VCUQ will host a lecture by Nasser Rabbat on Wednesday, January 31 at 7:30 pm in the Atrium. The lecture is entitled 'Islamic Architecture and the Veil of Orientalism',
Nasser Rabbat is the Aga Khan Professor of Islamic Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His scholarly interests comprise the history and historiography of Islamic art and architecture, urban history and post-colonial criticism.
Besides publishing articles in specialized scholarly journals and edited collections, Professor Rabbat regularly contributes to a number of Arabic newspapers and journals on art, architectural, and critical and cultural issues. He serves on the boards of various organizations concerned with Islamic culture, he lectures extensively in the US and abroad, and maintains several websites focused on Islamic Architecture.
During the lecture Professor Rabbat will explain how Islamic Architecture went through a series of ontological phases in the last two centuries. Colonial rule of the nineteenth century brought European-trained architects and scholars who developed eclectic styles that borrowed freely from the diverse architectural repertoires of the past and/ then blended them with various European forms. Independence in the middle of the twentieth century gave rise to the more outspoken categories of modernity and nationalism as framers of architecture in the recently constituted states. The new framework engendered some important modernist projects but also occasioned the revival of vernacular architecture. The last three decades witnessed the resurgence of the discourse on Islam as cultural identity. Many architects responded by engaging in the design of various historicist styles, all dubbed "Islamic," which range from romantic mélanges to grand postmodern projects.
"Professor Rabbat is one of the most distinguished scholars of Islamic architecture internationally and we are very happy that we have been able to invite him to Doha. His lecture on the notion of Orientalism in architecture of the Middle East is particularly relevant at this point in time in Doha, given the city's rapid expansion and building program." said Dr. J. Sokoly VCUQ Gallery Director and Assistant Professor in Art History.
The second season of Islamic Art History lectures comprises the latest scholarly research relating to the beginning of Islamic civilization until the present.
All lectures are open to the public and will be held at VCUQ, located in Education City. Lectures will take place throughout the 2006-2007 academic year.
