Islamopolitan

The extraordinary exhibition Islamopolitan arrives from Sharjah, the emirate to the east of Dubai that was chosen as Islamic Cultural Capital of 2014. Islamopolitan (Islam+Cosmopolitan) is a word coined for this exhibition, which sets out to examine multiculturalism and diversity as well as the need to respect the general context. An ironic approach encourages the local and the global in their philosophies and at the same time explores the tensions between the two worlds. The structure of work and daily life, religion, architecture, rituals and decoration have been interpreted in relation to the present day. Designers of twelve different nationalities present works that take a contemporary look at the rituals of an ancient culture, through the media of furniture, jewellery, photography, video, art, installations, objects, upholstery, carpets, fashion, ceramics and sound. Islamopolitan is a traveling exhibition making its first visit to Europe: after Sharjah and Istanbul, it will be in Milan for Design Week and for the opening of Expo 2015.

Speaking about the upcoming exhibition, Giuseppe Moscatello, director of Maraya Art Centre said, “The contemporary art and design scene in Sharjah is growing rapidly and touring this exhibition to Istanbul, Milan and beyond offers a wonderful opportunity to introduce the international community to the superb work being done by designers and artists from around the world inspired by Islam. We are very excited to see Islamopolitan continuing its international tour and we are looking forward to the discourse and discussion that this thought-provoking exhibition is sure to invoke in the wider design community.”

Presented by Maraya Art Centre and 1971 Design Space, sponsored by Shurooq.

Curated by Khalid Shafar and Giuseppe Moscatello.