Volume 32, Issue 2, March 2021, Pages 249–254
Rawya Aljared1
1 Assistant Professor, Department of Art and Drawing, University of Jeddah, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Original language: English
Copyright © 2021 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
This paper studies the relationship between modernity and cultural heritage in a globalized world through the work of contemporary Moroccan artist Mounir Fatmi (b. 1970), titled Modern Times-A History of The Machine (2010), Speed City (2010) and Technologia (2010). The paper looks specifically at how Fatmi’s artwork understands modernity in the Arab world as hinted at by the inclusion of Arabic calligraphy by way of cultural reference. The machinery can be regarded as the Western project for modernism accompanied by industrialization. The Arab world and the Middle East in this discussion are used interchangeably. The paper shows how Fatmi’s artwork highlights the relationship between the industrialized West and the fast growing and urbanized East. Thus, calligraphy in Fatmi’s work can be viewed as traditional as well as contemporary; therefore, cultural heritage, in part, also defines modernity.
Author Keywords: Modernity, calligraphy, contemporary art, painting and drawing, cultural heritage, machines.
Rawya Aljared1
1 Assistant Professor, Department of Art and Drawing, University of Jeddah, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Original language: English
Copyright © 2021 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
This paper studies the relationship between modernity and cultural heritage in a globalized world through the work of contemporary Moroccan artist Mounir Fatmi (b. 1970), titled Modern Times-A History of The Machine (2010), Speed City (2010) and Technologia (2010). The paper looks specifically at how Fatmi’s artwork understands modernity in the Arab world as hinted at by the inclusion of Arabic calligraphy by way of cultural reference. The machinery can be regarded as the Western project for modernism accompanied by industrialization. The Arab world and the Middle East in this discussion are used interchangeably. The paper shows how Fatmi’s artwork highlights the relationship between the industrialized West and the fast growing and urbanized East. Thus, calligraphy in Fatmi’s work can be viewed as traditional as well as contemporary; therefore, cultural heritage, in part, also defines modernity.
Author Keywords: Modernity, calligraphy, contemporary art, painting and drawing, cultural heritage, machines.
How to Cite this Article
Rawya Aljared, “Machinery and Calligraphy in Mounir Fatmi’s Art,” International Journal of Innovation and Applied Studies, vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 249–254, March 2021.
