In accordance with Unesco’s decision to designate November 18 as the International Islamic Art Festival, the Lahore Arts Council and the Pakistan Arts Council, Karachi, will host a four-day International Islamic Art Festival.
The event will take place in the Alhamra Art Center from November 17 to 20, according to Mina Haroon, the festival organizer, who spoke with Dawn.
The festival, which will be launched by Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi, will include intellectuals, academics, and artists from Pakistan, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia, according to Ms. Haroon, who is also LAC’s assistant director.
The organizer said that lectures, exhibits, workshops, Qawwali performances, book stalls, and other events would be held to commemorate the 1,400-year history of Islamic sciences and culture.
The event will also include calligraphers from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Turkey, who are well-known across the world.
The festival will have a sizable exhibition of Islamic art, according to Ms. Haroon, which will feature rare Quran manuscripts, illuminated pages from the Quran, works by ancient masters, as well as contemporary masters and well-known artists. Additionally, there would be pottery, metal, coinage, and ceramics on display.
Local and foreign artists will also lead a calligraphy class, while calligrapher Irfan Qureshi will organize the show.
Two talks will be held during the event. Dr. Rahat Naveed Masood will lead the inaugural session, “Historical Perspective, Aesthetic and Philosophy,” which will be placed on November 18. The Women’s University of Rawalpindi’s Prof. Dr. Memoona Khan, the Hast-0-Newest Institute of Traditional Arts and Studies’ Taimur Khan Mumtaz, the University of Punjab’s Prof. Dr. Naela Amir, the Yemeni researcher Rabea Asim, the calligrapher Zaki Al Hashmi, the National College of Arts Prof. Rizwan Azeem, and the University of Istanbul’s Prof. Daud Bekt.
On November 19, the festival’s second session, “Living Tradition and Contemporary Trends,” will take place. Kamil Khan Mumtaz will moderate. Dr. Shehzad Qaiser, Dr. Amjad Waheed, Dr. Tahnyat Majeed, and Prof. Dr. Shafiq Farooqi are among the speakers.
Papers on tradition and modernity, Islamic arts in the subcontinent’s medieval architecture, and the tradition of writing in Muslim culture will be studied in relation to the art form.