The Ministry of Culture is conducting an exhibition titled "Scripts and Calligraphy: A Timeless Journey" at the National Museum in Riyadh from June 16 to August 21, 2021.
Through an extraordinary journey of knowledge, showcasing Saudi and international master calligraphers, contemporary artists, and designers, the exhibition exemplifies the stages of the Arabic Script's development since its very origins, and the artistic relationship between calligraphy, contemporary art, and artificial intelligence.
The 1,500-square-meter exhibition takes visitors on a voyage of discovery through the history of Arabic calligraphy and its great artists.
The journey begins over 1,700 years ago on the Arabian Peninsula with the invention of writing and continues through phases of scripts etched on stone and linear paintings, manuscripts, and items across the Islamic world.
Modern uses of Arabic calligraphy in fashion, design, and artificial intelligence are also explored in the exhibition.
The exhibition “Scripts and Calligraphy: A Timeless Journey” is split into five stages: the beginnings of the Arabic script, the evolution of calligraphy, master calligraphers, calligraphy and contemporary art, and calligraphy and artificial intelligence.
Visitors will learn about the history of the various scripts which was used in the Arabian Peninsula before the acceptance of the Arabic language, and the paintings and doorways engraved in Dadanitic and Nabataean scripts, and the images of inscriptions obtained by the highly regarded photographer Robert Polidori in AlUla Governorate.
Viewers would also find an artificial intelligence machine designed by Egyptian artist and designer Haytham Nawar among these historical works, helping to generate a new generative pictographic language on a display screen.
The exhibition includes one of the oldest pages of the Holy Qur'an, dating from the 2nd century AH (8th century AD), and a selection of Qur'an manuscripts, such as the Blue Qur'an and Mushaf Al-Madinah, and a designed manuscript provided by the Obvious group, a collective of French researchers and artists.
The exhibition contains a section entirely devoted to Saudi and international masters of Arabic calligraphy, including Ahmed Fares Rizq, Ayman Hassan, Boubacar Sadeck, Tagelsir Hassan, Jassim Miraj Al-Failakawi, Jamal Alenezi, Jamal Alkebasi, Hamidi Belaid, Hassan Radwan, Rasha Kasem Abdou Shahbar, and Abdulrasheed Butt.
It further includes professionals like: Rabeea Abdulelah Majeed, Salah Abdul Khaliq, Majid Al Yousef, Mohammed Safarbati, Maryam Norouzi, Abdulaziz Al Rashedi, Obaid Al-Nofaey, Abderrahim Gouline, Amor Jomni, Obaida Mohammed Salih Al-Banki, Abdelrahman ElShahed, Narjes Noureddine, Nuria Garcia Masip, Nasser Al Salem, Nasser Al Maymoon and Wissam Shawkat.
The Ministry of Culture has designated a hall in the Arabic Calligraphy masters section for 31 displays of thousands of calligraphy pieces created by Abdul Ghani Alani, the Iraqi poet, and calligrapher, heir of the Baghdad school of calligraphy, one of the great masters of contemporary calligraphy, and a laureate of the 2009 UNESCO-Sharjah Prize for Arab Culture.
The exhibition also contains a section titled “Nomadic Traces in Current Art and Design,” organized by Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès, that illustrates the critical role played by ancient Arabic scripts in producing the Arabic alphabet utilized in contemporary arts and designs.
This section includes works by the following Arab designers: Ebtissam AlGosaibi, Hussein Alazaat, Hamza Al Omari, Khalid Mezaina, Rasha Dakkak, Ranim Al Halaky, Xeina AlMalki, Farah Behbehani, Margherita Abi Hanna, Milia Maroun, Mohammed Khoja, May Aboulfaraj, Nasser Al-Salem, Nadine Kanso, and Noor Saab.
Some of the artworks on Art, jewelry, fashion, textiles, furniture, pottery, and objects were also on the exhibit.
It is the first exhibition of its type to incorporate traditional Arabic calligraphy with artificial intelligence. In this line, artist Michel Paysant introduces a new version of his gadget dubbed "Eye Calligraphy Studio — A Constellation of Letters," which is one of the gadgets proficient in delving into the foundations of calligraphy and its intricate processes.
Dr. Jerome Nuetres, head curator of the Guy & Myriam Ullens Foundation in Switzerland, supervised the project.
The exhibition “Scripts and Calligraphy: A Timeless Journey” is one of several events carried out by the Ministry of Culture as part of the “Year of Arabic Calligraphy” initiative, which is aligned with the Quality of Life Program, one of the Saudi Vision 2030 projects.
The project was begun last year and has been extended for another year to highlight Arabic calligraphy as an emblem of Arab identity, a source of inspiration, and an important cultural element in the history of Arab civilization.
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