ISLAMIC ART AND CONTEMPORARY DESIGN IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA: SEVERAL SELECTED EXAMPLES

Vitality of Islamic spirituality and its openness in the encounter with the contemporary is also manifested in the sphere of modern architecture, art and design. In recent years, we have been witnessing an increasingly great number of young students who, as topics of their graduation theses in the area of one-of-a-kind design within the curriculum at the Academy of Fine Arts in Sarajevo, choose research which reflects their thoughts about how to align their worldview values and beliefs with challenges of the contemporary time. Today, Islamic spirituality and culture is an active participant on the European contemporary social, political and cultural scene. Among other things, it opens the issue of how a contemporary Muslim woman should dress. The proposed paper strives to respect the obligation of dressing in line with religious regulations, as well as to offer original and innovative designing solution which highlight individuality and particularity. Interesting solutions also include consideration of the praying space and furnishing inspired by universal values of Islam and Bosnian cultural heritage and a desire to use original shaping to reinforce the feeling of belonging and affiliation to one's own tradition, as well as to the act of prayer itself. Furthermore, research by young designers in the area of applied and one-of-a-kind design remind us that the concept of sacredness in Bosnian culture was not associated only to rituals but that it rather permeated all spheres of daily life, where the presence of ornaments was much more than mere decoration. The offered examples of shaping elements of the interior confirm that contemporary formative languages and ways of their technological execution can further open new horizons for understanding the ornament and remind of primordial vertical spiritual origins.

The selected examples of graduation works by young artists and designers from the Department of Product Design at the Academy of Fine Arts (ALU) in Sarajevo, which were created in the period from 2019 to 2022, reveal a fresh, innovative and original approach to elements of design and concepts of understanding the term “Islamic art” and “Islamic tradition” in the contemporary context. Explications of the solutions have been provided by designers themselves in the form of summary of their graduation theses.

Student: Berin Spahić

Supervisors: prof. Jasna Mujkić, MA / prof. Fehim Hadžimuhamedović, PhD

ALU UNSA | 2018/2019

TOPIC: Semiotics of ornament and its heritage in Bosnian culture; (De)construction and interference of shade in optically changing ornamental sample and use in the design of collection of coffee tables Caelo

Indeed, we have adorned the lowest heaven with the stars for decoration.
(As-Saffat – Lines, 6th ajat)

Etymology of names as the introduction

The sky and its name (De caelo et eius nomine)

Philosophers have said that the sky (Lat. caelum) is round, that it revolves and burns; that the sky is thus named since it has constellations imprinted on it, just like a carved (Lat. caelare) vessel.

God has awarded the sky with bright light, and filled it with the Sun and glistening Moon's sphere, and adorned it with constellations of glittering stars.

Etymology of Isidore, the Bishop of Seville (560–636)

Description of the work

The man from this region built and designed his vision of the world according to strong principles and convictions. His artistic pursuit of the meaning did not imply reproduction of the manifested reality but rather search for depths as deflection from it – search for the content which does not depend on the individual human view of the world but on universal truths.  

From the spiritual, moral state of the man, such view wove into what he designed by hand, and the Bosnian house, mahala (neighborhood) and čaršija (marketplace) are harmonious compositions of such ethics. Bosnian architecture established the rhythm, order and harmony in the transition from one spatial context to another. One passed from the public, noisy environment to the intimate, quiet, sacred space of the mosque courtyard gradually, with graded feelings, listening to the gurgle of water in shadervani and the murmur of trees. It was in the same way that the man entered the house – through the front yard, selamluk (male part of the house), by the fountain and greenery, to the haremluk (female part of the house, the sacred home space).  Like the mosque, the house is a consecrated space, instead of the courtyard – haremluk, instead of the shadervani – the fountain. Instead of the mihrab – the dolaf (built in closet with shelves), instead of the dome – the šiše (ceiling), instead of religious – family privacy.

As one can conclude, the notion of sacredness in Bosnian culture was not associated only to rituals but rather permeated all the life spheres of the man who strove toward clear life landmarks in his daily life as well, and with his designs found his own ways of expressing the world which he felt inside himself. With deeply-charged reminders, of far more powerful significance tea mere decoration, he ornamented his own living environment.

The basic landmark of the architectural culture of Bosnia and its man is the upward orientation, toward the light, toward the Heaven. To be able to walk upright through life, he had to strive to the vertical spiritual roads. Such a metaphysical orientation of Bosnian house was symbolized by šiše (Tur. süs – ornament) – a carved and ornamented part of the wooden ceiling. It is the flat dome of the Bosnian house, and each dome is an expression of the firmament – a symbol of God's vigilance over the earthly.

The crucial importance for such a celestial reminder is attached to the circular, radial ornament, which springs from the central point of ceiling composition. All elements of such an ornament point to the dominant spot, wherefrom all pother forms spring and expand to the “endless” space. Its purpose is no different from the purpose of calligraphy – devoting the space to spiritual contents. It should also be noted that the term ceiling, in its etymological root, returns to the original, celestial, sublime meaning – Lat. caelum refers to heavens, sky.

Today's language of contemporary design has become a reflection of the industrial and digital age, and decreasingly the speech of craftsmanship and art, and almost not at all a reflection of philosophic or spiritual view of the world. This work is aimed at showing that the contemporary designing languages and the ways of their technological execution can still open new horizons for understanding the ornament, depict the vision of the world from the viewpoint of the contemporary man, and still indicate to and remind of the primordial vertical spiritual origins.

The presented designed solution of Caelo coffee tables was found in overlapping simple circular perforated planes and rotational movement along the central axis. Combination of such two systems according to accurately defined geometric pattern produces, rhythmically changes and makes radial, centripetal forms disappear.

Physical optical sensations of constant change of light and shade, within which fascinating background matrices appear, present the industrially achieved ornament which, although it did not result from a brush or a chisel, from artistic or craft treatment, carries in itself a natural code of ornament, aimed at using the surface manifestation to ennoble horizontal (earthly) planes with radial symbols of vertical spiritual charge.

Student: Viteškić Medina
Supervisor: Ass. Prof. Perković Nataša, MA / assist.prof. Ema Mazrak, MA
ALU UNSA | 2021/2022
TOPIC: My corner, 2022

Products from the collection My Corner – a sajjada (prayer rug), šamija (kerchief) and a brooch – are a contemporary designed solution in the area of one-of-a-kind-design, based on theoretical and practical research of the principles of Islamic spirituality and art, traditional contents in the art of Bosnia and Herzegovina and concepts of contemporary design which underscore symbolic and synesthetic potential forms aimed at reinforcing effects of emotional-spiritual involvement in the very act of Islamic ritual prayer (namaz).

The initial impetus for the research and design was the “feeling of non-belonging” when performing the namaz with elements of textile which are typically used during the namaz and which show standard elements of design in the spirit of Islamic aesthetics. To strengthen the feeling of active involvement, each product which is used during the namaz (sajjada, šamija, brooch) has been produced manually. Ornamentation, which was developed during the research and applied on all the three products, is based on the research of calligraphic manuscript and formative refinement (Purism) of modern art. The emphasis in researching and applying ornaments was on the symbolic potential of form and colors which reveal a complex and multi-layered relation between the outer world (sensible and material) and the inner world, which is hidden and transcendental. The form of sajjada itself also subtly evokes anthropomorphic forms of stećaks (Bosnian medieval tombstones) and nišans (Islamic tombstones) from the printmaking oeuvre of academician Dževad Hozo.

The silk šamija was directly inspired by the concept of Russian avantgarde artist Kazimir Maljevič and his painting “White on white”. The šamija was therefore made according to the principle of applying the white color to white fabric aimed at elevating the šamija to the level of a work of art, which underscored the artistic component of the traditional, manual designing by Bosnian women and their significance for the cultural heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Together with its symbolic spiritual value, the white color is an important visual reference point in the interior of the traditional Bosnian house and in the art of textile. From the ergonomic side, the idea was to make the form of sajjada follow the form of the body during the namaz. From the functional aspect, there is a need for a clear focal point – and it is the reason for a perfect circle in the adequate visual field during bowing. Symbolically, the aim was to visually present the process of thoughts during the namaz – the quantity of ornaments in the lower part symbolically presents the quantity of thoughts of the person when beginning the namaz, while in the upper part of the composition, the space where the head is laid during prostration is deprived of ornaments, which symbolizes disappearance of thoughts and worries of this world. On the other hand, the black background represents infinity of space and darkness, while blue motifs radiate from the darkness as a trace of hope and faith. The sajjada was made of the manually dyed merino wool, using the technique of tufting.

When conceiving the brooch, inspiration was found in the symbolic value of the name of the first man and the first prophet – Adam/Adem – the three letters (harfs) which compose the name ADM are alif, dhal and miim, and they symbolically designate three basic positions during the prayer – qiyam, rakooh and prostration (Mozzati, 2010, 53). Based on the same principle, the three motifs which make up the brooch were selected, having in mind the symbolic value of the three basic positions.

References:

Luca Mozzati, Islamska umjetnost, Šahinpašić, Sarajevo, 2010.

Student: Nizama Zaimović
Supervisor: Ass. Prof. Nataša Perković, MA
ALU UNSA | 2021/2022
TOPIC: Poetics of head-covering
TYPOLOGY OF THE WORK: A collection of one-of-a-kind ready-to-wear clothes for women covering the head

The topic of research for this project is fashion for head-covered women and the way in which fashion industry treats this group. Muslim men and women inhabit the whole world although global fashion brands in their solutions dominantly and stereotypically consider Muslim women only as inhabitants of the Middle East. In their daily communication with users there is not a differentiated relationship to this large group of the society and markets of the whole world. At the moment, there is no global brand which deals with this part of the market; rather, some of the existing brands only occasionally remembers the Middle East as well and creates a small collection of clothes which they market in an aesthetically grotesque, awkward and unconvincing way. The issue is not only of aesthetic nature, but also in the way of representation of head-covered women in all the controlled media industries. In films, series and advertisements, head-covered women are typically of Arabic origin, unhappy and dissatisfied, and very often even forced to cover the heads or simply do not like their hijab and want to take it off. All this is aimed at discouraging women who wear hijab and tell them that they will be accepted if they fit into the prescribed molds. Besides, society is still not educated enough to actually realize what covering the head means in Islam. Some people still believe that hijab is a form of oppressing women. Such public sentiment is dictated by Western media and anti-Islamic propaganda. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the situation is somewhat better – there are stores and brands for head-covered women, although they are still in the initial stage and mostly include suppliers of clothing from Turkey, Indonesia etc. Hijab is a generally accepted phenomenon in the daily life of citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Although head-covered women struggle with prejudice here as well, they try to live a normal life, get education and work, practicing Islam. Besides, some of them lead a public life, they are well-known entrepreneurs, designers, ministers, journalists, directors etc. They are present at public events, in government institutions, on TV screens, freely professing their religion. However, like other women in the world, they encounter problems with dressing. In design, inclusion of a product refers to the adjustment of the product so as to suit different people, though in the case of inclusion of head-covered women the opposite process often takes place – head-covered women are forced to adjust to the given situation or product.

Consequently, this work offers solution to head-covered women, rather than an alternative, and send a message of recognizing the existence of these women. The work is aimed at making a shift from the conventional understanding of hijab while preserving its meaning, and responding to rules and regulations which are obligatory. By means of theoretical research and practical work, it explores the way in which contemporary clothes can be related to the concept of hijab. The question is whether the today's fashion still collides with what hijab represents, how – through dressing – women can both fulfill their religious obligation and create a harmonious composition which expresses their individuality and does not fit in the previously seen solutions. The work also answers the question as to whether the head-covered woman can be „fashion-aware“, maintain her own style and express herself in it without compromising her beliefs; also, how can attention be directed to her personality, creativity and taste instead to her body or the fact that she is only a Muslim woman and nothing else. Clothes that were designed as a result of the research, as well as the presentational part of the work, motivate and empower head-covered women, send them the message that they are important and that they do not have to agree to a compromise.