The mystical mirror image in Persian painting and interactive media.

Persian painting of the sixteenth century. Tuesday July 13 at Mediamatic Bank.

13 jul 2010
13 jul 2010

Persian painting of the sixteenth century is an immersive illusion that satisfies the senses. But at the same time it makes the beholder aware of the “metadata” that created the illusion in the first place. A lecture on Tuesday July 13 by writer and curator Laura U. Marks. Moderated by Nat Muller.

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Sixteenth Century Persian painting - Bas van den Broeke

In sixteenth-century Iran, Ishraqî thought and Sufi mysticism shared the goals of annihilation of self in the awareness of God. Ecstasy and fana'. Persian painting of this period reflects these ideals. Laura U. Marks suggests the seductive power of fana' exists in contemporary media as well. Islamic mysticism can offer us criteria for contemporary art. Even art that is not mystical in its aims.

Laura U. Marks is a writer and a curator of artists’ media. She is the author of The Skin of the Film: Intercultural Cinema, Embodiment, and the Senses (2000)], Touch: Sensuous Theory and Multisensory Media (2002), and the forthcoming Enfoldment and Infinity: An Islamic Genealogy of New Media Art (MIT Press, 2010). She has curated experimental media for festivals and art spaces worldwide. Dr. Marks is the Dena Wosk University Professor in Art and Culture Studies at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver.

More information

Tuesday July 13, 20.00. Entrance 3 euros. Mediamatic Bank, Vijzelstraat 68 Amsterdam. Please RSVP.