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02/14/2008: "Word into Art comes to Dubai"
I first saw the Word into Art exhibition at the British Museum in London in 2006. Although the scope of the exhibition now transported to Dubai is smaller, it was great to see it again. The opening day was accompanied by panels, discussion forums and educational events specifically tailored to the local context so there was a lot more to it than just the exhibition.
Word into Art focuses on how script has been used in Middle Eastern art from the calligraphic traditions of Quranic and poetic verse, through to more innovative and modern manifestations. In the process it demonstrates how script is used to convey a diversity of symbolic, political or purely aesthetic meanings.
The exhibition was in four sections the first of which was ‘Sacred Script’. Given that the Arabic script used today is the same as that in which the Quran was originally revealed there is an inherent religious association with the script. In turn the Quranic text itself then prompted a major development of the written language into a structured system. Perhaps because of this there is a common assumption that all Arabic calligraphy constitutes verses from the Quran. However, this completely overlooks the rich poetic tradition in the Arabic speaking world and much of the calligraphic representation in this show was from classical poetry.
Interestingly there are a number of different calligraphic styles that developed at different periods of Arabic history. One of them the Nasta’liq was designed by a 15th Century calligrapher, inspired by the sight of geese flying across the sky. The most common is thuluth in which part of each letter slopes, making it more cursive than the block or kufic text, which preceded it. The letter Kun (Be) by Nassar Mansour on the left is very stylised kufic while Ghani Alani’s verses from the pre-Islamic poet Zuhayr ibn Abi Sulma on the right are thuluth. The last line of this poem reads: ‘Half of man is his tongue, and the other half is his heart: the rest is only an image composed of blood and flesh’.
There are a number of other styles too and this is quite a contrast to the modern problem of very limited Arabic fonts - most newspapers, websites and software use just one. This problem was the subject of a presentation by the founder of the Khatt Foundation, which initiated a collaborative design project in Holland resulting in the creation of 5 new Arabic fonts (see http://www.khtt.net/)
Section 2 explored the theme of ‘Literature and Art’ and included Farhad Moshiri’s paintings of pots, which are among the most striking images to have come out of Iran in recent years. Inscribing poetry on urns or pots goes back to the medieval Islamic period when a trend developed for uniting material and literary culture. The poem here is by Omar Khayyam and is called Drunken Lover. Intoxication is a common theme in classical poetry but is ambiguous as it also refers to the emotional or spiritual ecstasy of love and faith rather than straight substance abuse. I think Khayyam probably played with this ambiguity more than most, however!
The third section ‘Deconstructing the Word’ featured images made from words or based on letters. This included poetry in three different languages painted onto strips of silk and delicate script painted on bricks! However, I was struck by one particular piece in this section by Lassaad Metoui because of its similarity to Chinese and Japanese calligraphy. The medium was black ink on paper and the choice of word was the Arabic for ‘path’, also a key philosophical concept in the far east and frequently the subject of calligraphic works. The thick black strokes evoke a steep and windy road and actually made me think of the obverse depiction by Japanese poet Santouka: ‘a straight road ahead of me, how lonely it makes me feel’.
The fourth and final section was ‘History, Politics and Identity’ and used a huge variety of mediums and images. One of these was the dafatir meaning ‘notebook’ in Arabic. The dafatir is an experimental medium of artist books that have emerged from Iraqi artists over the past few years. Hana Malallah’s book is based on the ancient poem ‘The conference of the birds’ by Farid al-Din Attar. This is a mystic tale of enlightenment but in this modern manifestation the book is ripped and the text illegible. Others contain scraps of newspaper, clothing and assorted debris from the street. Some have been partially burned and are displayed open with scorched covers and pages containing only some of the original artist content. What they represent is the profound loss of Iraqi heritage and culture as museums and libraries have been destroyed over the course of the war. In most cases the artists are no longer able to live in Iraq and in the Iraq panel discussion the speaker said there was now a communication gap opening between the exiles having to adapt to new lives, and those artists who remain. Carleton College in Minnesota actually held an exhibition devoted entirely to these kinds of works by Iraqi artists in 2006 (see http://apps.carleton.edu/campus/gallery/dafatir/about/).
Other interesting pieces in this section included the homage to Egypt’s most famous and revered singer Umm Kalthoum by Chant Avedissian and prints from Shada Ghadrian interpreting our modern and perhaps merging identities in Ctrl-Alt-Del.
For many more images and info from this show see the BZU Virtual Gallery site: http://virtualgallery.birzeit.edu/tour/exhibition?id=128633
Replies: 10 Comments
on Tuesday, February 26th, shafiee said
Audio Visual & Cinematic Department of Culture in the East Azerbaijan provience in cooperation with the E-A Society for Artistic Photography is going to plan the “First International Artistic Photography Contest on Islamic Unity”.The organizers belive that there are many symbolic – abstractor real subjects around the world of Islam & Muslems that can be artisticly photographed - exhibited and saved to show the next generatins as well as gathering all muslems in one community.
The Contest will be held with the regulations as below:
1. All photographers form all over the world can participate.
2. Both B&W and Colour photos are accepted (up to 10 photos)
3. A copy of photos(1000 pixel) must be sent for judging and the accepted works will be asked to be sent or printed
in large size in full resolution after the first selections by the jury. (negatives and slide films can be scanned or printed in small size 13*18 cm to send)
4. Selected photos will not be returned. and will be exhibited in galleries. and will not be returned.
5. All selected photos will be published in a book and will be sent to the winners and those whose works are selected.
6. There will be 10 prize winners who wil be invited to attend the exhibition and the Winners Award Ceremony.
6. All rights of accepted photos belong to the photographers and organizers will only use photos to publish a catalogue and hold exhibitions.
8. All other unpredicted terms will be decided by the organizer.
9. Workshops will be held by the organizers during the contest.
10. Attach your name, address and the title of the work on the rear of each work.
Prizes:
Winners will receive An honorary diploma and prizes in cash as below:
1 st Prize (1000 euros in cash(
2 nd Prize (800 euros in cash)
¯3 rd Prize (500 euros in cash(
And From 4th to 10th selected by the jury (300 euros for each(
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Closing date for arrivals of entries: 3/April/2008
Judging and announcement to the winners / selected works: 4/ May/2008
Exhibition: winners award ceremony 23/May/2008
www.akseensejam.ir
All entries must be sent to:
info@akseensejam.ir
on Friday, February 22nd, marjan said
My apologies to Cecil.
I got all het up, (absolutely nothing to do with what you said), but because of a reminder of my own inadequacies. You see , I only started to understand Faust 3 years ago, in that passage about words.
Sorry. And sorry to others to waste your time on this blog.
It is fascinating, how in most 'ancient civilisations' forms of calligraphy and text in general play such an important part of 'art'.
on Friday, February 22nd, marjan said
To Cecil
If you had read or seen Goethe's Faust properly, IF AT ALL! , you would have known the importance of words.
on Friday, February 22nd, Cecil Herring said
My head is swimming. I only just finished telling Sir Emerem of Nigeria to forget about words when now I read Admin's blog about WORDS as art in middle eastern languages and how "half of man is his tongue and the other half is his heart." Whatever I say seems to be wrong or is there a bright line about anything? What an ambiguous world we live in now that we are being exposed to each other's cultures quickly via the internet, TV and airplanes. Like Goethe's Faust I only want to know more and stop the world while I learn about it. I am amazed at today we are all on the SAME PAGE at Absolutearts.com/
on Thursday, February 21st, marjan said
Walty and Josey
As usual, don't forget that I'm 'deeply superficial', which is why I can immediately see a really good well-researched article!
I probably know less about the Persian culture than you do, but I did learn to read Classical Persian poetry as a teenager to give me an insight. ( I can read Khayyam -the Fitzgerrald version still being the definitive translation- but not a newspaper - I really haven't the foggiest).
If you are interested, there is a programme on BBC Radio 4, called "In our Time" (in the 'Listen again' section, under current series) , there is a really good programme about Avicenna.
on Friday, February 15th, jose said
One of the things that has been grabbing my attention in the past years has been investigating and attempting to unravel new links in the triangle Text/Textile/Texture for a possible future body of work. I still know very little and when I come across such beautiful things as the ones you mention here, Valerie, quite frankly I get disheartened because how can you supersede them, indeed, aspire even to compete. I find myself increasingly removed from what we call contemporary western civilization and try to move back in time, closer to what I hope may be a common root all our gadgets and comforts have covered from view. Thanks for blowing away some of the ‘dust’.
on Friday, February 15th, valerie said
thanks for your nice words! I think international itineracy is a much underrated career although mine has been more by accident (and luck) than design. I try to find out as much as I can about the culture and history of wherever I find myself but this often the only way to maintain sanity amid the politcs!! Also my fist love was poetry whereever it came from so I think this is one reason why I love this particular exhibition so much :)!
on Friday, February 15th, walt said
Marjan, I have read a little and have a few Persian friends including a painter colleague here on campus but while I probably know more than most folks on the street about a few of these things I really know nothing at all. As the cliche says 'enough to be dangerous.' Valerie's information is really quite revealing. I want to learn more.
on Thursday, February 14th, marjan said
Walty, being of Persian origin, of course I knew all about it...Pah!
I must say though that this article is very accurate, which is is very refreshing.
on Thursday, February 14th, walt said
Valerie, this is perhaps the most crisp and delicious of all your blogs from Dubai or elsewhere. You've chosen just the right examples to explain the possibilities of such a show and how interesting it could be. I love the quote from Zuhayr ibn Abi Sulma...a sentiment I seem to be living these days.
‘Half of man is his tongue, and the other half is his heart: the rest is only an image composed of blood and flesh’.
How is it you find yourself in so many places again? Can I ask? Or would you have to kill me if you told me?
