Islamic Art Conference to Shed Light on Emerging Trends

DHAHRAN, SAUDI ARABIA, July 31, 2024 – The King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra), in partnership with the Abdul Latif Alfozan Award for Mosque Architecture, will host the second edition of its Islamic Art Conference on November 25-30 as a cultural celebration and a global showcase of the heritage, living traditions and emerging trends of Islamic arts and crafts from across the Arab world.

The week-long conference, entitled ‘In Praise of the Artisan: A Reassessment of Contemporary Islamic Arts & Crafts Practice’, will explore the current health and status of Islamic arts and crafts with a rich program that includes lectures, panel discussions, workshops, special exhibitions, film screenings as well as demonstrations by Islamic craftspeople.

 In conjunction with the opening of the conference, Ithra will inaugurate ‘In Praise of the Artisan’, an exhibition which examines the rich history and diverse influences of Islamic arts and crafts across the globe. The exhibition, being held in partnership with the al-Sabah Collection, Dar al-Athar Al Islamiyyah in Kuwait, will present historical and contemporary works to highlight the ethos and evolving history embedded in Islamic artistic traditions. It will include the largest hand-carved stone screen made since the Taj Mahal in the 17th century, along with eight specially commissioned works, including a number of large installations, rare collectibles and contemporary works by master craftspeople from across the Arab world including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Morocco, India, Spain, Egypt, Turkey, Uzbekistan and Malaysia.

“The Islamic Art Conference is a global platform for shining the light on Islamic arts and crafts, in line with Ithra’s mission to celebrate cultural heritage, enable talent development and support creative expression, all powered by partnerships with renowned institutions,” said Abdullah Al-Rashed, Director of Ithra. “The synergies of conducting both events in parallel will provide a uniquely interactive and immersive experience designed to educate visitors about Islamic handicrafts and artisans from the Middle East and beyond.”

“This conference and exhibition support our ongoing efforts to unearth new ideas from around the world for designing mosques and encouraging innovative planning, design and technical ideas that can form a new identity for Islamic art,” said Secretary-General of the Abdul Latif Alfozan Award for Mosque Architecture, Dr. Mashary Al Naim. “Islamic art no longer discusses works of art and architecture as tangible creations, but rather looks at them in the context of work, crafts, and daily practices.”

The event will explore new initiatives and institutions that have been established to preserve traditional craft skills through training and employment, including efforts to help artisans find new markets or adapt their work to global challenges. It will also delve into the role of relationships and care in craft production, traditional materials and methods, as well as the use of crafts to stimulate social change in developing Islamic countries.

‘In Praise of the Artisan’ will remain on display at Ithra following the completion of the conference.

Ithra:

The King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) is a world-class destination and the beating heart of Saudi Arabia’s culture & creative industry contributing to its prosperity by enabling talent, supporting content production and encouraging cross-cultural exchange that promotes social harmony and human development. Ithra is Saudi Aramco’s most ambitious CSR initiative and the largest cultural contribution to the Kingdom.  Through a compelling series of programs, workshops, performances, events, exhibitions and other various initiatives, Ithra creates world-class experiences that bring together culture, innovation and knowledge designed to appeal to everyone. Ithra’s components include the Idea Lab, Library, Theatre, Museum, Cinema, Great Hall, Energy Exhibit, Children’s Museum and Ithra Tower. For more information, please visit: www.ithra.com. Follow Ithra on social media: Facebook (King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture), X (@Ithra) and Instagram (@Ithra) #Ithra

Abdullatif Alfozan Award for Mosque Architecture:

Abdullatif Alfozan Award for Mosque Architecture was established in 2011, it’s targeting the architectural, urban, and technical aspects of mosques all over the world, and it will be awarded to the related designer/architect. The main objective of this award is the development of contemporary design of mosques, throughout a specialized and classified database. Moreover, it encourages the architects to create new mosque’s designs, in which represent mosques in the twenty first century. Generally, the award ensures the importance of the twenty first century mosque architecture that perceived and re-produced the soul of the traditional mosque ideas, and conceived by the contemporary mosque concepts as a fundamental message. Therefore, this new message expresses the presence of the contemporary mosque with its architectural and social connection and confirms the importance of the technological and the architectural forms that the mosque should reflect.

The award is triennial; the winning mosques will be awarded based on assessment of an international architectural jurors experienced with mosque architecture, who will relatively evaluate and assign the winning mosques.

Furthermore, the award has been recently developed into a professional architectural institution aims to develop mosque architecture and art worldwide. The award owns the “international conference on mosque architecture (ICMA)”, the “international conference on Islamic arts” in partnership with Ithra, “the international competition on mosques accessories” and manages the online databases specialized for mosque architecture (Mosqpedia).

Finally, the Award was named rewarding its founder Shiekh Abdullatif bin Ahmad Alfozan and his efforts and history in supporting charities. Nevertheless, it is been managed by an executive committee and a general secretary, where the executive committee nominate jurors of each cycle, and accordingly follow up the assessment process and till assigning the awarded mosques.