The Art of Orientation: An Exploration of the Mosque Through Objects

Description

The Art of Orientation explores the mosque through 125 artefacts from across the Islamic world. It employs an original and contemporary approach by incorporating essays by leading Arab and international authors, which provide a fresh interpretation of the cultural history behind the shown objects by interweaving concepts, histories and ideas. The Publication is a tribute to the mosque and an exploration of its origins, meanings and functions through a careful selection of artifacts, including intricate and striking pulpits, prayer rugs, lamps and manuscripts. The book examines the progression from the humble mud-brick structure of the prophet's first Mosque in Medina to the imposing stone mosques of Cairo and Istanbul. It includes contributions from a range of highly acclaimed international scholars. Personalized and insightful they present these masterpieces of Islamic Art in an entertaining and accessible way.

Idries Trevathan and Mona AlJalhami are curators of Islamic art at the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) in Dhahran Saudi Arabia. They are responsible for bringing together the exhibition Shatr Almasjid: The Art of Orientation, which this book accompanies. Murdo MacLeod is an editorial photographer based in Scotland. Mona Mansour is an Arab-American playwright based in New York

"The Art of Orientation has the lavish quality. . . . The book should fill a real gap in contextual information, explaining the accoutrements of mosques and also their wide range of functions, as schools, hospitals, treasuries." -- Jane Jakeman * The Art Newspaper * "As the subtitle, An Exploration of the Mosque through Objects, suggests, the volume proposes to re-examine the mosque through a close reading of the artistic and social histories of the objects that inhabited its spaces, examining the history and development of the mosque through these artifacts rather than through its architecture. To this end, the editors have compiled a series of essays by scholars, architects, and artists that contextualize a selection of the exhibited artifacts." * 21 Inquiries *