God Is Beautiful; He Loves Beauty: The Object in Islamic Art and Culture

The Symposium, titled God Is Beautiful; He Loves Beauty: The Object in Islamic Art and Culture will be held at the new Museum of Islamic Art (designed by I.M. Pei) October 29-31, 2011 in Doha, Qatar. The keynote speaker will be Paul Goldberger, the Pulitzer-Prize winning architecture critic and writer for the New Yorker, who will discuss the Museum building as a work of Islamic art on Saturday, October 29, 2011.

On Sunday, October 30 and Monday, October 31, 2011, twelve speakers will present original papers on objects in the Museum’s collection. The speakers include:

* Aisha Al Khater, Deputy Director of the Museum of Islamic Art, Doha;
* FranÃ§ois Deroche, Directeur d’Ã©tudes, Ã‰cole pratique des hautes Ã©tudes, Section des sciences historiques et philologiques, Paris;
* Kjeld von Folsach, Director of the David Collection in Copenhagen;
* Michael Franses, independent scholar;
* AimÃ©e Froom, independent scholar;
* Julia Gonnella, Curator at the Museum of Islamic Art in Berlin;
* Emilie Savage-Smith, Senior Research Consultant at the Bodleian Library, Oxford;
* John Seyller, Professor of Art History at the University of Vermont;
* Eleanor Sims, Editor of Islamic Art;
* Antonio Vallejo Triano, Curator of Cultural Heritage, Junta de AndalucÃa and Director of the archaeological site of Madinat al-Zahra;
* Rachel Ward, independent scholar;
* Mohamed Zakariya, renowned calligrapher.

On-line registration for the Symposium is now available at http://www.islamicartdoha.org
- please note that the Symposium is free and open to the public, but that space is limited so early registration is suggested. The website contains information on travel, visas and lodging as well (all attendees are responsible for booking their own travel).

In addition, please be aware that they will again be offering Hamad bin Khalifa Travel Fellowships to provide financial support to 15 junior and senior scholars who wish to attend God is Beautiful; He Loves Beauty. Fellowships will cover the cost of round-trip travel to Doha as well as lodging and meals during the Symposium. Fellows will also be invited to attend special events such as receptions and excursions, will be awarded a Hamad bin Khalifa Fellowship certificate, and will receive copies of the proceedings of the Third Biennial Symposium, And Diverse Are Their Hues: Color in Islamic Art and Culture, held in 2009, and the Fourth Biennial Symposium, held in Doha. Applications are available on our website, http://www.islamicartdoha.org; please note that the application deadline is February 1, 2011, and that fellowship recipients will be contacted by May 1, 2011.

As always, please feel free to direct any questions or comments to Marisa Angell Brown at the below email address:

Marisa Angell Brown
Coordinator
Hamad bin Khalifa Symposium on Islamic Art
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Source: http://bit.ly/cYG8WA