabic identity,” he says.

Follow a Neighbor’s Lead

Unlike Egypt, neighboring states such as Turkey, Iraq, Syria and the United Arab Emirates are making great efforts to preserve the prestige of Arabic calligraphy by holding festivals, contests and museum exhibitions on a regular basis. Official efforts aside, the private sector has also shown a keen interest in promoting the art through private competitions and international exhibitions.

A number of high-profile exhibitions held in recent years in Dubai under the directive of the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing have not only reinvigorated interest in the field, but provided a boon to the economy. Such support for the art is precisely what artists like Hamam and Khodeir are seeking in Egypt.

“What is lacking is practical action by officials in the Ministry of Culture for achieving that aim,” says Khodeir.

Despite criticism from the calligraphy community, officials have made some attempts to call attention to the art. In 2003, the Calligraphy Center at Bibliotheca Alexandrina was inaugurated by First Lady Suzanne Mubarak. Subsequent exhibitions and award ceremonies have been held in both Alexandria and Cairo, though those in the industry complain that it is not enough.

Mohsen Shalaan, head of the fine arts section of the Ministry of Culture, says that the reason that calligraphy exhibitions are not more widespread is that the demand simply does not exist. If that’s the case, then the future of the art looks grim.

Hamam, however, remains optimistic. He explains that ultimately, calligraphy is more than an art. He maintains that it is still the key to preserving the Qur’an, and as such, it will live on. Insh’allah.

http://www.egypttoday.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=8862

Gaza's writing on the wall

2010-01-04T11:47:00.004Z

For years, law enforcement agencies throughout the world have engaged in local crusades against what they regard as the scourge of graffiti.

New South Wales in Australia recently passed an anti-graffiti law that could see juvenile offenders jailed for up to 12 months. New York state has made it illegal to sell spray paint to anyone under 18, and Singapore has even physically canned graffiti artists as punishment.

But when it comes to the Israeli occupied and blockaded Gaza Strip, local government not only tolerates graffiti, but actually provides workshops on how artists can improve their technique.

read full article

Detroit Institute of Arts opening Islamic gallery

2009-12-21T23:48:00.002Z

So many museums and galleries full of huge collections of Islamic Art, so this is great news:

DETROIT -

The Detroit Institute of Arts plans to open a new gallery of Islamic art in February.

The museum announced Monday that the gallery opening Feb. 28 will include works of art from the Mediterranean region, the Middle East, Central Asia and India, and spans the 7th to the early 20th centuries.

The gallery was to be part of the museum’s $158-million, six-year renovation and reinstallation project that was completed in 2007. The museum says the project was delayed until funding could be secured.

The DIA began collecting Islamic art in the 1890s. The museum’s collection will be on view in a larger space than was previously allocated. The new gallery also incorporates works on loan from nine public and private collections.

http://www.dia.org/

source

Distressed over domes

2009-12-21T11:33:00.001Z

Interestning article:

Can an architectural element ‘belong’ to a people? Can it be ‘moral’?

A COUPLE of recent events prompted me to ponder the question of whether the dome is an exclusively “Islamic” element in architecture.

One was a request for help from one of my students who is writing his dissertation on whether the dome is still relevant in Islam. The greater impetuts, however, came from a consultancy meeting I attended during which a former senior civil servant, who had been a planner, said that the dome is the best representation of Islam, implying that it is “morally” correct to build mosques with domes. Another person at the meeting added the notion that the dome had been “perfected” by Muslims and, thus, is justifiably unique to Muslims.

read full article

What do you think?

Eid Mubarak!

2009-11-26T15:27:00.005Z

Wishing you all a wonderful Eid ul-Adha
from Visual Dhikr

كل عام و أنتم بخير، عيد أضحى مبارك

The occidental tourists

2009-11-23T16:15:00.004Z

Just as the fractious relationship between the Montagues and the Capulets electrified the romance between Romeo and Juliet, so combining the seemingly antithetical cultural viewpoints of the Middle East and the west can make for scintillating marriages in arts and design. From November 19, the inaugural Abu Dhabi Art fair will employ the city’s ancient position as a trading route crossroads to highlight the significance of the interaction of the two cultures.

Traditional Islamic design is renowned the world over for its use of elegant geometric pattern, technical innovation and artistic harmony. Now its thriving union with contemporary western practice is producing some eloquent work.

One such example is the textile designer Kevin Dean. A graduate of the Royal College of Art, his work features themes of flora and fauna. Dean’s career quite literally blossomed out of all proportion when he was commissioned by the late Sheikh of Abu Dhabi, Zayed Bin Sultan al-Nahyan and one of his sons, Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed al-Nahyan, to create a marble mosaic version of one of his floral designs for the 18,000 sq metre courtyard floor of Abu Dhabi’s Grand Mosque.

Completed in March 2008, the mosque is one of the largest in the world. Those of us who find it vexing to arrange so much as a bunch of tulips in a vase will sympathise with Dean’s initial trepidation at the prospect of arranging flower patterns over an area larger than a football field. But perhaps the true visionaries were Sheikh Zayed and his son, who was deputy prime minister of the United Arab Emirates at the time, for commissioning something other than a traditional Islamic floor design from a British craftsman.

read full article (FT)

London Eye architects to design new Cambridge Mosque

2009-10-22T11:39:00.001+01:00

Award-winning architects Marks Barfield, working in association with Professor Keith Critchlow, have been appointed by the Muslim Academic Trust to design the new Cambridge mosque. Marks Barfield are internationally-renowned for striking projects such as the London Eye and the Kew Treetop Walkway.

On behalf of the Trust, Chairman Tim Winter said:

‘Moving the mosque to this new location represents a hugely exciting opportunity for Cambridge. Working with Marks Barfield, we can create on the Mill Road site a superb place of worship to replace the overcrowded facility on Mawson Road.

‘This building will be truly inclusive, sustainable, safe, secure and respectful of the neighbourhood. It will be a landmark building which will inject new life into the Mill Road area of Cambridge of which the local and wider Cambridge community can be proud’.

Located a few hundred yards from the current Mawson Road mosque, in a predominantly residential neighbourhood, the new building will stand on the site of the derelict Robert Sayle warehouse, while retaining and enlarging the existing community garden at the front.

The new design has the additional advantage of including ample space for off road parking in a new underground garage.

Rising from 2 storeys to a maximum height of 3 storeys above ground level, the new building will be consistent with the height, scale and massing of the surrounding built environment.

The overall design for the site has been developed from the concept of a calm ‘oasis’, with the ‘trees’ set out on a generous 7.8 x 7.8 metre grid forming the main mosque structure. The concept will be reinforced across the site with about 20 new cypress trees creating a new permeable green edge around the building. The ‘oasis’ will offer a significant new open space in a built-up area of Victorian terraced houses.

The façade of the complex will be completed in brick, complementing the materials already used in the neighbourhood. Integrating site services, offices and residential accommodation the building will be set in a hard and soft-landscaped area. Car parking and mechanical plant will be located in the single basement level with bicycle racks at street level.

Inside, the new Mosque will accommodate a congregation of up to 1000 men and women. In addition to the Mosque’s dedicated areas (ablution, teaching, children’s area, morgue) there will be a café, teaching area and meeting rooms for use by the local Muslim and non-Muslim communities.

‘The new Mosque will be a real neighbourhood as well as a spiritual centre, easily accessible by public transport and on foot, with facilities for formal and informal community group meetings as well as a leisure destination,’ said Tim Winter.

Green issues have been paramount in the design. The building will be naturally lit throughout the year, very well-insulated and heated and cooled using energy efficient and locally generated energy from ground source heat pumps.

In the coming months the mosque project team will consult local stakeholder groups in the process of preparing the detailed scheme and planning application in 2010. The balance of the funding for the £13m project is being sought from a number of donors and benefactors.

source

The "American Qur'an" - art or blasphemy?

2009-10-13T16:13:00.002+01:00

From TimesOnline

Bess writes: This is an image from the “American Qur’an”, a series of pictures matching Sura or specific chapters from the Islamic holy book to recent American disasters such as Hurricane Karina, and wildfires in California or else scenes from contemporary America: gangsters, migrants labouring in fields, etc.
So far the artist Sandow Birk has copied half the Qur’an’s 114 Suras onto 16 x 24 inch panels, in a style reminiscent of urban graffiti.

They are now on display in San Francisco and Culver City near Los Angeles. Eventually the plan is to the turn the panels into a book reports AP.

Birk admits the concept is Christian: “When you go to a church here, the minister read a passage from the Bible and then he spends 30 minutes talking about, “How does this passage relate to your life in the 21st century?” That’s a familiar way that Americans have of dealing with religious texts.”

Creative – certainly – but is it blasphemy? The Qur’an forbids the making of idols, says this piece in the LA Times, the hadith contains restrictions on the use of figurative imagery.
The issue, it concludes, is open to interpretation.

Obviously, the question of which verses Birk matches with which event is highly interesting. For 9/11 - depicted above - for instance, he choses Sura 44 (10-12)

44:10 But watch thou (O Muhammad) for the day when the sky will produce visible smoke

44:11 That will envelop the people. This will be a painful torment.

44:12 (Then they will say): Our Lord relieve us of the torment. Lo! we are believers.

Is this just a case of match-up-the-verse-to-the-event? Or is this a call to convert to Islam? Amboy's take? [it]"implies that the 9/11 attacks were Allah's punishment for not accepting Islam." What do you think?

Ruh's comment:

This is a situation that Muslims often hate to see, verses from the Qur'an (or any Holy Text for that matter) being taken completely out of context. This artwork is merely the artist trying to use the controversy that surrounds Muslim issues to generate talk and interest. The verses used are entirely the artists interpretation and a deliberate attempt to define a meaning.

The other concern that many Muslims will have is the use of figurative work alongside the holy verses of the Qur'an. Again the artist must have known this is an issue and widely held interpretation (hence the lack of any figurative work in mosques), so it seems quite deliberate.

Islam is not like Christianity and nobody speaks for God, in Islam, or what has occured in any given situation. Muslims largely regard 9/11, along with other senseless terrorism, as one of the most disgusting and un-Islamic acts against humanity.

Cairo's Museum of Islamic Art to reopen

2009-10-13T15:58:00.003+01:00

I never managed to visit the museum but glad to see it being reopened soon...

After years of restoration work on its fine neo-Mameluke buildings and exhibitions of Islamic art, Cairo's Museum of Islamic Art is close to reopening to the public. Nevine El-Aref took a tour.

On Port Said Street in the Bab Al-Khalq area of Cairo stands the lofty, honey- coloured edifice of the Museum of Islamic Art, its neo-Mameluke architecture and luxurious façade featuring the rich patterns and elaborate decoration of the Islamic style.

However, inside the institution the picture that greets visitors will soon be far less familiar. Following years of restoration work, visitors to the museum will soon be able to roam around spacious galleries showcasing the museum's collection of rare wooden, metal, ceramic, glass, rock crystal and textile objects from across the Islamic world.

Following years of negligence, the Museum of Islamic Art has finally been undergoing comprehensive rehabilitation not only of its building and interior design, but also of its exhibition design and displays.

"Restoring the Museum of Islamic Art is an ambitious and challenging task that illustrates Egypt's commitment to preserving one of the country's Islamic institutions, in addition to its Pharaonic and Coptic heritage," Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni said in an interview with Al-Ahram Weekly.

Hosni added that over the last five years, renovation work to the tune of LE85 million had been carried out at the museum, with work continuing until December 2009 when the institution will celebrate its official reopening.

Full Article

Ramadan Gift Vouchers

2009-09-14T16:03:00.005+01:00

Islamic Design House offering £5 vouchers for you and your friends with lovely E-Card messages (artwork by Visual Dhikr).

"We give you the chance, this Ramadan, to surprise FIVE of your most beloved friends with a little £5 gift voucher and beautiful email message. Simply use our form below to send a warm ..."

Click here

Obama commissions Mohamed Zakariya

2009-09-14T13:12:00.003+01:00

Renowned Islamic calligraphy artist and VCUQatar Joint Advisory Board member Mohamed Zakariya has been commissioned by US President Barack Obama to create a gift for King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia.

The gift is a work of Islamic calligraphy in Arabic Sulus script with ink and gold on Ahar paper, with Ebru borders and backing, for the occasion of Obama’s visit to the Middle East.

Taken from the Qur’an (Chapter 49: Verse 13), the English translation of the script reads: “O people, we created you from the same male and female, and rendered you distinct peoples and tribes, that you may recognise one another. The noblest among you in God’s sight is the most conscientious of you. God is All-Knowing, All-Aware.”
While echoing King Abdullah’s important calls for interfaith and intercultural dialogue, Obama included this quote from the Qur’an in his speech at Cairo University in Egypt on June 4.

“I am deeply honoured that President Obama chose my work as part of his historic initiative to open new doors between America and the Muslim world. I believe Islamic art can be a fitting ambassador of much-hoped-for policy change,” Zakariya said.

The artist has been represented exclusively since 2005 by Linearis Institute, whose co-principal and managing director Suleyman Cooke remarked that “the profound power of art has played a key role in the President delivering his message of inclusion.”

Zakariya is described as an American master of Islamic calligraphy.
With no formal education, he learned his trades in aerospace industry machine shops, in the Los Angeles atelier of Oscar Meyer, the French impresario of antiques and objects de virtue, at the British Museum and at Istanbul’s Research Centre for Islamic Art, History, and Culture, where he earned two licences in Islamic calligraphy - the first Westerner to do so.

Since settling in the Washington, DC, area in 1972, Zakariya has travelled frequently to Turkey and the Arabian Gulf and has exhibited and lectured extensively in the US and abroad.

Known for his design of the “Eid Greetings” US postage stamp, he concentrates primarily on classical Arabic and Ottoman Turkish calligraphy.

(source)

University of Melbourne Islamic Prayer Facility

2009-08-20T01:46:00.003+01:00

Super cool prayer space, love the interior architecture and wall graphics (by Peter Gould of Azaan).

The new state-of-the-art Islamic Prayer Facility at the University of Melbourne is designed to accommodate 300 praying people.

The brilliantly coloured welcome of “peace be upon you” adorns the entry door in contrast with the sombre and tranquil main prayer space where softly lit ceiling domes, raw colours and materials and pure simplicity of space prepare one to bring to rest whirring thoughts of the mundane world.

More here

Do you have a cool prayer space local to you? Leave your comments below.

Morris and the Muslims

2009-07-06T17:49:00.002+01:00

Navid Akhtar examines the influence of Islamic design and values on the life of the Victorian designer, poet, craftsman and socialist radical William Morris.

Morris was inspired by Turkish ceramics and Persian carpets to create a new movement in British design. For him, the Muslim world had managed to preserve the art of the craftsman and avoid the ills of industrial production. He espoused the philosophy that art should be affordable and hand made; this was already a reality in the Islamic world.

Not stopping at arts and crafts, he was a passionate advocate of social utopianism and believed in the rights of the worker. Today, these ideals have profoundly influenced a new generation of British-born Muslim artists, as they rediscover Morris and look to his artistic work and socialist ideas for inspiration.

Listen in on: Tue 7 Jul 2009, 11:30, BBC Radio 4

Islamic Turner Prize opens at the Victoria and Albert Museum

2009-07-06T17:43:00.000+01:00

Hamra Abbas and Hassan Hajjaj compete alongside seven other artists and designers in this groundbreaking exhibition founded by Mohammed Abdul Latif Jameel

IT looks like a Moroccan-themed coffee bar - but this jolly little salon is in fact one of the first contenders for Islamic art's answer to the Turner Prize .

The installation, by London-based artist Hassan Hajjaj, goes on show at the Victoria & Albert Museum this week.

It shows how brands have invaded and been absorbed by traditional culture in Islamic countries.

Hajjaj is one of nine artists shortlisted for the inaugural Jameel Prize, funded by Saudi businessman Mohammed Abdul Latif Jameel and run by the V&A to help raise awareness of the importance of Islamic art.

The first ever winner of the £25,000 cheque, to be awarded every two years, will be unveiled at a ceremony tomorrow (Tuesday) night.

The shortlisted works range from jewellery to photomontage, turned wood and screen prints.

A spokeswoman said: "They show how dynamic Islamic tradition can be, and how complex and eloquent the art and design inspired by this tradition has become."

Mohammed Abdul Latif Jameel conceived the idea for the prize after providing the financial support for the renovation of the V&A’s Jameel Gallery of Islamic Art, which opened in July 2006.

The nine artists and designers are:

Hamra Abbas with a paper collage work, Please do not step: Loss of a Magnificent Story, using traditional Islamic patterning and laid out on the gallery floor.

Reza Abedini's has designed four posters using mixed calligraphy showing the human form.

Afruz Amighi’s 1001 Pages (2008) is a shadow piece where light is projected through a sheet of plastic with a complex hand-cut design.

Sevan Biçakçi is displaying five jewelled rings that reflect the life and architectural traditions of Ottoman Istanbul

British-Moroccan artist Hassan Hajjaj has created a site-specific installation called Le Salon, which shows how brands have invaded and been absorbed by traditional culture in an Islamic country.

Iranian Khosrow Hassanzadeh's acrylic and silk screen prints on canvas combine photography and Arabic script to evoke the challenge to the present from Iran’s 19th-century past.

Susan Hefuna's wood and ink on paper works are inspired by traditional mashrabiyyah screens from Egypt.

Seher Shah’s complex drawings - Black Cube Series II and Jihad Pop Progression 4 mix architectural and other references to the Islamic world and beyond.

Camille Zakharia’s Markings I and Markings II (2008) are photomontages printed on rag paper and reflect his experience of exile.

The Jameel Prize, 8 July-13 Sep, V&A, Cromwell Road, W7 2RL

source

An approach to understanding Islamic urban design

2009-06-30T15:08:00.002+01:00

Found this interesting piece:

Traditional Gulf urban layouts have all gone. Swept aside by the perceived need to produce ‘modern’ developments, their replacements reflect and represent in many ways the new States with their growing importance and self-confidence and the perceived need to reflect foreign standards and institutions. In some respects the change from Islamic planning layouts parallels those which were seen in the Ottoman empire in the latter part of the nineteenth century. It is interesting to note that, in Salonica for instance, European socio-political values developed rapidly with increasing prosperity, the town witnessing the concomitant introduction of a burgeoning expatriate community and European urban vocabulary.

read more

Islamic Design House launches in Egypt

2009-05-27T02:50:00.005+01:00

Due to high demand, Islamic Design House, the leading online store for Islamic fashion, arts and decor has not only branched out into Nigeria last year, but just launched in the Middle East with Egypt being the first in a long list of countries. Supplying original Muslim brands such as Silk Route, Aerosol Arabic, Cute Culture and Visual Dhikr.

http://www.islamicdesignhouse.com/egypt

CalligraphyQalam.com

2009-05-19T18:53:00.004+01:00

'My name is Elisabeth Kvernen, and I am a graphic designer. I created Calligraphy Qalam for my Masters of Fine Arts thesis project.

My husband and I began studying Arabic in 2004, and I became fascinated with calligraphy. We lived in Damascus, Syria from 2005 to 2006, and during that time I studied calligraphy (the Ruq’a script) with a Syrian artist. Fall of 2006 I enrolled in the University of Baltimore’s Master of Fine Arts in Integrated Design program. The required thesis project gave me the chance to further explore my interest in Arabic script calligraphy, which resulted in this website.

On this website you'll find a variety of interactive tools and information to help you learn more about calligraphy in the Arab, Ottoman and Persian traditions...'

http://calligraphyqalam.com/

- great new site, beautifuly made.

Iranian graphic design

2009-05-03T03:31:00.001+01:00

'What is different about graphic design in Iran from what is known in western countries that we label it with the distinguishing term "Iranian"?

The most distinct features of Iranian graphic design come from the use of a different writing system, and therefore a different typography. After the advent of Islam the art of calligraphy, both in Islamic and Iranian cultures, was considered one of the most important art forms. Although the Persian writing system is closely related to the Arabic, its function in Iranian calligraphy has developed on a completely different basis since the 17th century AD.

Down the ages, Iranian thinkers have chosen literature, especially poetry, as the best means of expressing their thoughts and emotions, and have produced a wonderfully rich body of literature. In penning these works with extraordinary rigor and adeptness, Iranian calligraphers have refined the art of calligraphy, step by step, and in aspiring towards perfection, they have endowed their art with originality.

In a sense, this process can still be observed in the typographical works of contemporary graphic designers. This brilliant calligraphic background in Iranian arts enabled the New Generation of Iranian graphic designers to present a new and different typographical attitude to the world. An attitude that is drawing its originality and identity from the golden age of Iranian calligraphy with a fresh and contemporary approach.'

taken from http://www.typography.ir/

Check out the works of some of the leading Iranian graphic designers.

After 650 years, the wisdom of the Alhambra is revealed

2009-03-31T02:59:00.001+01:00

Granada's fortress-palace built by Spain's medieval Moorish rulers, has always fascinated visitors. But what messages do its intricately carved walls hold – poetry, philosophy or piety? Elizabeth Nash reports

Visitors to the Alhambra fortress-palace in Granada have for centuries fallen into a reverie before its intricately carved medieval walls, wondering at the meaning of the Arabic inscriptions that adorn them from floor to ceiling. The script that winds round the filigree arches and pillared courtyards is so stylised that it's often difficult to disentangle words from images, and few can decipher the classical Arabic in which they are written.

Now, the carvings have been logged and translated, finally answering the question that has perplexed generations of visitors to Europe's jewel of Muslim architecture: "What are these walls telling me?"

Researchers have produced an interactive DVD that decodes, dates and identifies 3,116 of some 10,000 inscriptions carved on the building that symbolises centuries of Muslim rule in Spain and is today the country's top tourist landmark.

"There's perhaps nowhere else in the world where gazing upon walls, columns and fountains is an exercise so similar to turning the pages of a book of poems," says Juan Castilla, from the School of Arabic Studies at Spain's Higher Scientific Research Council, whose team produced this still-incomplete guide.

Arabic artisans, supervised by poets employed in the 14th-century court of King Yusuf I, drew up the decorative plans and planned the spaces where verses – original, or copied – were to be engraved.

So, what do these words say? "There aren't as many as we thought," Dr Castilla confessed. Inscriptions of poetry and verses from the Koran that have inspired generations represent only a minimum percentage of the texts that adorn the Alhambra's walls, despite the mistaken belief that they are smothered in writings of this kind, he said, presenting his study in Madrid.

Instead the motto of the Nazrid dynasty – "There is no victor but Allah" – is repeated hundreds of times on walls, arches and columns. Isolated words like "happiness" or "blessing" recur, seen as divine expressions protecting the monarch or governor honoured in each palace or courtyard. Aphorisms abound: "Rejoice in good fortune, because Allah helps you," and "Be sparse in words and you will go in peace."

Researchers built upon studies begun 500 years ago by the conquerors of the Nazrid dynasty, who ruled the kingdom of Al Andalus and created this fabulous pile. The Catholic monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella ruthlessly purged Muslims from Spain after 1492, but they were sufficiently curious about their vanquished enemy's heritage, or impressed by the Alhambra's unique beauty, to order specialist translators to study the inscriptions that cover every nook and cranny.

For centuries scholars spent half their life, and ruined their eyesight, scrutinising the messages embedded in the geometric tiles or finely carved in the stonework. Among them are verses by the acclaimed Islamic poets Ibn al-Khatib and Ibn Zamrak, some of which describe the place where they appear, such as the Hall of the Two Sisters, which represents a garden: "Moreover we do not know of any other garden/more pleasant in its freshness, more fragrant in its surroundings,/or sweeter in the gathering of its fruits..." wrote Ibn Zamrak.

The ceiling represented heaven: "The hands of the Pleiades will spend the night invoking/God's protection in their favour and they will awaken to/the gentle blowing of the breeze./ In here is a cupola which by its height becomes lost from/sight..." the poet wrote.

Until now, however, efforts to transcribe such verses have revealed only a fraction of the material. With modern technology, including a 3D laser scanner, "we have achieved not so much a discovery as an exhaustive labour that seeks to register all the inscriptions," said Dr Castilla. At the touch of a mouse, everyone from the specialist to the idly curious can now learn the meaning of the ancient words, see exactly where they are located, and how often they are repeated on the walls.

The form of script is also described: angular kufic, whose uprights sprout into decorative foliage, or intertwine; curlicue cursive; or a mixture of forms. In a culture that banned human images, the form as well as the content of the calligraphy was designed to exalt temporal and heavenly rulers.

Kufic is used for quotations from the Koran, which tend to be high up on the walls, while the poetry is nearer the ground – further from heaven, scholars say – in elaborately cursive script.

The DVD takes you on a virtual tour of all the writings, with details (in Spanish only, so far) of when and how each was created. This first volume covers the citadel-palace of Comares. The Palace of Lions, with its renowned courtyard and fountain, follows later this year. The guide is due to be completed, and reissued in one compilation DVD by 2010.

source

SirahFest 2009

2009-02-28T13:04:00.004Z

and SirahCourse

Visual Dhikr is sponsoring SirahFest 2009

Arabic Typefaces

2009-02-20T23:17:00.006Z

Some Arabic typeface designs I've been working on for the past few years. First set shows Latin ligatures in a Kufic (Fatimi Handasi) style.

(The above are work in progress and may contain errors in ligatures, kerning etc)

Also showcased at Typograph Served

V&A launches Islamic art and design prize

2009-01-26T19:32:00.001Z

The Victoria & Albert Museum today launches a new £25 000 art and design prize for Islamic-influenced work.

The V&A hopes that the biennial Jameel Prize will raise awareness of Islamic artistic heritage and contemporary output, and contribute to debate about Islamic culture.

Nine artists and designers have made it on to the shortlist for the inaugural award, which received more than 100 nominations.

The shortlisted include Moroccan-born artist Hassan Hajjaj, for his subversive work that places the logos of major Western brands on traditional Islamic items.

A panel of judges led by V&A director Mark Jones also shortlisted Iranian-born, Netherlands-based graphic designer Reza Abedini’s selection of five caligraphic posters promoting exhibitions and art festivals.

Other shortlisted entries include hand-crafted jewellery by Turkish designer Sevan Biçakçi and shadow puppets by Iranian-born, US-based artist Afruz Amighi.

The 2009 Jameel Prize winner will be announced on 7 July.

All shortlisted entries will go on display in a new temporary gallery at the V&A from 7 July to 13 September.

source

Donate Through Art - Poster by Aerosol Arabic

2009-01-15T23:18:00.005Z

Islamic Art has a purpose and its being put to good use by our brother Muhammad Ali.

100% of the poster sales go to charities helping with AID, not a single penny is used for Administration or profit.

STAND FOR GAZA

2008-12-29T12:48:00.006Z

Join any protests you can in your local town or city, any internet portal or news site. Get your voices heard, support Gaza with your prayers and charity. Don't let this slaughter go unnoticed.

كلنا غزة

(above is a banner for your blog/profile)

--------------------
DONATE MONEY
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Donate to Islamic Relief for People of Gaza
http://www.islamic-relief.com/Donations/

Donate to Interpal
http://www.interpal.info/get-involved/donate-for-palestine

Muslim Hands
http://www.muslimhands.org/

They need, food, water, shelter and medical aid asap. Don't delay, this is the least we can do.

-------------------
PRAYER
--------------------

PRAYER (DUA) is the most effective of al!!
Here is a good one in time of need http://www.bogvaerker.dk/NasiriDua.pdf

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DEMO/RALLY
--------------------

Join a local rally or demonstration in your town/city

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COMPLAIN
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Contact local and national government, officials and PM's. Do not let anybody get away with this.

Anish Kapoor’s “Islamic Mirror”

2008-12-10T21:51:00.003Z

MURCIA, Spain— Spanish curator extraordinaire Rosa Martinez and internationally renowned sculptor Anish Kapoor are both known for vast undertakings: She has helmed biennials in Venice, Santa Fe, São Paulo, and Istanbul, and his works and exhibitions are characterized by seismic scale (see Cloud Gate, his 110-ton polished steel sculpture in Chicago’s Millennium Park, and “Memory,” his just-opened survey at the Berlin Guggenheim). Their recent collaboration, however, in the small Mediterranean city of Murcia, Spain, is more intimate — if just as large in political scope. Kapoor’s Islamic Mirror (2008), a circular concave mirror, has been installed in a 13th-century Arab palace. Now both a cloister for nuns and a reliquary for Islamic and Christian objects, the Santa Clara Convent has a radical historical trajectory, which its newest guest elegantly conflates with abstract aesthetics and contemporary global politics.

Kapoor’s work, on view through January 10, 2009, is the first in a new annual series of contemporary art interventions in the public space organized by the Culture and Tourism Department of the Government of the Autonomous Region of Murcia and curated by Martinez. ARTINFO sat down with the curator in a subterranean hotel bar in the city — lined with both ancient Islamic walls and bottles of rum — to talk about the project.

The site for the Kapoor work has an incredibly charged history.

Yes, first the space was Islamic, then it was Christian, and now it is a historical monument where everything lives together. As an Islamic palace, it was used by the caliphate. Then, when the Castilian conquerors arrived, they gave the palace to the nuns, and it was eventually abandoned. In the ’90s the city began a restoration and they discovered all these Islamic remains, and so in 2003 it was opened as a museum for Islamic art on one side of the pool and gardens and a cloister on the other.

I was struck by how subtle Kapoor’s work is: Its fragmented surface disallows any of the carnivalesque mirror watching that his other pieces often inspire.

I think the scale here helps. The Sharq al-Andalus Hall is not very big, so the piece allows personal contemplation. It’s not for a massive number of people. The nuns like silence, and the museum inspires silence. Anish has this beautiful sentence in the catalogue that says, “Contemplating one of my works is like breaking the normal time, you are separating yourself.”

In the current climate of global terrorism, installing a work called Islamic Mirror in a Christian convent could be seen as provocative. Have there been any such discussions of that here?

There is a cliché now that everything Islamic is “bad.” I mean, we have fundamentalism in the Catholic church as well. A good thing about postmodernism is that we have to be more careful concerning the real and the unique truth. For me, the unique truth is the right for humans to live and fight for their own happiness. A reporter recently asked Anish how it was that he could be Hindu and Jewish and a practitioner of Buddhist meditation, and at the same time have this “Islamic” mirror installed inside a Christian convent — he wanted to know what is coming out of all this. Anish said: “Art.” And it’s true. The idea of living together, this is the main question of today — how to negotiate difference and accept difference. I think art helps. It creates these micro-transformations.

How did the nuns feel about the piece, and its title?

The nuns were very happy to have it. They know they are living in an old Islamic palace, and they asked to read my text so as to understand everything about the artwork. They said that they were going to publish it in their own magazine, which goes to all the other cloister communities in Spain; that is just beautiful. I think that they know it is art, and art is a step over everything. It’s also an abstract work. If it was iconic, it might have been easier for it to provoke some confrontation.

I understand that the title was in place before the site even came up.

Yes. Anish was connecting to the Islamic history of mathematics — the Alahambra, for example — and exploring the relationship of the square and the sphere. It’s an Islamic concern, but it’s also common to many mystic traditions. However, if including the word “Islamic” makes the title controversial, it is perhaps because people are projecting their own fear and paranoia. It’s more about Anish being free to explore other mystical traditions, which is a right we all have as human beings. Maybe it’s idealistic, but I think its art’s obligation to propose those ideas. Art is not only a place for beauty. It is also a place for a critical analysis of the reality we’re living in.

But what about critics who say that Kapoor trades too much in beauty, the sublime, and a sort of easy humanism that doesn’t address the realities of the world?

I think he is able to communicate both: this mysticism, but also sensuality. His recent works are very scatological as well — for example, the huge, red wax-like piece on train tracks [Svayambh, 2007] in Munich last year. Even if his pieces are beautiful, they’re sometimes very frightening. But it is not a minimalist abstraction; Anish has the body of the spectator in there all the time. It is very humanistic in that way.

Which of your own political and aesthetic ideas factored into your installation of the Islamic Mirror?

I liked very much this idea of placing the mirror — with its very contemporary aesthetics — in an Islamic context, and having it face a convent with cloistered nuns with the pool in between. In Arab design, the pool plays the role of a mirror by reflecting the sky and bringing it down to the earth, bringing the cosmos down to the living. The piece breathes very well there. I think it connects the beauty of history with the beauty of the present. And so you say: Ah, it’s worth it. It was a beautiful present to all of us.

By Quinn Latimer
from here

Sydney artist fuses surf with Islam

2008-12-06T17:23:00.003Z

An Australian artist has produced a range of Islamic surfboards in an attempt to create a greater understanding between East and West.

Phillip George was inspired by his trips to the Middle East and by riots in 2005 when Lebanese Australians were targeted on a beach in Sydney.

He has called the range the Inshallah - or God Willing - surfboards and has put them on exhibition in Sydney.

There are 30 surfboards in all, each adorned with intricate Islamic motifs.

Mr George hopes that the Inshallah surfboards can help bridge cultural and religious misunderstandings within Australia.

His inspiration has come from his travels and also from the Cronulla riots, when a crowd of mainly white Australians gathered at a beachside suburb of Sydney and targeted people of Middle Eastern appearance.

This is an attempt to fuse the Australian beach culture with the Islamic culture, he says.

"What I've done to bring the joy and the interest of our Islamic art to an Australian audience," said Mr George.

"I have actually transposed a lot of my photographic images - the work of the tiles and shots of the mosque - on to a surfboard so that they become a lot more acceptable or easy to digest for an Australian audience."

The exhibition, Borderlands, is at the Casula Powerhouse arts centre near Sydney.

All the surfboards face Mecca, and visitors have included schoolchildren from Cronulla, a mainly white suburb, and pupils from Sydney's Islamic schools.

This is not the first time that symbols of the Australian beach culture have been used in this way.

A local designer has already brought out what she calls a burqini - a full-length swim suit to make Muslim women feel more comfortable at the beach.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7769028.stm

Islamic Drama

2008-12-04T04:08:00.002Z

An interesting viewpoint from Sheikh Salman, leave your own thoughts on this topic.

What is Islamic art? How should we define it?
by Sheikh Salman al-Oadah

I would answer this question by saying that any lawful work of art that stems from an Islam context deserves to be called Islamic art, even if it that work of art does not convey a specific religious meaning. What matters is that, as art, it contributes to building human life, making people more optimistic, more aware, more capable of coping in the world, and more able to coexist and connect with others. Islamic art should help people engage with life in a more positive way. This should be its most important objective. This work of art might have a religious overtone or it might convey a particular moral message, but that is not necessary for us to recognize it as Islamic.

Art is, in essence, a message sent forth by a human being. I do not think we can envision art that is devoid of at least some sort of message. This applies even to popular works that are intended purely for entertainment, amusement or comic effect. Since those works intend to bring pleasure and relaxation to others, they contain a message. It is experienced by the audience who gives the work its reception. It is possible for a person to remember something humorous and relive it in his mind. He might smile to himself or even chuckle. When this is presented to others, it has the power to transmit the same effect to them.

The message of art can have a broad scope, encompassing life in its totality. There are some people who argue contentiously whether the message of art is something specific to itself, or whether it compass embraces life as a whole. I personally feel that art should be for life.

Baudelaire was among the early supporters of the notion of l'art pour l'art –"art for art's sake" – meaning that art exists only for its own intrinsic, aesthetic value. According to this view, art should not have any other purpose or message. However, when the 1848 Revolution came, his views on the matter changed in his article "Pierre Dupont" (1851), he writes: "By excluding morality and often even passion, the puerile utopia of the school of l'art pour l'art was inevitably sterile. It was flagrantly contrary to the spirit of humanity."

The arts – whether drawing, calligraphy, or what have you – respond to our natural human sentiments and needs. I believe that art is necessary for making us whole as human beings.

Television & Cinema

Turning to the possibility of our producing dramatic works that are uniquely suited to ourselves and our needs as Muslims, I believe it is high time that we set our minds to it. Rather than preaching about how dark things are, we should be turning on the lights. We must face the fact that in today's world, there is no hiding from the media. The public has full access to it and they know how to get what they want.

What prevents us as Muslims from producing television drama that is dignified and free from lewdness? Why can't we play an active role in the cinema, making decisions about the state of the art and producing films of our own? By doing so, we can communicate positive messages that we want the public to receive.

What is wrong with us having live theatre in each and every one of our cities, with each city vying to excel the others in communicating a wholesome message in the most eloquent, inspiring manner possible while cultivating the tastes of the public? Would it not better for countries like Saudi Arabia to produce their own programs rather than importing everything they watch from overseas?

It is a sad certainty that we as Muslims are the only people on Earth who are incapable of effectively communicating our values and ideals. This is not going to change with a few articles here and there on the Internet. This effort needs to be financed by the business community. Producing quality movies and television programs takes money. There also has to be some willingness from the television broadcasters to support, commission, and purchase such works.

There are also political factors to consider. Some works are suffocated by political considerations and limitations. Political censorship is often quite stiff in Muslim countries and can have a stifling effect on human creativity.

Then there are social considerations. How is the public going to receive what is being produced? It is not desirable for these works to go against the grain society or cause division. What we need are works that will elevate society, be a positive influence, and serve as a source of guidance.

We need to put these matters to serious study. Even those who have serious reservations about the idea should be allowed to play an active role, since this is not a static process, and – as we have seen in many Arabic speaking and non-Arabic speaking countries – these efforts might evolve over time in directions that are incompatible with our religious values and our societal needs. Those who have the most reservations will bring the vigilance that is needed to the process. We need this perspective to keep us on track.

Subject Matter

When people adopt the terminology "Islamic" – when referring to drama, television, or any other form of artistic expression – we face the question: Does it have to purposefully put forward Islamic values, or is it enough that it reflects the genuine experience of people in society?

This is a complicated question, because the arts bring whatever subject matter they address into the aesthetic domain as well as the public domain. Therefore, art, no matter how candidly and neutrally it might depict its subject matter, has a tendency to seem to supporting or endorse what it represents. The depiction of the realities of life is something especially prevalent in modern Saudi literature. Many Saudi novels depict and expose aspects of society that are hidden or taboo, but that are certainly present in society for real. This sometimes causes a bit of a sensation within Saudi Arabia and abroad.

On the one hand, there is no point for the arts to misrepresent human experience by presenting a whitewashed, counterfeit, and idealized world that has no relationship to what is going on in reality. At the same time, there is no point in art simply presenting things as they are. People know what goes on in their world, and the arts need to contribute something more to that experience. If a work of art addresses a difficult subject, it should have a purpose in doing so. Art that depicts negative or tragic aspects of our experience might suggest a solution or at least highlight the need for a solution. It might provide insights into the background of what is going or how to understand it, or it might contribute to our ability to cope with the problem's existence.

For drama to be Islamic, what it must not do is aggress against those essential Islamic values that are accepted by all Muslims. For example, it should not debunk Islamic teachings or reject the Qur'ân and Sunnah. It should not seek to dismantle basic moral values.

Islamic art, like all aspects of a Muslims life, should be harmonious. Yet, from the practical perspective, we know that life – even at its best – is not like that. During the Prophet's lifetime, not everything that took place in the society Madinah was according to Islamic ideals. People did not always do what Allah and His messenger (peace be upon him) wanted of them. The people were criticized and corrected at times. Crimes were committed on occasion and people had to be punished for them. Then there were things that were known about but not made public, like the identities of the hypocrites who lived in Madinah and formed part of Madinan society.

We can speak, from one angle, about standards and ideals. We must also speak from a practical angle. Whatever artistic expression an artist might put forth – a poem, a novel, a play, or what have you – it will have its shortcomings. Therefore, everyone who identifies with Islam and has upholding Islamic values as a goal must be prepared to accept criticism. People will never all agree on something that is presented to them. It might be that one's efforts will be rewarded with a severe media attack from one group or another. This is why we need to be qualified, prepared, and ready to understand these matters. We need to study these issues well and have a clear vision and not simply improvise as we go along. Even then, there will be those who accept our efforts and those who reject them. It is the nature of any successful work that it will have its supporters and detractors. If a work of art is responded to with silence, then we know that there is a problem or that its message was not successfully received.

The Role of Fatwa

I have serious reservations about the idea of letting Islamic art works be governed by fatwa – meaning that fatwâ decides which works of art are allowed and which are prohibited. Since when has fatwâ had the power to exclusively dictate the terms of Muslim society? During the Prophet's time, fatwâ was present – along with commands, and prohibitions, advice, guidance, and the decision at times not to expose faults. The same can be said for the era of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs. Thereafter, the society became more diverse and fragmented. As a consequence, responsibilities were diversified and redistributed. Today, Muslim society is not governed by a single factor, but by many. It is led by government policy, by the business sector, by the media, by preachers, as well as by religious scholars. It is led by fatwâ, but also by traditions and customs. There are numerous other factors that contribute to Muslim society and influence it.

I recall one occasion where someone undertook to produce a drama program which he sincerely believed would be of service to Islam. He went to a mufti and said: "This is my purpose and these are my operating principles."

The mufti said to him: "I have no reservations about it. Quite the contrary, I think this work you are doing is good. It is an act of piety. Perhaps it will benefit some Muslims with little knowledge or some non-Muslims and help our cause."

On the strength of that fatwâ, he went ahead with his ambition and spent countless hours and a considerable amount of money on the program.

After some time, people began to say to each other: "So-and-so gave a fatwa for this." They did not stop whispering, gossiping and causing a stir until the mufti in question released a statement declaring himself innocent of the program in question and that he had no connection to it in any way. Instead of that fatwâ serving to support the media effort, it destroyed it. This is because the existence of that effort was based on the fatwâ permitting it. When the fatwâ was retracted, the effort lost all of its Islamic legitimacy as a consequence.

Therefore, I say: people must fear Allah as much as they can and to their best to adopt sensible and balanced principles.

And Allah knows best.

(source)

(views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of the blogger)

Middle East art mecca

2008-11-17T13:37:00.006Z

This week, the art world will descend on the tiny Gulf country of Qatar to see the museum that oil and gas built.

Qatar's emir, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, has given only a few people a peek into his country's first major art institution, the I.M. Pei-designed Museum of Islamic Art. Now, with the financial crisis and falling art sales dampening the global mood, the $US300 million ($470 million) museum's opening party this Saturday is turning into a major event of the art season. One thousand major collectors and museum directors are flying in for the occasion. Many are also getting booked into the city's fleet of new hotels for free.

The museum is hard to miss, sprouting from an artificial island in the Persian Gulf located just off the sandy shore of Doha, the capital city. Pei, the architect, inspired by the geometric forms of a 13th-century fountain at a mosque in Cairo, shaped the five-story museum like a staggered set of creamy building blocks, each cube adjusted just enough to catch a triangle of harsh light or deep shadow. Visitors can reach it by boat - there is a dock for dhows, an Arabian-style fishing vessel made of wood - or by traveling a palm-lined path and crossing a small bridge. Read More...

source

Also see: Abu Dhabi scales cultural heights

Developing European / Western Islamic Architecture

2008-10-28T15:01:00.011Z

Recently the biggest mosque in Germany opened in the city of Duisburg and has already become a symbol of successful integration. A beautiful mosque borrowing strictly from the Ottoman era, with its distinctive multi-dome and spiked minaret, the mosque is a clear reflection of the predominant Turkish Muslim community in Germany.

But this is where I also find that the Muslim communities in the west have on most occasions resorted to building Mosques in the style of their homelands. Be that in the North African (Moorish) style for a mosque in Paris or a very Indian sub-continental styled mosque in London, there seems to be a deliberate attempt to avoid modern architecture.

I am no expert on architecture, but I do know that traditional Islamic architecture embodies historical legacies, symbolism and magnificence that is unmatched in anything else I have seen. Every mosque from Morocco to Malaysia is built beautifully and somehow contains a spiritual atmosphere that is hard to replicate in modern architecture.

But stop and look closely you will find that almost in every country that Islam has spread to, the mosques have always borrowed something from the local architecture. Look at the Masjid al-Aqsa in Jerusalem or look at Chinese mosques in their distinctive Chinese styles. Wherever Muslims have gone they have adopted local cultural design and developed it into something they are comfortable with. Often this is evident in clothing, when Muslims often adjust local clothing styles to suit the Islamic codes of modesty

So why, when you have the opportunity to build a symbol of integration, build a mosque that is strictly designed in a ‘alien’ or ‘foreign’ style to that of the local native population? Would it not have been a better example to borrow from the long established and respected German architecture? Do we have to put our distinctive cultural styles on our local mosque as a deliberate distinction of our foreign identity? Is modern architecture so devoid of spirituality that it cannot ever match the great buildings of Muslim Spain or Isfahan?

The 20th century has seen German architecture be transported around the world. The clear lines of Bauhaus excerted a strong influence and moulded a new international style. I think it would be a very wrong to ignore western architectural achievements, especially that of Europe. At the same time I am not ignoring that there are some great examples of modern Islamic architecture, some notable ones are in the United States.

This is not imply that Islamic architecture has nothing to offer, far from it. The various Muslim architectural styles are a great example of borrowing, developing, innovating and ultimately exemplifying the sacred act of prayer. The mosque has always been a functional place, a multifunctional centre for the whole community, an aesthetic marvel and a physical magnet of the Muslim community. We should pride ourselves in making sure we do not just build a simple mosque, but if we have the funds, to build something of a landmark.

I would love to see a fusion of Islamic architectural elements such as the minaret, dome or courtyard brought out in a uniquely German or Dutch style. This, to me, would be a great example of integration – something that both Muslims and non-Muslims could marvel at. You often do see attempts at this with Churches or Synagogues throughout Europe, so why not for Mosques?

But it is clear the most difficult part of building a Mosque is to assign to it a unique architectural style (so that it is obviously place of importance) and somehow give it a spiritual atmosphere that is felt by everyone. Or maybe that spiritual feeling is only developed through the build up of memories, history, the worshippers and people’s attitude to a sacred building?

What are your thoughts?

- Ruh, Visual Dhikr

Learning Calligraphy in Turkey

2008-10-07T20:35:00.005+01:00

I get a lot of emails and requests for advice on learning the fine art of calligraphy, often about going abroad or where one would find teachers. Some are dedicated to long term learning and others who wish to 'try it out' or improve their handwriting.

My learning has been confined to Egypt and my own personal experience, therefore I am interviewing other calligraphers who have pursued their dreams of learning abroad. So look out for some posts in the coming year on learning abroad.

TURKEY

Turkey is famous for its Arabic calligraphy and some of worlds greatest masters of penmanship have come from there. I got in touch with British calligrapher, Soraya Syed Sanders, as she has studied for several years in Istanbul and gives us some quick answers to common questions you may have.

What is studying calligraphy abroad compared to home like?

There is no comparison really. As there were no teachers here (UK), i had no choice but to go and study abroad. Somewhere like Istanbul is buzzing with calligraphy!

How did you find out about who to study with and where?

Can't remember how i found out- but i knew who my teacher was as soon as i met him- and he was from Istanbul.

How did you prepare for it, both for living in Turkey and learning calligraphy?

I didn't prepare really- i just said Bismillah and totally trusted that if this was what i was supposed to be doing that Allah would provide and make things easy- and He did alhamdulillah!

How long should one stay abroad to study?

The longer the better- 3 -5 years if possible.

What is unique about the Turkish calligraphers and system of learning?

What you receive form a Turkish master who has received the ijazah- is not only his or her wisdom but the many centuries that preceded as the Ottoman-Turkish silsila of calligraphy is unbroken.

Is the art of calligraphy being revived or maintained in the country?

Yes- without doubt there are so many calligraphers now and it can be argued that the art has surpassed all levels- what will happen next what direction will the art take as it becomes more competitive are questions i ask myself?

Any recommended places or individuals to study at/with?

It is difficult to list the places as calligraphers tend to change venues where they teach. But the next generation of great calligraphers are people like Davut Bektash, Mehmet Ozcay, my own teacher Efdaluddin Kilic and there are others. See my FAQ page for more info.

What is it like for women to practice calligraphy in Turkey?

They are encouraged to and they exhibit widely and take part on all the competitions but if they are married and have children it is extremely difficult but not impossible.

Is Arabic essential to doing calligraphy, if so, where could one learn?

Strangely enough- it isn't essential but highly recommended. Probably a beginners course on Arabic would suffice to start with- anywhere from London to Amman!

[ed: One can study Arabic locally before leaving for abroad]

Soraya Syed Sanders was born and raised in London. Of mixed Pakistani-French origin, Soraya returned to the UK after completing her apprenticeship and receiving the icazetname (Islamic Calligraphy Diploma) in Istanbul. She attended the Arts Foundation at Central St. Martin’s, London. She read Arabic and History of Art & Archaeology at The School of Oriental and African Studies, and in 2001 graduated from the Masters programme in Visual Islamic and Traditional Arts at The Prince’s School of Traditional Arts, London. Her written and visual work has been published and exhibited in the UK and abroad. She now resides in west London with her husband and baby daughter.

To see some of Soraya's work, please visit: www.artofthepen.com

-

Written by: Ruh al-'Alam, Visual Dhikr

If you have your own story about studying calligraphy abroad or have advice, write to me: info at visual dhikr dot com - or simply leave comments below.

Rehan Jamil - Snapshots in and around East London Mosque

2008-10-03T07:06:00.005+01:00

A short video feature on photographer Rehan Jamil, who spent years and years capturing the development of the East London Mosque complex in black and white. A very talented and diverse photographer, mashaAllah.

Eid Mubarak 2008!

2008-09-30T17:56:00.004+01:00

A warm and blessed Eid to everyone!

Ruh - Visual Dhikr

Art of calligraphy in desperate need of revival

2008-09-29T08:35:00.002+01:00

Abdul Mohamin

Srinagar, Sep 24: The exhibition of rare calligraphic works held by the Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art Culture and Languages here may have witnessed warm response. However, it is also true the art form is at the verge of extinction as very few people come forward to learn it. The institutes which were providing training to the students in the art form have also either closed down or are on the verge of closure. The Industrial Training Institute, Bagh Dilawar Khan which provides training in calligraphy found no new students to take up the course.

Abdul Rashid Dar, an instructor in the calligraphy section said that the decline of the art form has been observed for years now.

“And this time we are on verge of closure,” he said.

“Our last batch had four students out of which only two continued with the training. Even those who completed the course pursued some other job later on as there is little employment scope in calligraphy in this computer age,” Rashid added.

Dar said that calligraphers a decade ago could find a job easily in any newspaper, and publishers also approached them, but with the advent of computer and Urdu software, the art form began to lose relevance.

“A sense of uncertainty takes over a person who takes up calligraphy as a profession has no job market at present,” he added.

The institute has also asked Dar to surrender his room and at present he sits in another section.
“When there are no students there is no fun in occupying the room,” said Dar, lamenting that even the tools used for calligraphy are also difficult to find.

Dar who has lost hope of the revival of the art form said that earlier a project sponsored by National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language (NCPUL) under which computer training was imparted along with calligraphic skills did provide a new lease of life, but the project was later shelved due to official “apathy”.

At present the Cultural Academy is the only place where calligraphy is taught, but the calligraphers there also seem helpless in saving this dying art form.

Muhammad Shams-u-din, a calligrapher at the Academy told Rising Kashmir “The manuscripts of Quran on display in the exhibition held by the Academy have distinct characteristic styles, which cannot be possible if we use computers where uniformity is a feature.”

“Not long ago the style of every paper was different according to the calligraphers it employed in its organization, but now we may see a similar kind of style in most newspapers,” said Shamsh-u-din who himself uses the mouse instead of pen and a latest inkjet printer rather ink.

Shams-u-din defends the use of computer, but says that the old art form needs to be revived.

“This is an Islamic art form and it helped Islam to spread, and it should not be lost to wrong policies of the government. The Academy must encourage this form of writing as it is now the last institute where one can learn it,” he said.

Source

Istanbul skyline gets woman's touch

2008-09-29T08:21:00.003+01:00

When I met designer Zeynep Fadillioglu, she was giving instructions to her team of architects on the installation of a cutting-edge water feature.

The metal sphere created by British designer William Pye will dominate the entrance of the Sakirin Mosque.

The fountain, along with a modern glass chandelier from China made from thousands of individually crafted shards of glass, are central pieces in what is being seen as one of most radical mosque designs in Turkey in generations.

"Designing everything we tried to be contemporary, but not, let's say, too futuristic or avant garde," Ms Fadillioglu says.

"We don't want the public to reject the place. We want the public to feel part of the place, rather than watching it as an incredible art object. I think it should be their own place."

The internationally renowned interior designer sees herself as a product of Turkey's secular republic, which was established in 1923, and gave equal rights to men and women.

Pioneering woman

Dealing with major projects is nothing new for Ms Fadillioglu, who has made her name designing hotels and homes for the super-rich, from Turkey to Europe, India to the Middle East.

But she admits the chance to be the first woman in Turkey to be in charge of building a mosque was the opportunity of a lifetime.

"When I was offered this project I cried," Ms Fadillioglu said.

The mosque was commissioned by a wealthy Arab Turkish family, as a memorial to their mother.

"I think what is exciting is that I am a woman," she said.

"Especially at a time when so much is being discussed wrongly of Islam not allowing women to have equal rights. The fact that a woman can build a mosque disproves this."

We wanted to go with the flow of Islam, while at the same time creating something contemporary
Zeynep Fadillioglu

She believes being a woman brings a different insight to building a mosque.

"I care more about the aesthetical side, I care more about the public, I try to give a place to be really left with God, rather than creating a symbol."

Despite Turkey's strictly secular status, much of the country remains religiously conservative, and the Sakirin Mosque is being built in one of the most religious parts of Istanbul.

Ms Fadillioglu admits she was expecting problems, but was pleasantly surprised.

"I did not face any problems whatsoever. I was more scared myself, I had the prejudice myself, that I would have problems. That's why I took very cautious steps and we worked as a team."

Ironically, she said she faced more problems from staunchly secular friends.

"People with Western values, they kept on asking me why I was building a mosque. People had all these confusions, that I was somehow selling out my secular ideals."

Fusion of influences

The aim of the Sakirin Mosque - combining the influences of the past and present, and East and West - has been a difficult balancing act, Ms Fadillioglu concedes.

"We worked here with a lot of Islamic craftsmen, contemporary craftsmen, with very different views on life, and all of them worked very well together. That co-ordination may be more difficult to achieve with a masculine figure. With a feminine figure it is more easily handled, I think."

The mosque construction comes as Turkey remains deeply divided over the role of religion within society.

In July the ruling Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) narrowly escaped being shut down. It was accused of seeking to overthrow the secular state, and the country's constitutional court handed down a fine and a severe warning.

An opinion poll released this month found that 68% of the country believes there is a conflict over religion and secularism. In such an environment Ms Fadillioglu hopes the mosque will become a symbol of unity.

"There are big discussions on whether Western values are to be integrated with Islamic values, or whether two different communities will remain divided.

"I think this mosque has all the Western and Eastern values nicely blended. We wanted to go with the flow of Islam, while at the same time creating something contemporary.

source

Eid Gifts: Last chance for pre-Eid delivery

2008-09-21T18:34:00.004+01:00

Islamic Design House are doing Eid Specials - give someone a special gift this 'Eid.
Jilbabs, Islamic Art Prints, Islamic T-Shirts, Hijabs & Islamic Vases

Hurry and order by 24th, stocks are running out fast!!

Poor Dhikr T-Shirt Imitation

2008-09-09T13:42:00.007+01:00

I was sent this mobile phone picture of a t-shirt hanging in ZamZam (Green Street, London) - a poor imitation of the original and popular Dhikr T-Shirt by Visual Dhikr below:

I don't know who did it, but I must say it is a very bad rendition.

You decide...

(Thanks to Bro. Ali)

FREE Ramadan Desktop Wallpaper

2008-09-04T18:51:00.002+01:00

An exclusive desktop wallpaper commissioned by Islamic Design House and designed by Visual Dhikr to celebrate Ramadan 2008. Download free!

Arabic Kufi Patterns in Fashion

2008-09-04T16:23:00.002+01:00

Something very similar to our upcoming range of Visual Dhikr clothing (via Islamic Design House)...
MoreCult is a new Dutch based fashion design firm working on creating cross cultural designs for casual youth clothing. Arabic Type and Calligraphy are integrated into their modern clothing designs. For the summer Collection 2009, Pascal was asked to design for them some square Kufi patterns that will be used in the collection. Nice.

source

Art and architecture in the Middle East

2008-08-11T20:12:00.002+01:00

Oil-rich Gulf sheikhs hope to lure art-lovers with a host of glittering new museums - but can culture really be bought?

That wealth and good taste do not always go together is nowhere better illustrated than in the Middle East. There, oil-slicked rulers have built gaudy monuments to their billions. But now the gold-plated palaces, revolving skyscrapers and seven-star underwater hotels have a tasteful challenger. The Museum of Islamic Art, in Doha, the new national symbol of Qatar, is an understated Gulf icon. And it might just be the best new museum or gallery building anywhere.

IM Pei, the Chinese-American architect behind the Louvre’s glass pyramid, agreed to undertake the project — his last, at the age of 91 — on condition that the Emir of Qatar reclaimed an island in the Gulf on which the new institution could sit like a citadel, without being encroached on by any other building. Pei’s stubbornness paid off. As you arrive by dhow, the vast, tiered limestone cubes of the 400,000 sq ft structure tower over you, giving the building colossal, instant impact. Yet thanks to the soft detailing, notably the Islamic geometric patterning and traditional Arabic arched windows, the structure is not severe.

Inside, the huge atrium is illuminated by a 150ft-high glass curtain wall looking out over the emerald sea. The galleries, with exhibitions of calligraphy, textiles and ceramics from the 7th century onwards, shoot off in every direction. Standing under the silver dome, it’s hard to disagree with the director, Oliver Watson (formerly of the V&A and Oxford’s Ashmolean), that it is “the most spectacular space”. When it opens in November, it will, at the very least, do for Doha what the Guggenheim did for Bilbao — put it on the arts map — but the project is about more than Qatar, modern architecture or Islamic art. It is the first shot in a cultural revolution that could transform the arts across the Gulf.

Reformist sheikhs have spent the past decade using their wealth to snap up financial institutions and retail and leisure brands in an effort to transform the city-states they rule from one-camel towns into global business and tourism hubs. Now they want to use it to acquire something that is impossible to price and may, in fact, be impossible to buy at all: culture.

Like latter-day Renaissance aristocrats, the rulers of Qatar, Dubai and Abu Dhabi are sinking £100 billion into grandiose galleries and museums. As well as the new Museum of Islamic Art, the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, has four new museums on the drawing board, including an extension to the National Museum designed by the French modernist architect Jean Nouvel.

Abu Dhabi is betting £20 billion that it can transform barren Saadiyat island, just off downtown Abu Dhabi, into a 21st-century version of the pyramids of Egypt.

The city-state’s ruler, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan, has persuaded Frank Gehry to design the latest — and, at 450,000 sq ft, the biggest — branch of the Guggenheim. Nouvel is behind the first offshoot of the Louvre outside Paris. Zaha Hadid, the London-based Pritzker prizewinning architect, is designing a performing-arts centre, and Norman Foster the national museum. The new institutions are scheduled to open in 2012.

Dubai is opening galleries and an opera house, as well as hosting arts festivals, but it is devoting most of its efforts to becoming an art entrepôt. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the emirate’s ruler, recently lured Sotheby’s and Christie’s to the city.

Clearly, the sheikhs believe that by mixing their black gold with the genie of western architectural and artistic expertise, they can create a cultural oasis where a new generation of art-lovers and artists will grow. The long-term aim? To make the Gulf, a potential nexus between East and West, as much of an emerging artistic power as a financial one.

With oil at record prices, the estimated £100 billion bill for all the new developments is small change. The question is, will these museums attract local and international visitors or turn out to be white elephants, like the palaces Arab rulers built during the last oil boom?

Even their backers acknowledge that luring westerners will be tough. It’s not just that travellers are reluctant to fly on airlines whose names they cannot pronounce, to cities they cannot find on a map, to look at art, much of which they will not understand. With the conflict between the West and Muslim extremists still raging in neighbouring Iraq, it’s hardly a good time to be marketing “brand Islam”. Watson concedes that many overseas visitors will be “more curious than passionate”.

That is one reason both Qatar and Abu Dhabi are spending so much money on the museum and gallery buildings themselves. Pei has already proven his worth in Doha. If the scale models displayed in the Emirates Palace Hotel, in Abu Dhabi, are even half realised, Saadiyat island will become an architectural destination in its own right.

Abu Dhabi’s decision to create partnerships with the most recognised western gallery brands — the Guggenheim and the Louvre — is designed to break down suspicion. “If we’d started our own museums from scratch, it would have taken a long time and we would have made mistakes,” says Mubarak Hamad al-Muhairi, the head of Abu Dhabi’s tourism authority, whose office looks out over the cat’s cradle of new roads and bridges that link Saadiyat to the mainland. “By bringing in partners, we can be quick; we can buy knowledge, expertise.”

Luring established western brands with oil money — Abu Dhabi has paid the Louvre almost £300m for the right to the French museum’s name — has prompted a chorus of criticism in the West. Some accuse the sheikhs of “bribing” western museums to give their seal of approval to what is merely the artistic version of the leisure theme parks that are being built all over the Gulf. Catherine Goguel, emeritus director of research at the Louvre’s prints and drawing department, recently dismissed the Louvre/Abu Dhabi deal as merely a matter of “petrodollars”.

Others argue that there is something rotten about a cultural complex that will bring the fruits of the Renaissance, the Enlightenment and the intellectual adventures of modernity into a land where materialism and exploitation are rampant, freedom of expression is limited and democracy nonexistent. Design critics complain of “architectural megalomania”. Gehry himself — despite taking the dirham — has, in these pages, condemned the decision to build so many signature buildings so close to each other on Saadiyat island as “a group grope . . . a cabinet of horrors”.

Al-Muhairi insists that the Abu Dhabi developments are partnerships of equals. The architects get to build the kind of structures that would be hard to execute anywhere other than a country that has vast open space, few planning restrictions and budgets of “whatever”. When it comes to the collections, the Louvre and the Guggenheim will display as much Islamic art as western art.

“This is not a cut-and-paste,” al-Muhairi says. “We are creating the Louvre Arabia, the Guggenheim Arabia — not the Louvre or the Guggenheim in Arabia. There will be works from the collections of both museums, of course, but there will be curators and works of art from here, from Tehran, from Egypt, from Syria, from Morocco. We are bringing the West to the Middle East, but also showcasing the Middle East to the West.”

That, it turns out, is the point of these cultural grands projets. The sheikhs want to use the new museums and galleries to change western perceptions of Islam and Islam’s perceptions of the West. In her sunbaked office in Qatar, Sheikha al-Mayassa, the daughter of the Emir of Qatar and chair of the Qatar Museum Authority, acknowledges that, thanks to recent history “people see Islam as a violent religion. We want to go back in time and showcase, with evidence, the fact that Islam is a peaceful religion at the heart of the most intellectually and culturally sophisticated societies in history. That’s our message”.

It’s one that comes through loud and clear in the museum’s exhibits, most notably the collection of complex scientific instruments, such as the 10th-century astrolabes that ancient Islamic scholars used to map the stars and determine prayer times.

The sheikhs also hope that, by hosting exhibitions of western art, the new museums will drag the more conservative elements of local society by the scruff of their dishdashas into the modern artistic world. Both al-Mayassa and al-Muhairi insist that there will be no restrictions on works displayed. Nudes will be featured in paintings and sculpture — a remarkable attempt to push the boundaries of public taste in a region where some newspapers still airbrush women out of photographs, fully clothed or not. “We don’t have a problem with anything, really,” the US-educated al-Mayassa says.

Modern buildings may be able to grow in the desert, but can modern art? Will a new breed of artists emerge, working in a distinct East-meets-West style? The idea that the Gulf could be the next big thing in culture might sound fanciful, but it is the richest nations that tend to call the tune in the art world, setting global tastes, anointing the next stars and establishing market trends. The Gulf states have all the money in the world and, as the modernist building blocks of this unique cultural experiment begin to rise from the dusty desert scrub, the new pharaohs are daring to dream big. “Could the Damien Hirst of 2020 be an Emirati?” al-Muhairi asks. “Well, why not?"

John Arlidge
source

Art shows positives

2008-08-11T20:10:00.002+01:00

11Aug08
Antoinette de Morton's new exhibition includes a work which recites an Arabic poem in Braille.

ANTOINETTE de Morton's new mixed-media collection invites Westerners to "look beyond" negative stereotypes of Islamic culture.

The East Brunswick-based artist became interested in Islamic art and culture after witnessing the ordeal of a friend's son, one of 12 men standing trial for allegedly planning a terrorist attack in Melbourne.

"The collection does contain a political message, but it's not an in-your-face one ... it's more about challenging the negative stereotypes the press often pushes," de Morton said.

"We don't often hear all the fabulous things about the culture.

"As an artist I am trying to convey that there's much more to Islamic culture than what we're told."

De Morton's 20-year career includes a commissioned body of work, part of a permanent collection in the Royal Society of London Museum.

According to de Morton, art has a unique capacity to break down barriers and stereotypes something she hoped her exhibition would do. "It's interesting that in the Middle Ages, Christians, Jews and Muslims actually collaborated through their art and culture."

She said Islamic art's rich colour and symbolism was about much more than mere decoration.

The art actually informed a complex understanding of the universe.

The collection is named after one of the 47 works featured, The Clock on the Wall, based on a poem of the same name by well-known Islamic poet Samih al-Qasim.

In The Clock on the Wall, de Morton translated the poet from Arabic into English and then Braille, exploring the themes of communication and metaphor.

In the collection, de Morton revisits themes from previous work, such as navigational tools, geometric and mathematical symbols.

source
* The Clock on the Wall opens this Thursday, August 14, at the Ochre Gallery, 32-34 Wellington St, Collingwood.

Beyond Orientalism

2008-07-29T13:09:00.001+01:00

Samuel Huntington got it wrong, at least when it comes to art. Civilizations don't clash, but share and mutually inspire. So argues "Beyond Orientalism," an exhibition opening on July 25 at the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia (IAMM) in Kuala Lumpur, www.iamm.org.my. The show examines Islamic art's impact on Western artists, highlighting how Islamic calligraphy, tile designs, and geometrical motifs pop up in the most unlikely places, from Tiffany lamps — some of which drew on 16th century Persian works — to the art of M.C. Escher, whose elaborate drawings of endless staircases and interlocking patterns were apparently inspired by Islamic designs.

Although the debt owed to Islamic art by painters like Henri Matisse and Paul Klee is well documented, Muslim influence on Western aesthetics began far earlier, says the curator of "Beyond Orientalism," Lucien de Guise. The Muslim domination of Spain between the 8th and 15th centuries enabled the transmission of advanced artistic and architectural techniques — as well as great accomplishments in music, science, philosophy and even cuisine. Until the industrial era, when interest in Islamic arts declined in the West, "Europeans were totally in awe of Islamic art," argues de Guise. "They couldn't get enough of it."

Bringing marginalized or forgotten traditions to light is something of an IAMM speciality. "Faith and Power," an exhibit on women in Islam earlier this year, unearthed the history of Muslim women as fighters, rulers and scholars. On the wall at the exhibit's close, a quote from Megawati Sukarnoputri, who in 2001 became Indonesia's first female President, read: "It appears that I am considered to be a housewife? What's wrong with that? It does not mean a housewife does not understand politics."

The museum itself, opened by the Malaysian government 10 years ago, focuses not so much on Islam's traditional heartland in the Middle East as on its Asian domains, the works of which are often overlooked in Islamic-art collections. Among the IAMM's standouts is a rare 19th century Koran, made for a Malay sultan with lashings of gold illumination. Precious, too, are the Chinese calligraphic wall scrolls with Koranic quotations — not merely because paper scrolls rarely last, but because so many were buried by fearful Muslims or destroyed by Maoists during the Cultural Revolution. Several are testimony to the fusion of Chinese and Islamic artistic traditions, bearing inscriptions that from a distance look like the traditional Chinese characters meaning "long life" but turn out to be Koranic inscriptions when viewed up close.

The IAMM is a gorgeous monument to the porous qualities of Islamic culture. With its elegant restaurant, storytelling sessions for children and calligraphy workshops, the museum is a neat expression of Islam Hadhari, or "civilizational Islam," Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi's campaign to promote a moderate, modern version of the faith. Designed by Italian and Malaysian architects, the building is a bright, white and sleek place, with fountains, courtyards and a huge inverted gold-and-white dome hanging from the ceiling. "We wanted natural light, to make the place seem open and inviting, especially for non-Muslims," says de Guise. There, civilizations are far from clashing. Instead, they gently nestle up against one another, surprising and delighting as they do so.

By Carla Power

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Louvre draws a veil over artistic neglect with bold new Islamic wing

2008-07-17T18:25:00.002+01:00

Angelique Chrisafis in Paris
Thursday July 17, 2008

Guardian

It is known as the Veil and is described by its architects as a giant glass Muslim headscarf in the heart of Paris. The former French president Jacques Chirac saw it as one way to avert a clash of civilisations in the run-up to the Iraq war. President Nicolas Sarkozy calls it the symbol of France's friendship with the Arab world.

The Louvre's bold new Islamic art wing had its first stone laid by Sarkozy yesterday , launching the museum's most daring project since IM Pei created the giant glass pyramid 20 years ago. The world's most visited museum will have Europe's biggest purpose-built exhibition space for an Islamic art collection, which France hopes will reconcile the secular republic with the world of Islamic heritage.

The €86m (£68m) project will open in 2010, creating 3,000 square metres of gallery space in one of the museum's neo-classical courtyards. Rather than cover the courtyard, a glass "luminous veil" will "float" above the ground, covering two floors. The Italian architect Mario Bellini yesterday described the undulating roof as "a headscarf blown in by the wind".

It was a pertinent image, coming soon after French citizenship was denied to a resident Moroccan woman who wears a veil. France has outlawed the headscarf and other religious symbols in public schools and yesterday Fadela Amara, a Muslim and feminist junior minister, criticised all form of veils.

The project's other architect, Rudy Ricciotti, said: "It is important for France, with a Muslim population of 5 million, to create something that speaks directly to the presence of Muslims in this country. This is a political museum in the noble sense of the term, in that the secular republic recognises all its people."

The Louvre, which registered a record 8.3 million visitors last year, boasts one of the world's most comprehensive Islamic art collections. More than 10,000 pieces range from the 7th to 19th century, featuring glasswork and ceramics, Ottoman empire art and one of the world's most important collections of carpets.

Yet most of the Islamic works have been in storage for more than 20 years, never afforded the same prominence as western exhibits. In 2003, when Chirac was setting France apart in the debate over the war in Iraq, he ordered the opening of an Islamic art department and the planning of a wing to do it justice.

Sarkozy used a speech at the Louvre to position France at the heart of geopolitics. "France wants peace, it does not want a clash of civilisations between east and west," he said.

He was accompanied by the Saudi prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, whose €17m contribution to the project is one of the biggest private cultural donations made in France. The prince, a francophile, is a major shareholder in Disneyland Paris and owns Paris's exclusive George V hotel.

Sophie Makariou, head curator of the Louvre's Islamic art department, said: "Islamic exhibitions have always been a huge success with the public."

Asked about the funding from Saudi Arabia, where the Wahabi hardline interpretation of Islam has often been blamed for the destruction of artistic and religious heritage, she said: "We have to move away from fixed ideas. In 2006, we took a show of 136 works to Saudi Arabia. There were 400,000 visitors in two months."

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T-shirts prove popular at IslamExpo

2008-07-16T16:43:00.004+01:00

The Visual Dhikr t-shirt range has been a massive hit at IslamExpo this year - loads of you brought them, also check out the Khattat wearing the Visual Dhikr 'Dhikr' t-shirt while writing some beautiful khatt for people...

Check out the opening of IslamExpo 2008 - features the IslamicDesignHouse.com stand...

لوحات وتصميمات إيثار وروح العالم فى معرض اسلام اكسبو

2008-07-15T12:39:00.013+01:00

An article by Elaph on Visual Dhikr and Iythar's work at IslamExpo

GMT 14:00:00 2008 الإثنين 14 يوليو

محمد الحمامصي: تستعد لندن الآن لأضخم معرض للثقافة الإسلامية فى أوروبا (إسلام اكسبو) الموجه أساساً لغير المسلمين للتعريف بالثقافة الإسلامية. ويشتمل المعرض الضخم على معارض فنية، عروض أزياء، حفلات غنائية، محاضرات دينية وغيرها. ويعتبر واحداّ من عدة معارض اسلامية تقام بشكل دورى فى أوروبا رداً على الإعلام المضاد للدين بشكل عام والإسلام بشكل خاص. تلقى هذه المعارض إقبالاً شديداً من المسلمين وغير المسلمين ومن الملاحظ اهتمامها الشديد بإبراز الفن الإسلامى المعاصر الغير مقلد للفنون الإسلامية القديمة وإن حمل روحها.

'Palmreading: Muhammad, Salam' by Iythar

من ضمن المشاركين فى اسلام اكسبو هذا العام المصورة المصرية إيثار، ابنة الشاعر الراحل عبد الحميد عبد الهادى حسن، وخريجة كلية الفنون الجميلة بالقاهرة. عرفت إيثار بمهارتها فى فن البورتريه وافكارها غير مطروقة، حيث تميل إلى رسم المواقف الغير مألوفة واظهار الأبعاد الخفية للأشياء كإضفاء الجوانب الشعورية على الجماد. كما تحرص على مراعاة القيم الدينية والاجتماعية فى موضوعات لوحاتها، إيماناً منها بأن الفن أداة للارتقاء، وبأن تجاهل القيم السليمة المتوارثة عبر مئات السنين فى أياً من الفنون لا يشير إلا إلى رغبة ضمنية فى التراجع فى سلم التطور الاجتماعى. ورغم أن لوحاتها ليست كلها دينية المضمون إلا أنها تؤمن أنه يمكن اعتبار أى فن لا يتعارض مع الدين أو يعلى من قيم مخالفة لتعاليمه فناً دينياً.

وعن النهضة الفنية الإسلامية فى الغرب تقول إيثار أن الفن بشكل عام قد قام على أكتاف الدين، والفن المصرى على سبيل المثال ازدهر وعرف وقدر فى العالم كله حينما اعتمد على العقيدة- الفرعونى والقبطى والإسلامى كلٌُ سواء- فى حين لم يلق نفس التقدير حين اتخذ اتجاهاً مختلفاً. وترى إيثار أن اعتبار الدين مكبلاً للفن ومعيقاً لتطوره مدعاة للسخرية، فالفنانين القدامى اعتمدوا على الدين كإلهام بشكلٍ شبه كامل،وما الفن اليوم إلا استكمالاً لما بدأوه. تشارك إيثار فى اسلام اكسبو بعدة لوحات تصويرية وتصميمية خطية، وبرغم اشتراكها كفنانة بريطانية مسلمة وعدم تمثيلها لمصر رسمياً فإيثار لم تغفل ذكر جنسيتها المصرية.

'La ilaha il Allah' by Visual Dhikr

يشارك إيثار فى هذا المعرض زوجها الفنان البريطانى روح العالم، المعروف بتصميماته الخطية المعبرة من خلال مشروعه (الذِكر المرئى) الذى يهدف إلى إدخال ذِكر الخالق فى كل نواحى الحياة، والذى يعتبر من أول مظاهر نهضة الفن الإسلامي المعاصرفى بريطانيا. بدأ المشروع باللوحات الفنية، ثم أضيف خط تصميم للملابس والعناصر الزخرفية، والمشروع حائز على إقبال شديد بين مسلمى بريطانيا. روح العالم درس اللغة العربية والخط العربى فى مصر رغبة فى الارتقاء بفنه و تأسيس مشروعه (الذِكر المرئى) على أسس ثابتة، وقد جاءته فكرة المشروع أثناء دراسته للفنون فى كلية سانت مارتن، إذ لم تعجبه طريقة استقبال عالم الفن الغربى (والشرقى أحياناً) للفن، حيث بدا فى كثير من الأحيان أن الفنان قد أصبح أكثر أهمية من أعماله، وأن الأعمال المثيرة للجدل أو تلك التى تكسر القيم الأخلاقية هى التى ترى كفن حقيقى. لم يرد روح العالم أن تكون أعماله عنه أو عن رؤيته للعالم، ولكنه أرادها انعكاساً لإيمانه وعقيدته..لشئ أكبر وأعظم، لذا فقد ركز أعماله حول خلق الله..ذكره..وذاته سبحانه وتعالى، معطياً لنفسه نطاقاً واسعاً جداً للعمل وذلك رغم خلو مادته من الأنانية. يشترك روح العالم فى المعرض بعدة لوحات خطية تحمل اسلوبه المتفرد، يشهد الفن الإسلامى نمواً غير عادى فى الغرب خاصة أوروبا وأمريكا، فى حين يتراجع الاهتمام بالثقافة الدينية ككل فى الشرق، فهل تغيرت قبلة الفن الإسلامى؟..

GMT 14:00:00 2008 الإثنين 14 يوليو

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Art at Islam Expo 2008 and more...

2008-07-09T01:06:00.004+01:00

IslamExpo will host some great artists this year from some traditional masters to some great young British talent.

From the traditional calligraphy wing, you have the likes of Rasheed Butt and Mounir Shaa'rani - two of my favourites, amongst some other great masters of the pen!

Calligraphers’ Profiles:

Sabah Arbilli was born in Iraq in 1977 and is now a British calligrapher residing in London. From the age of 12, he began practising calligraphy, and with an engineering background realised the accuracy and geometrical forms of each letter. Being brought up in a traditional Islamic family led him to read the Holy Qur’an and was inspired by the sacred letters; he then went on to write the Qur’an twice and is currently writing the third one. He has gained recognition for the art of Calligraphy by running workshops in different cities in the U.K since 2000. He takes great pleasure in explaining the beauty of this art and the preciseness of every stroke for each letter. He has participated in many international exhibitions abroad and won on many different levels. His works are collected throughout the world.

Currently studying a Masters Degree at the Princes School of Traditional Arts has opened another direction where he is using various textures and techniques.
sab_khatat@hotmail.com

Rasheed Butt of Islamabad, Pakistan, picked up his life's vocation in 1961. Since then he has devoted his everything to Islamic calligraphy. His work in many kinds of medium are displayed at Mecca Gate, Mecca, the Senate of Pakistan, the Shah Faisal Mosque in Islamabad and numerous other places. Rasheed Butt's versatility in various kinds of khatt (Arabic calligraphic scripts) is established in the Muslim world - and beyond: the famous Christie's had put up his work for auction, a distinction not given to any living Muslim calligrapher. The calligraphic inscriptions of Mr. Rasheed Butt fall into four catgories: Quranic, Hadith (sayings of Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him), traditional invocations, and poetry- both Arabic and Persian. He was also the first person in Pakistan to use illuminations in his work. Rasheed Butt has had several one-man exhibitions, and participated in exhibitions in Pakistan and overseas. He has received many awards including the Pride of Performance (Highest Civil Award of the Government of Pakistan) in Arts and Culture.
www.rasheedbutt.com

Haji Noor Deen is a Chinese eminent master of Arabic calligraphy. Born in 1963 in eastern China's Shandong Province, Haji Noor Deen lectures on the art of Arabic calligraphy at the Islamic College in Zhen Zhou, where he has also established a correspondence course to enable students from all areas of China to study Arabic calligraphy. In addition, he researches Islamic culture at the Henan Academy of Sciences. In 1997, Haji Noor Deen was the first Chinese Muslim to be awarded the Egyptian Certificate of Arabic Calligraphy and to be admitted as a member of the Association of Egyptian Calligraphy. Haji Noor Deen's extraordinary mastery and genius in the art of Arabic calligraphy along with his unique ability to spectacularly deliver his craft to an audience has brought him lecture and workshop invitations from some of the most renowned and prestigious institutions around the world. The display of his beautiful artwork was a tribute to the unification of the Arabic and Chinese calligraphic tradition.
www.hajinoordeen.com

Mounir El-Shaarani is a calligrapher, designer and writer, living and working in Cairo, Egypt. Born in Syria and graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Damascus (1977). He studied under the great Syrian calligrapher, Badawi Al Dirany. He works as a calligrapher and book designer, since 1968. He has designed several custom typefaces that were used on his book covers and personal work. His work has been exhibited internationally; in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Tunis, Algeria, Morocco, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Switzerland, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Yugoslavia, India, England and the USA. He is highly regarded internationally for introducing uniquely innovative calligraphic styles and for taking his inspiration from everything around him, old and new. He has emerged at the forefront of contemporary artists, distinguishing his unique character from other artists. He is recreating a genuine art that is almost suffocated by the tides of modernism.

Soraya Syed Sanders was born and raised in London. Of mixed Pakistani-French origin, Soraya returned to the UK after completing her calligraphy apprenticeship in Istanbul. The art of Islamic penmanship is a bridge between the spiritual and material, the visual and the verbal. It is a living tradition that has the capacity for self-renewal enabling Soraya to adopt a contemporary approach while remaining true to her artistic heritage and the many years of study linking her to the calligraphy masters of the past. Her written and visual work has been published and exhibited worldwide. She read Arabic and History of Art & Archaeology at The School of Oriental and African Studies, and in 2001 graduated from the Masters programme in Visual Islamic and Traditional Arts at The Prince’s School of Traditional Arts, London. She now resides in west London with her husband and baby daughter.
www.ArtofthePen.com

Eytan Tiryaki was born in Ordu, Turkey, in 1961.She graduated from Ankara University’s Theology Faculty with a Masters degree in 1983. She started her art studies in her school days, and pursued them in Istanbul. She started to take calligraphy lessons from master calligrapher Hasan Çelebi in 1983, and obtained her Ijaza- certificate which described her as “the first woman of calligraphy”. She started to study Tezhip (Turkish-İslamic Decorative illumination art) in 1984, obtaining her certificate of Tezhip from Prof. Dr. Çiçek Derman in 1986. She has participated in many exhibitions in Turkey and abroad. Eytan has studied English and Arabic. After working as a teacher in Qur’an courses under Üsküdar and Ümraniye Department of Religious Affairs, she retired in 2004. She continues to teach calligraphy and illuniation courses, and has organised an exhibition with her students in Altunizade Cultural Centre in 2004.
www.tiryakiart.com

British Muslim Art Gallery Artists’ Profiles

IslamExpo will also showcase the works of some of the leading British Muslim talent that is shaping the Western Islamic Art scene, some are established and others are young and new - but ALL with great work...

Adam Williamson is a practicing artist in many mediums. He has been commissioned by HRH the Prince of Wales, Magdalen College, Oxford University, The Foreign Office in Vienna, The Pakistan Embassy, St. Ethelberger’s (Bishopsgate, London) currently undertaking a large piece for the Shakespeare’s Globe London. Adam has traveled around the globe working with artists on Mount Athos, Greece, in France, Spain, Morocco and Turkey. He was the subject of a documentary when he traveled to Malaysia and Indonesia looking at the woodcarving in that area. He is a sessional lecturer at Birkbeck College, and has taught in schools and museums across London. Following a placement as artist in residence at the Prince’s Foundation, Adam now works from his studio in Hackney wick. www.adamwilliamson.com

Amina Malik is an artist inspired by a message of Peace, encouraged and motivated by her family. Drawn by the beauty of Arabic and the freedom of expression in creativity and the common desire for Peace – not just the worldly kind but the internal (Heart/Sanity) kind, her paintings are connected to that place of felicity - an expression of conviction - a mirror of reflection, a part of sanity’s equilibrium. She hopes that by sharing her paintings with the world, she can stir feelings of something, somewhere inside, be it the heart or the mind, but hopefully the soul. www.aminamalik.com

Asia Alfasi is a Libyan-British manga-influenced comic writer and artist. Her works focus around a synthesis of her exposure to Islamic, Libyan, British and Japanese influences. She first gained notoriety when she was the first female to participate in and win the Hi8us Midlands Stripsearch competition with a portfolio based around her character Monir. Since she first started creating comics professionally in 2003, she has released two major publications. JinNarration, was published in the Mammoth Book of Best New Manga, an anthology of works by up-and-coming young British comic artists. Her short semi-autobiographical story, The non-savvy non-commuter, was displayed on the walls of Piccadilly Circus as part of Thin Cities, the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the station's opening. Her first individually-published graphic novel, the two-volume "Native Narratives", will detail the adventures of a young Muslim girl and the events of her life in both Libya and Scotland. It is due to be released by Bloomsbury in September 2008.

Fathema Wahid is a Printed textiles designer/maker who likes to create printed textiles that are unique and one-off designs. Her collection ranges from fashion wear, such as scarves and wraps to soft furnishing. The medium that she works with mainly is light-weight and transparent silks. The colours she creates for the cloth and the design itself are colours that she has either been working on from something she has seen and wants to re-create in her own way, or simply from her sub-consciousness. Her colour palette ranges from bright, fresh colours to subtle, natural hues. Her inspiration for design come from the delicate but strong structure of natural forms that surround us in the environment that we live in. However it is the colour that determines the design on the cloth. www.handoffathema.com

Halima Cassell Born in 1975 in Pakistan, brought up in Manchester and now living in Blackburn, Lancashire, Halima’s varied, multi-cultural background is tangibly present in her work. Halima’s natural creativity was nurtured to fruition through an art-based education: an undergraduate degree in 1997 and an MA in 2002. Fusing her Asian roots with a fascination for African pattern work and a passion for architectural geometry, Halima’s work is intense yet playful, structured yet creative; substantial yet dynamic and invariably compelling in its originality. Combining strong geometric elements with recurrent patterns and architectural principles, Halima’s work utilises definite lines and dramatic angles in an attempt to manifest the universal language of number and create an unsettling sense of movement.To achieve these effects she uses heavily grogged clay that allows her to work on a large scale and utilise relatively thick surfaces to carve to the desired depth. www.halimacassell.com

Iythar - A graduate of the Faculty of Fine Arts in Cairo, Iythar is a young artist residing in the UK and works in a wide variety of mediums and forms. As a fine artist, Iythar likes to explore surrealist, abstract and conceptual painting approaches, she also works intricately with calligraphy with her own stylistic scripts. She commonly uses oil on wood, but does not restrict herself to any particular medium or method of painting. Often she is trying to bring forth stories, moments in time or to capture a memory or feeling. She is also highly noted for her exceptional portraiture renditions from her past exhibitions. Her calligraphic work to date depicts not only a scriptural exuberance in a visual way, but also defines the meaning of the Arabic in a conceptual manner.
Her paintings are uniquely tied to her belief, spirituality and the heightened awareness of life and the meaning of struggle. http://www.iythar.com

Lateefa Spiker Lateefa Spiker, 26, was brought up by parents who converted to Islam. She has lived in Texas, Granada, New Mexico, Jordon, Cairo and Morocco, and now works from her studio in East London. From a young age her works where inspired by these experiences observing scenes of extraordinary natural beauty, diverse cultures and architectural wonders. Lateefa’s work is of great significance today, she is well placed to view the clash of civilizations on the world stage, having spent her life observing the differences and similarities between her religion and her cultural roots, feeling first-hand the ache of non-identity. The struggle to find her place within an often-contradictory environment triggered her interest in our true nature, stripped of culture and of individuality. Lateefa’s current works employ primordial imagery in its barest of forms. www.lateefaspiker.com

Mohammed Ali, a 29 year old British-born Muslim, takes his form of art from the streets to public exhibitions, bringing a positive twist to the oft-used term, ‘clash of civilisations’. He takes his inspiration from the modern urban-art of graffiti and weaves it together with the grace and eloquence of Islamic Arabic calligraphy. It results in a form dubbed as ‘Urban Spiritual Art’. Much of Mohammed’s work depicts universal principles such as Peace, Knowledge and Patience, concepts which are appreciated by people of all faiths and cultures. Mohammed’s work is becoming ever-more popular in this time where one’s spiritual direction is increasingly under the spotlight. Mohammed Ali has recently completed a tour of the USA, painting his unique "spiritual murals" across the three cities, New York, Chicago and Boston. www.aerosolarabic.com

Rehan Jamil Rehan began his photographic career at the age of 17 taking photographs for the local newspaper, The East End Enterprise. He has since continued as a freelance photographer providing editorial images to a number of large urban regeneration programmes in London.Rehan describes himself as a social documentary photographer who is primarily concerned with communities in transition.Work by Rehan has been included in the group exhibition Common Ground (2003) commissioned by The British Council the images explore Muslim identity in the UK. His work was also included in both the Changing Faces 02 exhibition (2003) and the Sony Playstation, Beautiful Script exhibition (2005). More recently Rehan was commissioned to produce the Peace by Piece exhibition for Southwark Council. Rehan is currently working on exhibiting ‘The East End of Islam’ a black and white photographic documentary capturing the spirit of the Muslim Community in Tower Hamlets, London. www.rehanjamil.co.uk

Rezia Wahid MBE Rezia’s work is a celebration of life, beauty, peace, tranquility, air, and light, and seeks to build bridges with the simplicity of fibres, colours, techniques and feelings which are felt within her when she is amongst the natural beauty of this earth – which can also be a form of escaping the harsh and troubled issues of the world around us. Her ultimate aim is for people to escape into a beautiful dream, connect with natural light and the feeling of peace. Rezia designs the cloths in order for them to hang in space so that ‘Light’ can travel through and create an atmosphere of tranquility. It can be enjoyed by walking around and looking through the different densities of the warp. At the same time she would like her work to be versatile and leave them to be free with the unfinished edge- she wants them to have a purpose but not be bound to it. http://woven-air.com/

Ruh al-‘Alam (Visual Dhikr) - A graduate of Central Saint Martin’s College of Art & Design, Ruh began combining his graphic design knowledge with painting to develop a fusion of Islamic and contemporary art that became popular under the guise ‘Visual Dhikr’. As a student of traditional Arabic calligraphy, he runs Visual Dhikr, a personal art project dedicated to the constant remembrance of Allah (God). Working in paint, fashion, video, sculpture and digital media, Ruh hopes to create unique visual art that encourages a new revival in the Islamic art world. He takes inspiration from the rich Islamic heritage of literature, the Qur’an and the Prophetic message, often working with intricate calligraphy, textures and patterns.
He has exhibited in the UK and abroad and has been commissions by local and international clients, including Sony and Outlandish to produce unique artwork. His work is also commonly found transferred onto clothing, art prints, accessories and home décor. http://www.visualdhikr.com

Ruqqia Badran Ruqqia Badran is a self taught textile artist based in the Northwest of England. She uses dyed raw silk which she delicately hand embroiders and embellishes in an Islamic style using mainly geometric patterns reflecting the plurality of her cultural heritage; Islamic, South Asian, northwestern England and Syrian. She produces large-scale wall hangings that contrast and compliment the small intricate geometric patterns and beading her works are made up of. Her artworks are unified by her use of colour, reflecting beauty and harmony. Badran’s artworks are mainly concerned with aesthetic value and aim to highlight the sophistication of Islam and its identity. Ruqqia Badran has independently exhibited throughout the Northwest. Her last solo exhibition took place in 2007 at the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester. She continues to contribute to Islamic art through textiles and intends to expand into Islamic inspired interior design in the near future.

Vaseem Mohammed Growing up in the East End, Vaseem has always been interested in the shapes, textures and atmospheres of his urban childhood. After access courses in Art & Design, Graphics and Creative Computing & Illustration, he freelanced in graphic design and furniture renovation with Islamic inspired decoration, through which he found his niche in fine art, his field for the past 11 years. After 4 years at Spitalfields market in east London, Vaseem opened his own gallery in the creative hub of Cheshire Street E1, and continues to regularly exhibit his work.

Vaseem’s most distinctive feature appears to be his childhood appreciation of form, colour, and texture. Additionally, there appears to be a recurring symbolism of juxtaposition- archaic eastern architecture and Islamic calligraphy from past eras, confronts modernist, western abstract style of painting; the rich beauty of the natural world through vibrant opalescent colours and awing space, contrasted against the deterioration and irresponsibility of humanity’s world. http://www.vaseemmohammed.com

The event has so much more than art, theatre, entertainment and great topical lectures.

This is an event NOT to be missed, rarely do we get the chance to have so many young and established artists into one place, showcasing the growing talent from our community. Be proud and show your support for our artists, Muslim businesses and the celebration of our beautiful heritage - visit IslamExpo this weekend...

11-14 July '08
Olympia, London
www.islamexpo.com

IslamicDesignHouse Advert

2008-06-30T01:59:00.002+01:00

A quick IslamicDesignHouse advert produced with illustrations key brands. (sorry for poor YouTube quality)

Buy One, Send another to a friend FREE!

2008-06-12T10:40:00.001+01:00

This is a great offer from Islamic Design House.
Go and buy some cool stuff and send another to a friend for FREE!

Join Visual Dhikr on Facebook

2008-05-28T18:12:00.003+01:00

Join us over at our Visual Dhikr Facebook Group
A good way to stay updated and interact, open to all...

Islamic Design House.com NEW WEBSITE

2008-05-22T11:28:00.006+01:00

Brand spanking new website is live now: www.islamicdesignhouse.com go over and check it out now. Islamic Design House brings you the best in Islamic fashion, art and accessories for men and women. Popular brand products from SilkRoute, Visual Dhikr and Aerosol Arabic are sold via IDH.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?

2008-05-20T14:33:00.013+01:00

Salam, I don't like to do this, but I guess I have to so that people know that this isn't right and it affects people who are trying to do unique work and make strong efforts to help the artist community. We believe in healthy competition, we do not fear it, what we do not like is poor imitations of work that not only looks bad on the artist but also confuses people.

For quite a while now, me and Mohammad Ali of AerosolArabic, have had to talk to a number of people who are using language (e.g. 'Aerosol Arabic', which I think is trademarked by br. Ali) that conflict with ours and also total copies of our work on their websites. We dont tend to publicise this, as we prefer to give everyone a chance to respond or rectify any infringement. We also believe that damaging someone elses potential business isn't a good thing and people learn and do make mistakes.

We could go into the complexities of copyright in Islam etc and some would be for and against it. But what I believe in, is that people should strive to be original, aim for high quality and unique work in whaterver they do and credit each other with respect.

A current case is of an online art store (name not shown to avoid hurting their business/artist reputation) who have a piece entitled 'Sabr', as you can see below it doesn't take a genius to realise that this is a direct imitation of the Visual Dhikr Sabr piece (accept for some changes, patterns).

(top: Sabr by artist 'SA' [name hidden], bottom: original Sabr by 'Visual Dhikr')

I produced this Sabr piece with no imitation from any traditional pieces or from any other artist. In fact, the piece has a distinctive narrow canvas and the lettering is cropped at the top and bottom slightly (touching edges). For another artist to coincidently have the same composition is rather miraculous.

Now I have no issues with people using traditional compositions of calligraphy, as many do with a lot of Basmalah's for all sorts. But I don't think it is wise to borrow compositions directly from living artists with little or no change (even if it is made/painted differently).

This is a message from Brother Mohammad Ali of the acclaimed AerosolArabic and this is what he had to say:

"I was informed by my brother Ruh al-'Alam, about this recent image which bears a striking resemblance to one of his own original pieces of art. This is not the first time, I have come across many examples of when artists have done so. I havn't commented on this before, but I thought today, I would support my brother in this, as I feel strongly that if we want to move forward, this is not the way to go about it. So this is advise for myself as well as my brothers and sisters.

I would like to echo the words of Ruh al-'Alam, and I believe, that this does not help the "scene." Rather than developing it, it in fact, dillutes it. I am all for people being inspired by other artists and its very refreshing to see someone take something of yours and move 10 steps forward in developing it andtransforming it into something unique. But when you see carbon copies of a concept, a style, just duplicated with no development, it is very disheartening to see.

I often wonder, this 'Islamic' art - shouldn't these artists, more than any other artist, have a conscience, with a desire to be fair and just with their fellow brothers/sisters?

Myself as an artist, i know, if for one second, had an image which bears too much resemblance to another, I would go out of my way to make sure the line is not blurred, and ensure there is no danger of anyone confusing me with another. This is also, perhaps stemming from my visual/branding background, the desire to create a standalone brand, which stands on its own two feet, with no blurring of the lines. Many a time people, have said to me, "I assumed, that art was yours, because its identical to yours."

Lets make our "islamic art scene" fresh and innovative, and not duplication upon duplication. Lets make it so, that If i am going to take a concept, how am i going to push the boundaries even further.

This is innovation, this is how we are going to move forward insha'allah."

Mohammed Ali
AerosolArabic
Urban Islamic Art

---

Wise words, from somebody who has dedicated themselves to using his art to further unity and understanding between people and faiths, not to mention outstanding youth work!

I wish to simply clarify that the above piece in question is an imitation of an original piece and I hope people recognise the original work.

The online store has responded promptly, but the dispute is still open with artist (ignore previous statement about the online store, as we did not provide them enough time to respond, they have been helpful and are not responsible for the artwork itself, which is produced by a third party). I wish all the best for 'SA' and the store, and hope that we have not said anything to offend anybody and ask for your forgiveness and sincere nasiha.

wa Allahu a'lam

Ruh al-'Alam ('abd Allah)

Visual Dhikr
Visual Islamic Art

Let us know your thoughts and leave comments

Sajjadah 1426 - Illuminating Prayer Rug

2008-05-19T15:31:00.002+01:00

A lighted sajjadah or prayer rug - comes from a Turkish designer, Soner Özenç. The Britain-based designer uses light as an integral element in his imaginative creations. This modern piece that he calls Sajjadah 1426 (1426 is the year 2005 in the Islamic calendar), combines technology and the Muslim culture.

Sajjadah 1426 is a piece of art and a great example of the electroluminescent phosphor printing technology. It is also quite practical. It assists the person who performs the divine service of prayers, called namaz (Salat), not just by creating an amazing atmosphere, but by actually finding the right direction to pray towards.

With the help of an imbedded compass module, the lighted motifs of the rug turn brighter the closer the rug is turned toward the direction of Mecca. This modern sajjadah introduces a brand new experience in the daily performance of namaz.

By Yagmur Uslu via The Cool Hunter Turkey

IslamExpo 2008, 11-14 July

2008-05-15T17:05:00.002+01:00

Islam Expo 2008 - the big expo at Olympia this year. Don't miss it.
Visual Dhikr will be showcasing exclusive artwork at the event.

Opponents Criticize Memorial for Using Islamic Symbols

2008-05-14T13:50:00.003+01:00

This is just sad, no?

Opponents of the proposed United Airlines Flight 93 memorial say they're outraged by a proposed design they say looks like Islamic symbols to commemorate victims in Shanksville, Pa. on September 11th.

They believe the design — a broken circle lined with trees outlining the crash — looks likes an Islamic crescent that points toward Mecca, the Muslim holy city.

Opponents presented a petition filled with 5,300 signatures to stop construction of the memorial in a joint meeting of the Flight 93 Memorial Task Force at the Somerset County Courthouse.

The controversy over the memorial site began when the Flight 93 Advisory Commission announced a memorial design from Paul Murdoch Architects of Los Angles called "Crescent of Embrace," that included a crescent of maple trees around the crash site.

Some critics say its crescent-shaped design call to mind Islam or subtly include the hijackers alongside the passengers and crew.

The National Park Service, which is managing the construction of the memorial, denied those claims, but changed the design to more of a circle, and dropped the name.

Click here to read more about the Flight 93 memorial and its design.

Still Tom Burnett, Sr. whose son Tom, Jr. died in flight is demanding more changes be made. "Its a terrible insult to my son and the others on that flight its an awful insult to in anyway reach out to the people who took over, hijacked that plane."

But not everyone agrees. Gordon Felt whose brother, Edward, was a also a passenger on Flight 93, said he and the majority of family members support the proposed design.

"I was outraged, for anyone to infer that family members who have been such an integral part of this process have been in any way involved in memorializing the murderers of our loved ones. I find that extremely offensive."

In a written response to FOX News about accusations that the design is ridden with "Islamic symbolism," architect Paul Murdoch said that he sees this as a "distortion of the facts" and that what continues to grow is "overwhelming support for the design."

Construction plans are moving forward as planned on the site, which is currently adorned with American flags, croses and plaques to honor the victims.

The memorial, which will be built in three phases, will allow visitors to get close to the crash site, according to the National Park Service. It will also include a plaza that extends along the edge of the crash site, with a ceremonial wall and drop-off to separate visitors from the site.

Islamic Geometric Patterns (New Book)

2008-05-14T10:02:00.001+01:00

Islamic patterns are not just beautiful accidents …

The practitioners of this craft use traditional methods of measurement to create dazzling geometric compositions, most based on the repetition of a single pattern. The results are magnificent in their beauty and awe-inspiring in their execution.

Now, with the aid of this book, everyone can learn how to master this ancient art and create their own intricate patterns or re-create classic examples. All one needs is a pencil, a ruler, a compass – and a steady hand.

Technical tips demonstrate the basics: how to draw a square, hexagon or pentagon. This is followed by some of the best examples of geometric patterns from around the world, arranged into levels of complexity, with careful, step-by-step instructions.

Features geometric patterns from some of the most famous and beautiful Islamic architecture and art, including:

• The Great Mosque of Cordoba, Spain
• Cappella Palatina, Sicily, Italy
• Mustansiriya Madrasa, Iraq
• The Great Mosque of Damascus, Syria
• The Huand Hatun Complex, Turkey
• The Great Mosque of Herat, Afghanistan
• The Mosque of al-Salih Tala’i, Egypt
• The Tomb of Bibi Jawindi, Pakistan
• Qarawiyyin Mosque, Morocco
• The Koran of Rashid al-Din, Iran

Includes free CD-ROM with:
• Desktop Wallpapers – nine different designs
• Step-by-step construction sequences of nineteen featured patterns
• Finished black-and-white patterns to print out and colour in or to decorate
• Basic Templates to print out and get you started
• Photos and illustrations of some of the best Islamic geometric patterns

Eric Broug received his Masters Degree in History of Islamic Art & Architecture from London’s School of Oriental and African Studies. He now runs Broug Ateliers for Islamic Architecture, Arts and Crafts in Yorkshire, which creates contemporary Islamic art.

Cute Culture - Islamic Baby Clothing

2008-05-13T15:01:00.003+01:00

Watch out for Cute Culture clothing to be launched soon, they will introduce some unique, fun and original clothing for those naughty little Muslimeen.

Silk Roads

2008-05-13T14:58:00.001+01:00

Seems like a cool project...

"SILK ROADS is an organization of the best artist-educators specializing in traditions from the Middle-East and beyond.

We offer workshops, performances and entertainment to schools, museums, festivals and private events.

Not only are the artists handpicked practitioners in storytelling, arts, crafts, Middle-Eastern music, and dance ― they are equally experienced as workshop educators to adults and children.

We promise:

to entertain ― all our workshops and events are exciting and interactive
to educate ― using the inspiration of the Silk Roads, a symbol of artistic ferment and cultural tolerance
to include ― the workshops are suitable for young and old, male and female, and for all backgrounds

http://www.silkroads.co.uk

'Like two perfectly matching calligraphy lines...'

2008-05-07T23:21:00.012+01:00

Here are some commissioned calligraphic artworks (my own scripts) I did for some lovely couples (some used in wedding cards), in the last two years.

Ferukh & Alia

Bara & Isra'

Yusra & Sharhabeel

Ruman & Shahida

Nadim & Rukhsana

Nabeel & Nasreen

Ruh, Visual Dhikr

Images are Copyright, and personal to the people, so hands off.
Blog title is from 'Sakeena' - Outlandish

Islamic Design House in Gulf Air Mag

2008-05-03T16:40:00.006+01:00

Junayd Miah (Islamic Design House)

The founder of a design house that aims to link East and West through fashion

It’s not often religion and fashion come together to create a successful business, but that is what’s happening at the Islamic Design House. Based in Mile End, in the east end of London, just a few miles from where its founders grew up, this enterprise aims to take the best of Western creativity and match it to the elegant calligraphy and modest style of the East and Islam.

Junayd Miah, who runs the growing online outlet with several partners, says the idea behind the business stems from his days as a student. “Studying economics and politics, then spending three years as a scholar of Islam and the Arabic language, proved to be a turning point in my life. For the first time, my mind was opened up to the rest of the world, as well as to my faith, and I began to question my role in both. It was quite profound.”

Fresh from this epiphany, the 29-year-old bumped into an old friend, Harun Rashid. They and three other friends realised no one was producing fashionable, attractive clothing for young women that adhered to the Muslim code of modesty. “We are part of a special group as second- or third-generation Muslims living in Britain,” says Miah. “We’re brought up in the West, but steeped in a culture that’s rooted in the East.

No one was catering for both.”

So the friends put together a business plan and found a factory in Bangladesh that would produce the small runs they required. They then extended their ideas to men’s fashion, finding a way to reference Islam on westernised casualwear. “I wear jeans and hoodies, but I wanted them to reflect my identity as a Muslim,” says Miah.”

With sweatshirts, jilbabs and hijabs in a variety of unusual colours and materials, they were ready to found Silk Route, named for the ancient road that links the East to the West.

With the label selling well through wholesalers around London, the team decided to widen the net and, through St Martin’s College of Art and Design, began collaborating with two more designers. Working under the labels Aerosol Arabic and Visual Dikhr, both designers shared the same vision as Miah and his partners.

The result is a growing collection of original, affordable fashionwear, homewear and jewellery – from vases etched with Kufic script to delicate glass headscarf pins and bold art prints that blend street graffiti with traditional calligraphy. The Islamic Design House is not stopping there, however, and Miah’s grand plan includes flagship stores in London and major Muslim cities before moving onto North America and France.

Miah hopes their unique brand will act as a positive force. “Like the Silk Route, which has long been about people from different parts of the world interacting, we want to embrace Eastern and Western cultures. This is building bridges.”

Kate Riordan; portrait by Gemma Day

source

Ruh: Junayd is probably one of the most hardworking, dedicated, self-less, visionary people I have had the pleasure of working with.

Many people also do not get to see the other members of the IDH team who make the whole thing run so smoothly and efficiently, but deserve to be credited too.

May Allah raise them all in rank, give them success and accept their sincere efforts, amin.

Banksy Tunnel Exhibit

2008-05-03T01:41:00.001+01:00

A disused road tunnel in south London has been turned into a giant exhibition space by graffiti artist Banksy...nice.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7377622.stm

in Pictures:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/7379614.stm

Dan Cruickshank's Adventures in Architecture

2008-05-02T03:42:00.004+01:00

Dan covers our beloved Damascus in this episode, but dont miss out on the rest of this video, it covers some great architecture.

Historian Dan Cruickshank explores how humanity has created beauty through architecture. Dan examines how architecture enables people to live together across the world.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/page/item/b00b5pv7.shtml

Paradise (features Istanbul)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/page/item/b009z619.shtml

BBC iplayer (uk-only)

Work Space

2008-04-28T13:32:00.002+01:00

Ok, we're doing up our new workspace over at Make Believe very soon, but here is some inspiration to do something different.

Sliding into work at Google HQ
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7292600.stm

Peace by Piece (Rehan Jamil)

2008-04-21T13:59:00.002+01:00

Peace by piece is the finale in our 'Think You Know Islam?' series of events aimed to help understanding against non Muslims of Islam, the religion, people and culture.

Hosted by Southwark Council in partnership with Southwark Muslim Forum and the Metropolitan Police, Peace by Piece at the Menier Chocolate Factory captures and celebrates the contribution of Muslims to Southwark's rich cultural diversity.

From April 22 to May 3 the exhibition consists of photographic and audiowork that confronts stereotypes and the misconceptions of Muslim communities.

The exhibition features photography by Rehan Jamil and interviews with 20 Southwark Muslims as they go about their lives in london.

Saima Mahmood, a final year medical student from Peckham, declares, "As a young Muslim woman I'm not prepared to be a doormat for the media or other Muslims".

Other storytellers include

10 year old Rumana Chaudhury, chairperson of John Donne Primary School Council,
Professor Dawud Noibi, Chair Southwark Muslim Forum, who thinks Islam is "a lot like a sat nav system, except this one doesn't lead you down any dead ends"
Erbil Celebi, a London black taxi driver worshipping at Southwark's Turkish Mosque on Cobourg Road, who believes that Muslim extremists and people obsessed with wealth "have lost the plot in equal measure"

When and where?

From 10am to 6pm daily
The Menier Gallery
51 Southwark Street
London
SE1 1RU
http://www.menierchocolatefactory.com/

Stephen Fry and the Gutenberg Press

2008-04-16T15:22:00.001+01:00

Stephen Fry examines the story behind the first media entrepreneur, printing press inventor Johann Gutenberg, to find out why he did it and how.

iPlayer (UK only)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/page/item/b009wynj.shtml

(Available for 5 more days)

Things have developed quite a bit since the Gutenberg press, but the beauty of the printing press and book making industry can only be appreciated when one has a thorough look at the process involved. Enjoy.

Visual Dhikr feature in new book: Arabesque

2008-04-03T19:12:00.005+01:00

Visual Dhikr has been featured in a new graphic design book out now, alongside some excellent designers!

http://www.arabesque-graphics.com

Watch video of the two authors Sascha and Ben (both I met in Cairo).

review:

Arabesque: Graphic Design from the Arab World and Persia

Despite their rich tradition of calligraphy, the Arab World and Persia are not known for their contemporary graphic design, illustration and typography.

Especially now, it's worth taking a look at the region's creativity.

Young designers are just beginning to chart their own compelling course between local visual convention and a modern, international style.

Arabesque investigates the creative potential of the Arab World and Iran.

This book features examples of recent innovative and groundbreaking design work that is inspired by the richness of the region's visual culture.

Given the important role of calligraphy in the Middle East, Arabesque focuses on typography.

The book presents a wide range of modern Arabic fonts and typefaces; these are accompanied by a rich selection of applications.

Further examples of design and graffiti serve as powerful demonstrations of how text can be used illustratively.

This work is particularly relevant to those now creating street art and poster design.

Arabesque also features graphic design, logos and illustration by young designers and activists from Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon, which is complemented by selected projects by Western designers, who are strongly influenced by Arab culture.

Regardless of the location and ancestry of their creators, all of the examples included in Arabesque combine modern design with the traditional, letter-based canon of Arab forms in striking ways.

Buy from Amazon

Make Believe Creative

2008-03-31T17:38:00.002+01:00

S9V24 (makers of the Visual Dhikr website) has a new name and new website, in line with its expansion. Introducing the new Make Believe website ( MakeMeBelieve.com ). They have kept it simple and functional. This new site preceeds the flash version which is aimed to be launched later on. Make a visit!

Make Believe is a small creative design studio in London, headed by Ruh al-'Alam, specialising in web, print, illustration and multimedia.

Islamic Branding

2008-03-23T03:39:00.002Z

A market of 1.6 billion people that has scarcely been
tapped, Muslim consumers offer enormous potential to
Western marketers - but only if their values are fully
understood, says Miles Young

Islamic branding: the next big thing?

THERE is a sense of the arrival of a new “big thing”
in the world of marketing - and it is coloured green;
not the familiar grass green of the environment, but
the deeper green of Islam.

For the first time, it is a topic which is receiving
serious public attention; and the future of Islamic
branding was in the spotlight at the last World
Islamic Economic Forum in Kuala Lumpur.

Meanwhile, in the West, recent research (by JWT)
amongst Muslim consumers has highlighted their
importance as an attractive market segment. Already in
the US, they are being described as the “new
Hispanics”. While recognition of this new “target” for
primarily Western marketers is timely, simply leaving
it there is probably not enough. There is a bigger
angle; what is the role of Islam in the growing
multi-literalism of the global economy itself?

The pure arithmetic, of course, is persuasive at one
level, and all the more so outside of the UK and the
US. There are 1.6 billion Muslims worldwide, rising
fast. Of these, only 20 per cent belong to the Arab
world, the majority being located in south and east
Asia. The rub, however, is that the Islamic world
still only accounts for 5 per cent of the world’s GDP.
The issues of the Islamic world tend, therefore, to be
those of the developing world. Brands which compete in
the global market place are the necessary weapons for
avoiding long term economic marginalization. It is as
simple as that.

Strong values
This looming one quarter of the world’s population
shares in Islam a set of values which are immensely
strong - and woefully misunderstood in the West. Islam
equates identity; and defines behaviour in a way which
makes how you do things as important as the things you
do. The “ummah” is premised on a view of what is
lawful (halal) and unlawful (haram), so the gap
between belief and behaviour is remarkably narrow.

A strong sense of community and welfare underpins all
activity, informing business ethics. Islam has little
space for imagery and heavy reliance on verbal
communication. In varying degrees, Sharia compliance
recognizes these requirements, and to some degree,
perhaps unsurprisingly, “Sharia compliant” has become
a synonym for “Islamic brand.”

But Islamic branding is actually more complex than
this, and exists at three levels. At the most
exclusive level, overtly Islamic brands place their
appeal strictly on Sharia principles. These are
especially concentrated in the finance and food
sectors. Beyond that, there are brands created by
Islamic-rooted organizations informed by Islamic
belief but which are pluralist in their appeal
(airlines or telcos would be an example). And, further
still, there are brands which emanate from Islamic
countries but which are not specifically religious in
character; many Turkish brands fall into this
category. Confusingly, the distinction is not often
made: but what all three should have is a common
purpose, which is to re-balance the importerexporter
relationships between the Islamic and non-Islamic
world.

Beyond Sharia compliance
To do so effectively means harnessing the language and
concepts of branding in each of these categories. So
it is just becoming clear, for instance, that Sharia
compliance in itself is not differentiating. Brand
choice requires emotional cues as well. And, at every
level, the competition is against “foreign” brands -
which means beating their emotional preference:
because compliance, ultimately, is a generic benefit.

My feeling after the Kuala Lumpur discussions is that
Islamic branding is at something of a cross-roads: if
it recognizes that there is a difference to be bridged
between Islamic products and Islamic brands, then it
should be the “next big thing”; and something which
helps, incidentally, bridge the cultural and economic
chasm which separates the “globalized” and the Islamic
worlds.

Targeting non-Muslims
In doing so, Islamic branding can still be unique, and
can offer the world a different angle on value
maximization.

The concept of halal in foods, for instance, seems to
capture a craving for purity which goes well beyond a
religious franchise. Up to 60 per cent of the consumer
base for Islamic financial products in Malaysia can be
non-Muslim. The Islamic importance of community
welfare gives new life to the concept of Corporate
Social Responsibility and relates it much more tightly
to the brand in the West.

And the opportunity to create a new Islamic design
ethic which could be analogous to a design tradition
which values intrinsic worth - such as Scandinavian
design - also presents itself.

In the West, “Islamic” is so readily and so unfairly
equated with the obscurantist. Anyone who touches an
advertising business in those countries where moderate
Islam is the prevailing voice will know that they are
highly creative, highly charged workplaces, certainly
more than capable of ultimately redressing the one way
flow of global ideas.

Ogilvy Asia-Pacific.
(via Suhaib Webb)
from Brand Republic

Also see Branding Faith

SirahTour Trailer

2008-02-29T17:48:00.001Z

Art scene in Dubai

2008-02-27T22:27:00.004Z

The Other Middle East Talks

With the international art market in flux, dealers and auction houses are heading for Dubai in search of new buyers and artists.

It is a truth of the art market that the richest nations always call the tune, setting global tastes, anointing the next stars, and establishing trends that the market may follow for years to come. By that logic—and the Middle East's seemingly unstoppable economic rise—the Damien Hirst of 2020 could be a native Farsi speaker. Or at least that's what some of the industry's key players are wagering as they ramp up their presence in the region.

Like the Chinese-contemporary-art juggernaut spawned by that country's roaring economy, Middle Eastern art and buyers could emerge as the next big thing. When Christie's International opened in Dubai in 2005, its business plan projected $30 million in sales between 2006 and 2009. Yet in just 18 months of auctions, Christie's has raked in $63 million—in large part from sales of jewelry and watches, but also because contemporary Arab, Indian, and Iranian works have been performing well above expectations. At the auction house's October 31 sale, held the day that oil hit a then-record $94 a barrel, Iranian artist Farhad Moshiri's Swarovski-crystal-studded map of the world soared to $601,000—seven times its presale estimate. The region's breakout star: Egyptian artist Ahmed Moustafa, whose work recently hit $657,000 at auction, nearly triple his previous record.

If anything, some players expect an even stronger market in the Middle East than in China, because so many of the art initiatives—to showcase the region's artists as well as import Western art—have the direct backing of the government or royal families. Abu Dhabi is planning to spend $50 million to fill its Louvre. Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, of Qatar, is on a buying spree to fill a quintet of museums he's planning in Doha, the emirate's capital. There's "real dynamism" in the world of Middle Eastern art now, and the artists are "expanding onto the international stage," says Ruh al-Alam, a 26-year-old who is known for infusing traditional Arabic script with a digital feel and who has shown at London's Whitechapel Art Gallery.

The art industry is certainly betting on the region. This month, the organizers of a long-established U.S. art-and-antiques show plan to open a satellite exhibit in Dubai. Christie's third round of auctions will take place in March, the same month that Art Dubai, which specializes in contemporary works, will mark its second year. British art collector Charles Saatchi is also making his interest known, seeking to open a gallery in the United Arab Emirates and speaking to potential partners about an Arabic-language version of his website.

The region is a natural target market. The 4 million people who live there are sitting on more than 10 percent of all known oil reserves and witnessing the world's largest construction boom. Local governments are a few years into a brand-name shopping spree that includes everything from Citigroup to Barneys New York to Nasdaq. Yet if the Middle East and its collectors do become an engine of the art market, replacing skittish Americans scared off by the credit crisis, art sellers and artists will need to understand what traditions influence Middle Eastern art and what styles the locals prefer.

So what is the Dubai aesthetic? Most Middle Eastern art avoids animals and humans as subject matter, since such depictions can be perceived as condoning idol worship. Works that reference the area's history are popular. And in part because of the influence of Roman and Byzantine cultures, the region's art tends to be heavily patterned, geometric, and richly colored.

Of course, while galleries are increasingly showing Middle Eastern contemporary art, especially in London, it is still uncommon in Western collections. Most of the artists are unknown outside of the Middle East. "People always ask me, 'Where are you going next?' " says New Yorker Howard Farber, a leading collector of Chinese contemporary art who last fall sold a piece at auction for $4 million. (He had paid $25,000 for it in 1995.) Arab and Iranian art "is a wonderful genre," he says, "but I can't compete with the oil billionaires."

by Alexandra Peers

full article

Designer in a flash!

2008-02-26T16:01:00.005Z

Click to view

What makes you a good designer/artist, surely not your software/tools?

Simply brilliant - illustration by N.C. Winters
via FreelanceSwitch

Sirah Conference & Course (SirahTour 2008)

2008-02-18T17:31:00.003Z

Visual Dhikr is a proud sponsor of the following events:

Sirah Tour '08 - Muhammad, Prophet of Peace, Justice and Mercy

Features:

Talks
Visual Presentations
Panel Discussions
Q&A
Exclusive photographic presentation on "The Chosen One" by Peter Sanders

Speakers:

* Sh. Ramadan Al Buti (Syria)
* Imam Suhaib Webb (USA)
* Imam Yassir Fazaga *London Only
* Sh. Zakariya Siddiqi
* Dr. Hani Al Banna
* SH. Babikir Ahmad
* Fahimul Anam
* Hassan Al Banna
* Bara Al Ghannouchi
* Abdur Rahman Helbawi

Venues:

London
Date: Saturday 8th March 2008
Venue: Kensington Town Hall, Hornton Street,
London, W8 7NX
Doors Open: 12noon
Programme ends: 10pm

Manchester
Date: Sunday 9th March
Venue: Maxwell Hall, University of Salford,
Peel Park Campus M5 4WT
Doors Open: 2pm
Programme ends: 10pm

Tickets:
£10 Students
£15 Employed
(under 5's free)

Hotline: 07092 306 665
Email: Info@sirahtour.com
Book Online at www.sirahtour.com

Art of Spain and Story of India (BBC)

2008-02-01T03:35:00.000Z

I'm a big fan of the BBC iPlayer and here are two very interesting programs, only a few days left to watch them online (UK viewers only).

Art of Spain
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/page/item/b008vsgz.shtml

Story of India
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/page/item/b007xhk3.shtml

Festival to honour Islamic art works

2008-01-24T12:13:00.000Z

Abu Dhabi will host the second edition of Al Mahabba Awards festival, aimed at promoting cultural and artistic renaissance of the Muslim world, from April 17 to 19.

The event is meant to encourage, promote and honour creative and artistic works on the life of the Prophet Muhammad such as songs, movies, television programs, documentary films, books, photography and painting, said the organisers.

Al Mahabba Awards are being organised by a group of young men and women from the Arab and Muslim world under the supervision of a select group of scientists, clerics and artists with the support of several UAE and Saudi Arabian companies.

The event is being held under the patronage of Sheikh Muhammad bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi and deputy supreme commander of the UAE armed forces.

The award festival recently set up its board of trustees, comprising several imminent public figures.

The members includes Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE minister of foreign affairs, who will serve as chairman of the awards, Sheikh Abdullah bin Bayah, Shiekh Al Bouti, Dr Abdal-Hakim Murad, Al Habib Ali Jafri, Dr Mohammed Abdo Yamani, Professor Abla Kahlawi, Noha Azzam, Dr Amal Kubasi, Sheikh Hamdan Al Mazroui, Dr Walid Fitaihi and Yousf Ali.

The judges committee is chaired by Professor Abdal-Hakim Murad (Timothy Winter) professor of Sheikh' Zayed chair at the University of Cambridge in Britain, where he, in his capacity as head of the Committee, will select a group of experts for award categories to select winners in each category.

Abu Dhabi TV will support the festival by broadcasting the activities of the festival and launching a publicity and advertising campaign to generate greater awareness, the organisers said.-TradeArabia News Service.

source

Japan's master of an ancient Muslim art

2008-01-06T03:32:00.000Z

For Kouichi Honda, writing a beautiful line is what life is about. Getting every detail right — the subtle curves, the varying thicknesses and the density of the ink — matters to him as much as life itself.

The 61-year-old professor of international relations at Daito Bunka University in Saitama Prefecture is Japan's leading authority on Arabic calligraphy, a devotional art form that has evolved over the course of 1,400 years and has detailed rules determining every single facet of the practice, whether the script is executed on paper or vellum or is fired into the gorgeous ceramic tiling that can hardly fail to astonish any visitor to a mosque.

Full Article

I have to say, Honda is an exceptional calligrapher, his style is unique and his khatt is very accurate. He does not try to write Arabic in a Shodo style, but rather is influenced by Japanese art and composition.

Crazy Eid Offers!

2007-12-12T23:10:00.001Z

We have officialy lost the plot...yes IslamicDesignHouse.com and Visual Dhikr are offering some amazing offers and deals. Get over to IDH now for your Eid gifts and shopping...

Muslim Technicolor Design

2007-12-11T18:42:00.000Z

Early da’wah material (here meaning: general any publicity that represents Muslims/Islam in some way) in the west consisted of poorly designed leaflets, often consisting of text and the odd single, haphazardly thrown in, generic image of...(take a guess, go on...) a mosque! (if not the crescent, that is). Most religious leaflets or books took on a text heavy approach, mainly due to the lack of a budget, but really it was more to do with a lack of vision.

Lack of vision means, there was no concept or idea of the need for any design or aesthetic improvement to the product or material.

On the other hand, what budget usually means is that there is no money to acquire the services of a designer.

If there was any vision it meant that it could be done at home, with a home printer of course. With MS Publisher, PowerPoint or Word at their disposal the computer-savvy nephew can take on the world of designers and beat them, and only at the tender age of 11. He rolls up his sleeves, copies and pastes images off the internet, blows them up in paint and slaps them into publisher and voila you have a stunning flyer design for the local masjid, in full Technicolor.

This began to change as the newer generations of fashion-conscious, style-driven western Muslims grew up with (M)TV to feast their eyes on, acquiring a taste for the expensive, the designer label and the ergonomi-cool products. They knew that good design meant a good image. It meant to give a good impression, reflect a sense of direction, confidence and be recognised as modern and mainstream. But what this energy and vitality still lacks is budget, yes, the empty money pot that simply never gets a fill (mainly due to the fact that everyone forgets to budget for design) – or the pot does not exist at all in the first place.

So we go back to publisher and the wonderful world of clipart.

Or worse, we encounter the do-it-yourself dude. This is the really scary one, he has acquired Photoshop or Corel Draw from his nephew and now has decided to conquer the world of designers by pulling together a fantastic piece of flyer design, that makes Joseph’s Technicolor dream coat look like an old longhi.

Where are we going?
The Muslim community needs to realise the importance of design and aesthetics in all its publicity. It is crucial that da’wah material looks professional, up to standards people are use to and on-par with mainstream material. We are lagging behind in realising the need for good, clean presentation that communicates to the wider audience that we care about ourselves and our image. It shows we take pride in our work, in our efforts and in our da’wah.

What does it cost?
Nothing really. Yes you may need to employ the talents of qualified (someone who has had extensive experience and with a portfolio of work) designer, but the first step is realising that the need for high quality presentation – and that doesn’t cost anything. So next time you do your budgeting for programmes, seminars, events and tajweed classes, factor in some basic publicity. Even if you give the opportunity to a young design student, then maybe that would be enough to get things moving. There are tons of young Muslim design students waiting to take up any small chance to show off their creativity.

What are the standards?
Muslim da’wah publicity does not need to be tacky and home-printer output; it should be professionally printed with the end-recipient in mind. Every day we see advertising and quality publicity from mainstream products and companies, maybe we should employ their proven approach and take a little more time in our presentation.

Standards are applied and maintained by professionals, be that designers, web developers, video artists etc. They know what required do the job is and keep the publicity on-par with mainstream design styles, guidelines and quality.

I personally believe all publicity or material should be cutting edge, innovative, above ‘western’ standards, if not on-par with it. But ultimately utilising the best of technology, publicity mediums and engaging with all senses.

Designate the work to professionals

Sometimes you have organisations or projects that do have a budget, yet they insist on delegating the design work to non-designers. Far worse is the fact that they may delegate different work to volunteers or workers who have no experience in those respective areas at all. So you end up having a lawyer doing marketing, or a doctor doing public speeches. We need to move away from this mentality and utilise the growing professionals within the Muslim community who are vying for the slightest of chances. I know many professionals who have decided to not work in da’wah simply for being pushed away when they offered their professional services for free.

We have seen improvements made by Muslim owned companies/organisations who are putting (applause) efforts into presentation and I could name quite a few easily. But we need more widespread effort and recognition that our image is represented through these leaflets, posters, websites and videos. A messy cluttered website reflects a poor effort on the part of the owners, who seem to not show much care in their work. Or a badly designed leaflet gives the impression of cheap, untrustworthy and unprofessional.

We need to be seen as a community that takes pride and care in the smallest of details. It is ultimately what Islamic art is famous for. It is a show of love that we have for our effort and beliefs. We need to broaden our vision, recognise the need for professionalism in everything we do and ultimately, this cannot be stressed enough, respect each other’s copyright.

Wa Allahu ’alam

Vikkii Church, Helsinki

2007-12-05T17:59:00.000Z

Located in the Ostrobothnia region, near the campus of Helsinki University on the eastern side of Helsinki, JKMM Architect s won a national competition to design the Vikkii Urban Centre. The focal point of the Centre is a church clad in aspen shingles that have turned gray since construction was completed in 2005. Throughout Europe new church design is not synonymous with modernity, so when the Parish of Helsinki approached the architects at JKMM, they welcomed the opportunity to contribute to a newly developed urban area housing approximately 13,000 residents.

More
(warning: some imagery on CoolHunter may be offensive, so tread carefully)

--
I've seen quite a lot of Church architecture and I still get a feeling of 'coldness' in the space that is emcompassed by the grand design. It is as if the architecture does not retain a warmth within the space. Particularly with the above Vikkii church, I feel I could be in some gymnasium or a conference hall, rather than a holy/spiritual space.

It's proabably me just envisioning myself dropping to my hands and knees and be harshly greeted with cold wooden flooring rather than soft carpet?

On another note, where is mosque design and architecture going in the west?

--

Church library or a library in a Church?

" Whoever said that reading was a religious experience was right, especially when taking a visit to Selexyz Dominicanen in Maastricht, Netherlands. " source

Although it looks very nice, its a shame that many Churches are now out of service and this Church probably didnt have a library of its own - now it is a library (better than a rave club, I have to say!). Do you think the stock the Bible, or what about the Qur'an?

Art world awaits Turner ceremony

2007-12-03T16:30:00.000Z

The winner of the £25,000 Turner Prize will be announced at the Tate Liverpool gallery later.

Actor and director Dennis Hopper will present the award, with the ceremony being held outside of London for the first time in the history of the prize.

The shortlisted artwork includes cut-up traffic cones, an artist in a bear suit and plastic lightbulbs.

Zarina Bhimji, Nathan Coley, Mike Nelson and Mark Wallinger are all in the running.

Full story

Check out the profiles here

Here are some of the works

Iran Holocaust drama is a big hit

2007-12-01T19:46:00.000Z

The scene is wartime Paris. Swastikas adorn the Champs Elysees.

Jackbooted Nazis are rounding up Jews for the concentration camps, while terrified Parisians look on.

It is a familiar plot for a television blockbuster. And this time the formula has been as popular as ever, drawing in massive audiences week after week.

The only difference is that this is a series made for Iranian state TV, and it has been piling up the ratings in the country whose president once questioned the very existence of the Holocaust.

full article

Make home for knowledge

2007-11-30T15:32:00.000Z

I love books and they deserve a cosy home too, dont they? Well here is a selection of bookshelves you will like:

Needs cushions I think...

via

Art by CommonPlacer

2007-11-30T14:33:00.000Z

Here are some artwork I found by accident by CommonPlacer, but thought they were very nice.

Great stuff, her other works have a lot of life in them - very well suited for childrens book illustrations.

I love the use of mixed media and the way she captures an atmosphere or mood in the pictures.

Art Prints Galore

2007-11-26T15:53:00.000Z

Get your mits on these Visual Dhikr A2 Art prints (matt laminated with gloss lamination spot finish on some of the calligraphy - looks cool). Frame them to complement your room, they are running out fast, so hurry!

All artwork by Visual Dhikr, but there are some great ones from Aerosol Arabic too!

Sold only via IslamicDesignHouse.com

Vases with Love

2007-11-24T23:50:00.000Z

We have introduce some new vase designs to brighten up your spriritual space.

Nur (Light)

Shahada

Hub
(You can even customise this one with a name.)

Available now from: www.IslamicDesignHouse.com

Be the first to get your hands on these items at Global Peace and Unity!!!!

Visual Dhikr Eco-Bags are here!

2007-11-23T10:37:00.001Z

Keep it Halal™ is a new concept aimed at keeping our environment green and our planet 'halal'.

Two designs to choose from - bags that are affordable, yet ultra-cool replacements for plastic bags. Keep it Green, Keep it Halal.

Available from: IslamicDesignHouse.com

Visual Dhikr products will be at the IDH Stand at the Global Unity and Peace event. See you there!

Selling to Islam

2007-11-14T14:00:00.001Z

Is the advertising world ready to market big name brands to Muslim Americans?

Click to watch

Guess who's wearing a VD Tee?

2007-10-22T23:03:00.000+01:00

Rooful of emerald, sent in this pic of Isam (Outlandish) backstage at wembley showing off the Dunya tee.

(oh you can buy at IslamicDesignHouse.com)

Eid Mubarak!!

2007-10-13T11:29:00.001+01:00

Eid Greetings to all, don't forget to keep the Ramadan spirit up all year.

Sami Yusuf and Asma' Allah

2007-10-03T16:32:00.001+01:00

Sami is back in the UK, his home, with full orchestra at Wembley this month (first time for UK?). If your ok with music, then this is a feast westerners havent enjoyed until now. He has had some great coverage, but all topped off with a brilliant new song.

A spiritual song...Asma' Allah

Riz Khan interview

BBC: Sami in Darfur
http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/tv/television/latest_stories/index.shtml

Holy rock star: The voice of Islam
http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article3021325.ece

*يا لطيف الطف بنا*

Muhammad Walks - Lupe Fiasco

2007-09-30T12:55:00.000+01:00

This is real good!

Visual Dhikr Tee's are here!

2007-09-18T17:29:00.000+01:00

About time, I hear you say. Yes, they are finaly here, the VD t-shirts, sweatshirts and hoodies, sold via the Islamic Design House.

We hand picked the fabric, designed the cuts, the colours, the stitching and obviously decorated them with our own exclusive artwork - definately ahead of the rest.

Oh - and yes, its not just for the brothers, sisters you can get your mits on some cool tops too.

Go now, they are selling out fast, its Ramadan and get an early Eid bargain!

Ruh, Visual Dhikr

Visual Dhikr™

Saif Gaddafi’s Islamic art museum at a standstill

As patron of the department of archaeology, Saif Gaddafi, the son of the Libyan leader, was supporting the project. He is thought to have wanted a collection to show international guests. It was due to be housed in a summer palace built for the Ottoman Yusuf Pasha in the 18th century.

Hafed Walda, a Libyan who advises the country’s department of archaeology on cultural projects, including the new museum, said work on the project had now stopped.

“It’s important that locals begin to connect their cultural heritage with their national identity, rather than viewing the imperialist influences as incompatible with modern politics,” he said.

The Tripoli War Museum, designed by Camillin Denny Archi­tects, was also scheduled to open this year. Walda said that it remains in “the planning stages”. Tripoli’s National Museum has not reported looting or damage since the outbreak of conflict.

Riah Pryor

Faith In The City: The Mosque in the Contemporary Urban West

Islamic Design House store opens in Jordan, stocks Visual Dhikr t-shirts

Jameel Prize Exhibit: A modern twist on traditional Islamic art

First Look Inside Park51

Bangladeshi Calligrapher Mohammad Abdur Rahim

Global artists compete to beautify Mecca

Long wait over as Cairo Islamic art museum reopens

Islamic Arts Magazine

Iranian Student With $750 Turns Billionaire Made by Islamic Art (Nasser Khalili)

Mus’haf Qatar release today

Ghost Writing

Gaza's writing on the wall

Detroit Institute of Arts opening Islamic gallery

Distressed over domes

Eid Mubarak!

Wishing you all a wonderful Eid ul-Adhafrom Visual Dhikr

كل عام و أنتم بخير، عيد أضحى مبارك

The occidental tourists

London Eye architects to design new Cambridge Mosque

The "American Qur'an" - art or blasphemy?

Cairo's Museum of Islamic Art to reopen

Ramadan Gift Vouchers

Obama commissions Mohamed Zakariya

University of Melbourne Islamic Prayer Facility

Morris and the Muslims

Islamic Turner Prize opens at the Victoria and Albert Museum

An approach to understanding Islamic urban design

Islamic Design House launches in Egypt

CalligraphyQalam.com

Iranian graphic design

After 650 years, the wisdom of the Alhambra is revealed

SirahFest 2009

Arabic Typefaces

V&A launches Islamic art and design prize

Donate Through Art - Poster by Aerosol Arabic

STAND FOR GAZA

Anish Kapoor’s “Islamic Mirror”

By Quinn Latimerfrom here

Sydney artist fuses surf with Islam

Islamic Drama

Middle East art mecca

Developing European / Western Islamic Architecture

Learning Calligraphy in Turkey

Rehan Jamil - Snapshots in and around East London Mosque

Eid Mubarak 2008!

Art of calligraphy in desperate need of revival

Istanbul skyline gets woman's touch

Eid Gifts: Last chance for pre-Eid delivery

Poor Dhikr T-Shirt Imitation

FREE Ramadan Desktop Wallpaper

Arabic Kufi Patterns in Fashion

Art and architecture in the Middle East

Art shows positives

Beyond Orientalism

Louvre draws a veil over artistic neglect with bold new Islamic wing

T-shirts prove popular at IslamExpo

لوحات وتصميمات إيثار وروح العالم فى معرض اسلام اكسبو

GMT 14:00:00 2008 الإثنين 14 يوليو

GMT 14:00:00 2008 الإثنين 14 يوليو

Art at Islam Expo 2008 and more...

IslamicDesignHouse Advert

Buy One, Send another to a friend FREE!

Join Visual Dhikr on Facebook

Islamic Design House.com NEW WEBSITE

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?

Sajjadah 1426 - Illuminating Prayer Rug

IslamExpo 2008, 11-14 July

Opponents Criticize Memorial for Using Islamic Symbols

Islamic Geometric Patterns (New Book)

Cute Culture - Islamic Baby Clothing

Silk Roads

'Like two perfectly matching calligraphy lines...'

Islamic Design House in Gulf Air Mag

The Tripoli War Museum, designed by Camillin Denny Architects, was also scheduled to open this year. Walda said that it remains in “the planning stages”. Tripoli’s National Museum has not reported looting or damage since the outbreak of conflict.

Wishing you all a wonderful Eid ul-Adha
from Visual Dhikr

By Quinn Latimer
from here