Friday, November 1
10:00 a.m.–2:30 p.m.
The San Diego Museum of Art James S. Copley Auditorium
The San Diego Museum of Art is pleased to welcome world-renowned and distinguished scholars in the histories of Islamic visual culture, science, and craft, as well as prominent contemporary artists whose works appear in the special exhibition Wonders of Creation: Art, Science, and Innovation in the Islamic World.
Symposium speakers include Dr. Silke Ackermann, Director of the History of Science Museum, University of Oxford; Dr. Omniya Abdel Barr, architect and Head of Development, Egyptian Heritage Rescue Foundation; Dr. Moya Carey, Curator of Islamic Collections, Chester Beatty Library, Dublin; Sherin Guirguis, artist; Pantea Karimi, multidisciplinary artist, researcher, and educator.
Convened by Dr. Ladan Akbarnia, Curator of South Asian and Islamic Art, The San Diego Museum of Art, and moderated by Carol Bier, Research Scholar Center for Islamic Studies, Graduate Theological Union; Hannah Kemal-Hyden, Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellow, Art of the Islamic Worlds, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and Mai Kolkailah, Research Assistant for South Asian and Islamic Art, The San Diego Museum of Art.
The symposium is presented in conjunction with Wonders of Creation: Art, Science, and Innovation in the Islamic World, a special exhibition on view September 7, 2024–January 5, 2025, at The San Diego Museum of Art. Tickets to the symposium include same-day admission to the featured exhibition Wonders of Creation: Art, Science, and Innovation in the Islamic World.
Free for Friend-level members and above | $15 members and students | $25 seniors and military | $35 nonmembers
Symposium Program
Welcome Remarks
Roxana Velásquez is the Maruja Baldwin Executive Director and CEO at The San Diego Museum of Art. As a passionate advocate for the arts, Ms. Velásquez has focused on fostering cross-cultural dialogues within the San Diego community as well as nationally and internationally. Throughout her professional career, she has organized many high-profile exhibitions in her capacity as the Executive Director of the Museo Nacional de San Carlos, Museo Nacional de Arte (MUNAL), the Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, and currently with The San Diego Museum of Art.
Dr. Ladan Akbarnia is Curator of South Asian and Islamic At at The San Diego Museum of Art and curator of Wonders of Creation: Art, Science, and Innovation in the Islamic World. Dr. Akbarnia is convening the Wonders of Creation Symposium and is hosting each panel. Her publications focus on Islamic visual culture, contemporary art, and museum methodologies. Previously , she was Assistant Keeper and Curator of the Islamic Collections and Lead Curator for the Albukhary Gallery at The British Museum (2010-19), and Hagop Kevorkian Associate Curator of Islamic Art at the Brooklyn Museum (2007-11).
Panel 1: Zakariyya ibn Muhammad al-Qazwini and the Wonders Legacy
Dr. Hannah Kemal-Hyden, serving as moderator of this panel, is an art historian specializing in the medieval and early modern arts of the book from Iran and India. She earned her PhD from Harvard University, where her research explored the illustrated manuscripts of Qazwini’s Wonders of Creation. Kemal-Hyden has contributed to exhibitions and scholarly publications at the Worcester Museum of Art and The San Diego Museum of Art. Currently, she serves as the Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellow in the Art of Islamic Worlds at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
Dr. Travis Zadeh writes and teaches on the intertwined histories of science, magic, and religion, with a special interest in cosmography, sacred geography, and intellectual cultures in Arabic, Persian, and Urdu. He chairs Yale’s Council on Middle East Studies and the Department of Religious Studies. A recipient of multiple awards, Zadeh’s latest book, Wonders and Rarities (2023), tracks many afterlives of Qazwani’s compendium of natural wonders, illuminating intersections of myth, science, and philosophy in the Islamic World.
Dr. Arash Khazeni is a history professor at Pomona College specializing in the imperial and environmental histories of the modern Middle East, South Asia, and the Indian Ocean. He authored Tribes and Empire on the Margins of Nineteenth-Century Iran (2010), which received the Middle East Studies Association Houshang Pourshariati Book Award, along with Sky Blue Stone: The Turquoise Trade in World History (2014), and The City and the Wilderness: Indo-Persian Encounters in Southeast Asia (2020).
Panel 2: Islam, Science, and Craft
Carol Bier, serving as moderator of this panel, is a Research Scholar at the Center for Islamic Studies, Graduate Theological Union, and Research Associate at The Textile Museum, George Washington University, where she was previously Curator for Eastern Hemisphere Collections (1948-2001). Widely published in textile history and Islamic arts and architecture, her research explores patterns as intersections of art and mathematics. She served as president of the Textile Society of America (2006-08) and is an honorary member of the International Society for the Interdisciplinary Study of Symmetry.
Dr. Silke Ackermann, Director of Oxford University’s History of Science Museum, specializes in the transfer of knowledge between the Islamic world and Europe, focusing on the interconnectedness of science, art, and faith. A former curator at The British Museum, she led the experimental gallery and served on the consultancy team. Ackermann, Oxford’s first female museum director, also holds a fellowship at Linacre College. She now leads Vision24, an ambitious project to transform the museum for full inclusion.
Dr. Moya Carey is the Curator of Islamic Collections at the Chester Beatty in Dublin, appointed in 2018. She previously served as the Iran Heritage Foundation Curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum. She holds a PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies, focusing on manuscript illustration and celestial globes. Her current research examines the design relationships between manuscripts and carpets in Safavid Iran. Among her numerous notable publications is Persian Art: Collecting the Arts of Iran for the V&A (2017).
Pantea Karimi, an Iranian multidisciplinary artist based in San Jose, explores the interconnectivity of art and science through historical manuscripts, medicinal botany, and mathematics from Iran, the Arab world, and Europe. Her internationally exhibited work highlights female agency and her cultural heritage intertwined with geopolitical tensions. A 2024 City of San Jose Creative Ambassador and 2019 Silicon Valley Artist Laureate, Karimi has received numerous grants and fellowships. She holds master’s degrees in graphic design and fine arts and is a member of the Substantial Motion Research Network.
Lunch (45 minutes)
Panel 3: Islamic Living Traditions, Art, and Heritage in the Contemporary World
Mai Kolkailah, serving as moderator of this panel, is Research Assistant for South Asian and Islamic Art at The San Diego Museum of Art. She was formerly Curatorial Consultant at the Shangri La Museum of Islamic Art, Culture, and Design, Honolulu (2022-23) and Mellon Undergraduate Curatorial Fellow at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (2015-17). Kolkailah received her MA in Arabic and Islamic Studies with a specialization in Islamic Art and Architecture from the American University in Cairo, focusing on the royal cemeteries of Ottoman Cairo.
Dr. Omniya Abdel Barr is an architect and historian specializing in Islamic art and architecture, particularly Mamluk Egypt. She holds a PhD in Islamic history and advanced degrees in conservation and architecture. Dividing her time between Cairo and London, she researches at the Victoria and Albert Museum and leads the Egyptian Heritage Rescue Foundation, focusing on preserving traditional building techniques. In 2023, she co-curated the first Islamic Art Biennale in Jeddah, showcasing over 280 historical and contemporary works.
Sherin Guirguis, an Egyptian-born artist based in Los Angeles, explores themes of displacement, in-betweenness, and marginalized histories, especially those of women. Through her site-specific projects and research-based practice, she seeks to reclaim erased voices. Guirguis has exhibited internationally with notable projects in Egypt and the US. Her work has been widely reviewed in outlets including ARTFORUM and The New York Times, and she has received numerous honors, including USC’s Zumberge Research Award. She also serves as Chair of Foundations and Professor of Practice at USC Roski School of Art & Design.
