8:30 Uhr (25.09.) - 18:40 Uhr (26.09.)
Arts and Crafts in the Late Ottoman Empire aims to advance art historical and interdisciplinary research on the practices and concepts of material culture in Ottoman lands between the eighteenth and the early twentieth centuries. While inviting contributions on all geographies of the Empire, this international conference foregrounds late Ottoman Syria as a case through which to expand the analytical and historical horizons of Islamic art and architecture studies and to contribute to broader debates in Ottoman and Arab historiographies of modernity.
Following the methodological program of entangled histories, our endeavor is not limited to chronologically expanding the scope of study; it also strives for a deeper reflexive commitment to rethinking the relationship between material culture, knowledge, and modernity as an integral part of the history of the Islamic world. We propose employing “entangled modernities” as a critical site of inquiry into the materialities, epistemes, and temporalities shaping arts and crafts in the late Ottoman Empire. Integral to this approach is the premise of polyvalent and malleable thinking that can transcend rigid boundaries, undo dichotomies, and illuminate processes of transformation.