Program

ISLAMIC ART HISTORY AND THE GLOBAL TURN: THEORY, METHOD, PRACTICE
November 11-13, 2023
VCUarts Qatar, Doha, Qatar

All Symposium events take place in the ground-floor Atrium.  Registration tables will be located at the main entrance to VCUarts Qatar.
This event is free and open to the public, but registration is required.  Information about the speakers and their presentations is available here.
Symposium live-stream link: https://vcu.zoom.us/j/89134523435

Saturday, November 11

5:00pm:

Symposium Registration

5:30pm:

Symposium Opening 

5:50pm:

Keynote Address

Finbarr Barry Flood, Director of Silsila: Center for Material Histories, 
William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of the Humanities, Institute of Fine Arts &
Department of Art History, New York University
Discussants: Hala Auji and Radha Dalal
Shifting Scales: Islamic Art History as Global Microhistory

The keynote address will be followed by an opening reception at VCUarts Qatar.

Sunday, November 12

9:15am:

Symposium Registration and Coffee

10:00am:

Opening Remarks

10:15am:

Talinn Grigor, Pedagogical Realignment and Hyphenated Historians of 
Qajar Architecture: Vrdanis Eiwziwkʻchean and Kavasji Kiash in Dialogue
Introduction: Saif Al-Ansari, Art History Major, VCUarts Qatar
Discussant: Hala Auji

11:20am:

Ellen Kenney, “From the Field”: Islamic Art History, Pedagogical Context,and Global Turns
Introduction: Aisha Al-Hardan, Art History Major, VCUarts Qatar
Discussant: Jochen Sokoly

12:20pm:

Lunch

1:30pm:

Roundtable: Theory
Kirsten Scheid, Can Islamic Art and Our Practices Be Coeval?
Aparna Kumar, Karkhana as Method: Decentering Pedagogy of South Asian Art
Aditi Chandra, Re/animating the Subjects of Islamic Art History
Introduction: Ashley Botkin, Art History Graduate Student, VCUarts Richmond
Discussant: Maggie Unverzagt Goddard

3:00pm:

Coffee Break

3:15pm:

Roundtable: Method
Negar Habibi, Lack of Scientific Interest or How to Make it Visible: Teaching Islamic Art at the University of Geneva
Nebahat Avcıoğlu, Connecting Points
Jenny Norton-Wright, Islamic Art Online
Introduction: Mary Catherine Langston, Art History Graduate Student, VCUarts Richmond
Discussant: Monica Merlin

Monday, November 13

10:00am:

Opening Remarks

10:15am:

Sam Bowker, Creating Connection: Islamic Art in Regional Australia
Introduction: Nour Tarroun, Art History Major, VCUarts Qatar.
Discussant: Radha Dalal

11:20am:

Karen Exell, The Possibility of an Equitable Art Museum in the 21st-century Gulf
Introduction: Dana Al-Kubaisi, Art History Major, VCUarts Qatar.
Discussant: Neelima Jeychandran

12:20pm:

Lunch

1:30pm:

Roundtable: Practice
Marika Sardar, Themes, Geographies and Chronologies: Rethinking Displays of Islamic Art in North America.
Anissa Rahadiningtyas, The Neglected Dimension – Making an Exhibition of Modern and Contemporary Islamic Art from Southeast Asia
Mirjam Shatanawi, Decolonizing Islamic Art Collections
Sadia Shirazi, Slo Curating & A Case Study: Rasheed Araeen: Zero to Infinity
Introduction: Lauryn Gilliam, Art History Graduate Student, VCUarts Richmond
Discussant: Tobias Wofford

3:00pm:

Reception

4:15 – 5:45pm:

Roundtable: Curating in a Global Context: Works in Progress
Noora Abdulmajeed, The Case of Modern and Contemporary Art from the Arab World and its Cultural Connections
Ranjit Hoskote, Hidden in Plain Sight
Vasif Kortun, Hearsay Stories
Discussant: Holiday Powers

This part of the Symposium program will be held at Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art. Shuttle buses will be available to take attendees to Mathaf and to bring attendees back to VCUarts Qatar at its conclusion. 

The Symposium will be live-streamed and recorded in its entirety for those who cannot travel to Doha to attend the event. Recordings will be available on the Symposium website in early 2024.