Samir Mahmoud. Islamic aesthetics: Between tradition and its contemporary relevance.

Samir Mahmoud
Dr Samir Mahmoud is Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Architecture, American University of Beirut (2014-2016). In 2013-2014 he was Andrew Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at the Arts & Humanities Initiative at the American University of Beirut; in 2012-2013 he was Barakat Postdoctoral Fellow at the Khalili Centre for Research in Art & Material Culture, University of Oxford and Agha Khan Postdoctoral Fellow at MIT in the Fall of 2011-2012. He is the author of several publications on Islamic aesthetics, Islamic philosophy, and is currently working on two new books.
Islamic aesthetics: Between tradition and its contemporary relevance.
Many have tried to define a new field of ‘Islamic’ aesthetics but have stumbled for the same reasons the epithet ‘Islamic’ Art and Architecture has come into question: How can we attribute to a non-European culture a cultural term that has no equivalent? This lecture is an introduction to the emerging field of ‘Islamic’ aesthetics. It raises some of the fundamental questions and challenges that face such an inquiry. The lecture will also give four extensive examples, two from Kalam, one on the nature of the gaze, and one from Ibn ‘Arabi to show how medieval Islamic discussions of beauty are still relevant for aesthetic discussions today in our postmodern world.