Saturday, June 6, 2009

10:45–12:30

Session I: World of The Artist – Landscapes of Creativity and Art in Question

This session examines the individual and collective life experiences of artists, whether writers, musicians, dancers, or visual artists. It asks: How do artists fit into Muslim world societies, both in the past and today? What socio–economic position do they occupy, and what moral space do they inhabit? It also looks at how “art” has been defined in different places and times, questioning the meaning of distinctions such as “art” versus “craft”, and considering how performance intended as religious ritual differs from that aimed at a public audience.

10:45–10:50 Moderator:
Samina Quraeshi, Gardner Fellow and Visiting Artist, Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, U.S.A. / Pakistan

10:50–11:00 How do Muslim artists fit into cosmopolitan cultural environments?
This question considers the complex, multi–layered cultural contexts in which many people — including Muslim artists — live today. How do they negotiate the cultures in which they live, and with which they interact in their professional and private lives?
Speaker: Huzir Sulaiman, dramatist, Malaysia

11:00–11:10 What are the implications of how artists are defined in the Muslim world?
In many parts of the world, artists have historically been somewhat marginal figures. How are artists defined in various parts of today’s Muslim world, and how are those definitions impacted by access to professional training, degrees of religiosity, and exposure to outside notions of arts and artisanal crafts?
Speaker: TBD

11:10–11:20 Case study: an artist’s experience
What led this artist to take up his particular art form? What training or education did he have? How does he define himself as an “artist”, and what does the term mean to his family and friends? With what cultural and artistic traditions does he affiliates, and how does this impact his art?
Speaker: Mourad Sakli, musicologist, composer, Director, Centre des Musiques Arabes et Méditerranéennes, Tunisia

11:20–11:30 Discussant: Anthony Shay,
Assistant Professor of Dance and Cultural Studies, Pomona College, U.S.A

11:30–12:30 Floor discussion

12:30–14:00 Lunch for participants with keynote remarks by Karen Brooks Hopkins, President, Brooklyn Academy of Music