Rasheed Araeen

Can art from the Muslim world be authentically modern and also express the spirit of Islam? The answer to this is yes. But this answer has little significance unless it is underpinned theoretically and legitimised institutionally; and the Muslim world does not yet have the ability to do this. The prevailing theories of modern art are Eurocentric within which there is no place of Islam. And although there is now tremendous creativity in the Muslim world, with its art festivals and biennales, and the success of its artist worldwide, it does not have its own art institutions, with the ability to recognise, theoretically and historically, what its artists do. All this is still dependent on the West. The task for the Muslim world now is therefore to establish its own institutions, according to its own view of things and values, to develop and promote scholarship, involving theories of art based on its own understanding of history, which would not only liberate it from its subservience to the West but also enable its modern artists to think and create freely and independently. This work of Rasheed Araeen is an attempt towards achieving these objectives.