Liminal Spaces Of Art Between Europe And The Middle East

This volume brings together essays from different fields of the humanities and social sciences that offer a fresh look at the complexity of artistic and cultural contacts, transfers, and exchanges between Europe and the Middle East. The studies reach far beyond the geographical regions where Europe and the Middle East have met and interacted throughout their long histories, such as the eastern Mediterranean, the south Caucasus, and the Balkans. Their focus is on the variety of “contact zones” of the two worlds with specific artistic creativity, characterized by dynamic processes of movement and interchange between various cultural entities in the broadest and most complex sense of the word. The studies shed new light on diverse phenomena of the “in-between” or “liminal” spaces in art and culture, with special interest in artists and art works from ancient to modern times, from fine arts and architecture to music and video.

Significant Others explores the transformative possibilities of alterity or otherness and offers concrete case studies that provide a greater understanding and nuance with regard to aspects of deviance and difference in premodern court cultures. Both public and nominally private spaces were subject to the important influence of significant others, such as women, ethno-religious minorities, and marginalized and/or difficult-to-categorize men. From their positions within and ties to court cultures, these diverse outsiders - ‘others’ - played crucial roles in maintaining a fluidity essential for the successful sustaining of territorial monarchies and polities, challenging our understanding of the more narrowly defined elite behaviours that shaped premodern dynasties, rulers, societies, and cultures of the past. By exploring a variety of case studies from history and literature, such as Moroccan Jews as dhimmis (‘protected persons’), to bastards, mistresses, and sodomites in ancien régime France, to the transformative role of magic in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, this volume makes use of empirical and contextually informed research to respond to theoretical questions posed by recent historiography. With a cross-disciplinary approach, this collection of essays will be a valuable resource for all students and scholars interested in the diverse aspects and contexts of premodern ‘others’.

This volume aims to broaden and nuance knowledge about the history, art, culture, and heritage of Eastern Europe relative to Byzantium. From the thirteenth century to the decades after the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the regions of the Danube River stood at the intersection of different traditions, and the river itself has served as a marker of connection and division, as well as a site of cultural contact and negotiation. The Routledge Handbook of Byzantine Visual Culture in the Danube Regions, 1300–1600 brings to light the interconnectedness of this broad geographical area too often either studied in parts or neglected altogether, emphasizing its shared history and heritage of the regions of modern Greece, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, and Czechia. The aim is to challenge established perceptions of what constitutes ideological and historical facets of the past, as well as Byzantine and post-Byzantine cultural and artistic production in a region of the world that has yet to establish a firm footing on the map of art history. The 24 chapters offer a fresh and original approach to the history, literature, and art history of the Danube regions, thus being accessible to students thematically, chronologically, or by case study; each part can be read independently or explored as part of a whole.

How is home-grown contemporary art viewed within the Middle East? And is it understood differently outside the region? What is liable to be lost when contemporary art from the Middle East is 'transferred' to international contexts - and how can it be reclaimed? This timely book tackles ongoing questions about how 'local' perspectives on contemporary art from the Middle East are defined and how these perspectives intersect with global art discourses. Inside, leading figures from the Middle Eastern art world, western art historians, art theorists and museum curators discuss the historical and cultural circumstances which have shaped contemporary art from the Middle East, reflecting on recent exhibitions and curatorial projects and revealing how artists have struggled with the label of 'Middle Eastern Artist'. Chapters reflect on the fundamental methodologies of art history and cultural studies - considering how relevant they are when studying contemporary art from the Middle East - and investigate the ways in which contemporary, so-called 'global', theories impact on the making of art in the region. Drawing on their unique expertise, the book's contributors offer completely new perspectives on the most recent cultural, intellectual and socio-political developments of contemporary art from the Middle East.

This book examines the role of artists in Egypt during the 2011 revolution, when street art from graffiti to political murals became ubiquitous facets of revolutionary spaces. Through interviews, personal testimonies, and accounts of the lived experience of 25 street artists, the book explores the meaning of art in revolutionary political contexts, specifically by focusing on artistic production during 'liminal' moments as the events of the Egyptian revolution unfolded. The author privileges the perspective of the actors themselves to examine the ways that artists reacted to events and conceived of their art as means to further the goals of the revolution. Based on fieldwork conducted in the years since 2011, the book provides a narrative of Egyptian artists' participation in and representations of the revolution, from hopeful beginnings to the subsequent crackdown and election of al-Sisi.

This book investigates the development and function of the Institute of Traditional Islamic Art and Architecture (ITIAA) in Amman, Jordan. A vertical case study using grounded theory methodology, the research creates a rich and holistic understanding of the Institute. Specific areas of study include the factors involved in the founding of the Institute within the context of Arab and Jordanian higher education, the role of traditional Islamic philosophy in the function of the Institute, and the role of the anthropological concept of liminal space in the clarification of students’ values during the academic program. Data for the research came from thirty hours of interviews completed with over thirty individuals, a twenty item survey completed by sixty-five students, classroom observations, and analysis of an array of documents from the League of Arab States, the Jordanian Ministry of Higher Education and Research, the Jordanian Accreditation Association, the World Islamic Science and Education University, and the Institute for Traditional Islamic Art and Architecture. In regard to the role of traditional Islamic philosophy, the study delineates how the combination of theological/philosophical commitments of founders, faculty, and students combined to create a deep and pervasive role of traditional Islamic philosophy, evidenced in classrooms, interviews, and documents. Students, faculty and staff reflected a vital commitment to Islamic understandings of education, art, and beauty. The book concludes by noting the vital importance of such institutions as ITIAA in providing the space and means for Arab-Muslims to understand their own culture, assess others, and form new versions of Arab-Muslim culture that are viable and productive in the current age. It is noted that transnational organizations, such as the League of Arab States, could help facilitate educational diversity by fostering the development of a second level of small, traditionally focused institutions. Such institutions can reinforce traditional values, provide liminal experiences, and facilitate creation of artifacts of liminal activity, reflecting students’ ability to combine modern and traditional value systems.

Born in Mallorca, Pere Joan Riera (known professionally as Pere Joan) thrived in the underground comics world, beginning in the mid-1970s with the self-published collections Baladas Urbanas and MuŽrdago, both of which were released almost immediately after the death of the dictator Francisco Franco and Spain's transition to democracy. The first monograph in English on a comics artist from the Spain, The Art of Pere Joan takes a topographical approach to reading comics, applying theories of cultural and urban geography to Pere Joan’s treament of space and landscape in his singular body of work. Balancing this goal with an exploration of specific works by Pere Joan, Benjamin Fraser demonstrates that looking at the thematic, structural, and aesthetic originality of the artist's landscape-driven work can help us begin to newly understand the representational properties of comics as a spatial medium. This in-depth examination reveals the resonance between the cultural landscapes of Mallorca and Pere Joan's metaphorical approach to both rural and urban environments in comics that weave emotional, ecological, and artistic strands in revolutionary ways.

"Contemporary Art, World Cinema, and Visual Culture: Essays by Hamid Dabashi" is a collection of writings by the acclaimed cultural critic and scholar. A thorough Introduction rigorously frames chapters and identifies in Dabashi’s writings a comprehensive approach, which forms the criteria for selecting the essays for the volume. The Introduction also teases out of these essays the overarching theme that holds them together, the manner they inform a particularly critical angle in them and the way they cohere. The Introduction dwells on the work of one scholar, public intellectual and theorist of modern and contemporary arts to extrapolate more universal issues of concern to art criticism in general. These scattered materials and their underlying theoretical and critical logic are a unique contribution to the field of modern and contemporary arts.