IRCICA’s art exhibitions, workshop and lecture at Expo 2020 Dubai

IRCICA held a series of activities at Expo 2020 Dubai within the framework of the OIC’s participation in the event. IRCICA’s pavilion, coordinated by Mr. Said Kasımoğlu, Head of the Islamic Arts Department, representing the Director General of IRCICA, highlighted two major areas of the Centre’s activities, “Arts” and “Cultural Heritage”.

The Centre’s pavilion featured two digital exhibitions. One of them presented the calligraphy works which had won awards in the first ten international calligraphy competitions organized by IRCICA from 1986 to 2016. Along with the digital display, some plates of calligraphy were also presented in the pavilion. The other digital exhibition showed historical photographs of the sacred places of Islam: Makkah al-Mukarramah and Madina al-Munawwara, selected from the archives of IRCICA.

In the same context, a Workshop on Islamic Calligraphy was conducted by Master Calligrapher Efdaluddin Kılıç, calligraphy expert at IRCICA, from 26 December 2021 to 2 January 2022. The workshop was attended by a large number of people wishing to learn about this art, its rules and principles, as well as its theoretical and practical aspects. The attendees had the opportunity to follow Mr. Kılıç’s lectures and see his demonstrations on the various styles, tools, materials and applications of this authentic art.

Finally, a lecture was given on 2 January 2022, relating to IRCICA’s studies on Islamic cultural heritage that is threatened or has been damaged or destroyed in places of conflict around the world. The paper was presented by Mr. Taha Z. Özdemir from IRCICA’s Department of Architectural Heritage, accompanied by a screen projection of photographs of historical sites and monuments.