Saturday, October 12
10:00 a.m. PT
Speaker: Ladan Akbarnia, Ph.D., Curator of South Asian and Islamic Art at The San Diego Museum of Art
Virtual Event
This illustrated talk will explore the story and vision behind The San Diego Museum of Art’s current special exhibition, Wonders of Creation: Art, Science, and Innovation in the Islamic World, on view through January 5, 2025. Wonders of Creation explores intersections of art and science in Islamic intellectual and visual culture from the 8th century to the present, using the lens of “wonder” as defined by an influential 13th-century Islamic cosmography describing the universe. Written in Arabic and Persian by Zakariyya ibn Muhammad al-Qazwini and entitled The Wonders of Creation and the Rarities of Existence, this text catalogues the marvels of the universe in a single, richly illustrated book. The exhibition features over 200 works presented through the framework of Qazwini’s text, including manuscripts, astrolabes, magic bowls, precious stones, luster dishes, architectural elements, and contemporary art. Following the cosmography’s narrative through the celestial and terrestrial realms, topics such as astronomy, astrology, natural history, alchemy, medicine, and geometry are explored through objects from Spain, North Africa, and the Middle East to Central, South, and Southeast Asia and the modern diaspora. After an overview of the exhibition with images and details of selected works representing the narrative and conceptual structure, this talk will consider the framework of the exhibition as a methodology for representing Islamic art and material culture on a wider scale.
Speaker Bio: Dr. Ladan Akbarnia is Curator of South Asian and Islamic Art at The San Diego Museum of Art (2019–present). A specialist in Islamic visual culture, her research, exhibitions, and publications address cross-cultural transmissions in Iran, Central Asia, and South Asia; Sufism; Persianate drawings; contemporary art; and methodologies of museum display. Her current exhibition, Wonders of Creation: Art, Science, and Innovation in the Islamic World, is on view at SDMA through January 5, 2025, then traveling to the McMullen Museum of Art, where the exhibition will be on view February 1 through June 1, 2025. Since joining SDMA in 2019, Akbarnia has organized several exhibitions and displays. Previously, she was Assistant Keeper & Curator of Islamic Collections and lead curator for the Albukhary Foundation Gallery of the Islamic World at The British Museum (2010–19); Hagop Kevorkian Associate Curator of Islamic Art at the Brooklyn Museum (2007–10), where she organized a reinstallation of the Islamic collection and Light of the Sufis: The Mystical Arts of Islam (2009–10); and Executive Director of the Iran Heritage Foundation in London (2009–10). She received her Ph.D. from Harvard University.
Please reserve your spot by clicking on this link. All participants will be sent the Zoom link and instructions via email once you secure your place.
Sponsored by the South Asian Arts Council.
Featured: Huqqa base. Mughal India, ca. 1740–80. Nephrite jade; carved and inlaid with floral scroll composed of rubies, emeralds, and diamonds. Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia, 2020.8.51.
