Khajavi, Mohammad Javad
(2018)
From Alhambra to Digital Projection: Designing a Digital Media Cultural
Heritage Project Based on the Transformative Qualities of Islamic Calligraphy.
IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering (MSE), 364 (012053).
ISSN 1757-8981
Abstract
This paper traces how the design of a new media cultural heritage project was inspired by the
transformative qualities found in many specimens of Islamic calligraphy. As certain scholars have pointed out,
Islamic art is filled with examples of letters and words that appear to transform into things other than text.
Indeed, such transformative qualities can be seen across the Islamic world and on a diverse range of artefacts,
including the epigraphs on the walls of the Alhambra palace and the religious texts on Ottoman Turkish scrolls
written in ghubār (which literary means “dust” in Arabic) script. In this paper, the author outlines two broad
types of transformative qualities that can be distinguished in many specimens of Islamic calligraphic art,
namely, the metamorphosis of the form and the transformation of the function of the letters and words. The
paper then demonstrates how, inspired by such transformative qualities, the designers of a cultural heritage
project created a calligraphic installation for museums and galleries in which letters are transformed from text
to image and vice versa. Using a projection mapping system, words are transformed into images devoid of any
semantic meaning, and then revert back into readable text again. Finally, the paper investigates how the
transformation of the function of calligraphy renders readability a transitory process in this artwork, and how
the technique used in the creation of this artwork can be applied to cultural heritage sites as an educational and
entertainment tool.
| Item Type: |
Article
|
| Additional Information: |
Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. Any further distribution
of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.
Cite as: M J Khajavi 2018 IOP Conf. Ser.: Mater. Sci. Eng. 364 012053 |
| Keywords: |
Alhambra; Digital Projection; Designing; Digital Media Cultural;
Heritage; Project Based; Transformative Qualities; Islamic;
Calligraphy; |
| Academic Unit: |
Faculty of Arts & Humanities > School of English, Media & Theatre Studies > Media Studies |
| Item ID: |
13367 |
| Identification Number: |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1757-899X/364/1/012053 |
| Depositing User: |
Javad Khajavi
|
| Date Deposited: |
02 Oct 2020 14:50 |
| Journal or Publication Title: |
IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) |
| Publisher: |
IOP Publishing |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| URI: |
|
| Use Licence: |
This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available
here |
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