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Symposium: The Khatt Foundation

Khatt, kufi & kaffiya

Symposium on Arabic visual culture

A full day of lectures, presentations and celebration of new Arabic cultural expression. The days events included: a one-day symposium, the launch of 5 new Arabic typefaces, a book, an international online community, workshops, the opening of the EL HEMA and a design competition.

  • KhKuKa logo Arabic only

    KhKuKa logo Arabic only -

    Khatt, Kufi & Kaffiya logo is typeset with TheMix Arabic font by Luc(as) de Groot.
  • Syrian Lingerie advertising from Malu Halasa's presentation

    Syrian Lingerie advertising from Malu Halasa's presentation

  • Dutch El HEMA Girls

    Dutch El HEMA Girls

with:

The aim of this symposium is to discuss the positive role of design and typography in Arabic youth culture, how it can generate positive perceptions and productive collaborations that bridge the gap between Eastern and Western cultures.

Programme

A selection of scholars and designers from the Middle East, the US and Europe will discuss the impact of historical and contemporary visual culture on Arabic identity. New forms of visual expression, such as new Arabic typefaces, and other cross-cultural design experiments will be the focus of the symposium. The symposium will introduce the Khatt Foundations’ collaborative pilot design project Typographic Matchmaking.
Among other topics the symposium will cover topics that vary from history of European printing of Arabic books, to expressive calligraphy, to the relation of typography and dance, to the relation between culture and technological advancement in the printing arts, to political activism through visual communication in the Middle East, to case studies of inter-cultural design project between Dutch designer and Arab institutions (or designers), and statistical information about the visual arts, design, new media and typographic expression in the Arab world.

For a detailed conference programme, please refer to the Khatt Foundation website.

Speakers

The symposium’s confirmed speakers to date include: Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès (Khatt Foundation), Willem Velthoven (Khatt Foundation / Stichting Mediamatic), Dr. Goeffrey Roper (Index Islamicus, London), J.R. Osborn (University of Callifornia, San Diego), Peter Bilak (Typotheque, Den Haag), Brody Neuenschwander (Artist/Calligrapher, Brugges), Nadine Touma (Dar Onboz publishers, Beirut), Jacques Koeweiden (Koeweiden Postma, Amsterdam), Jelle van der Toorn Vrijthoff (QuinX bv. Amsterdam), Zeina Maasri (American University of Beirut), Nadine Chahine (Linotype Library, Germany), Fawzi Rahal (Grey Worldwide, Dubai), Tarek Atrissi (Atrissi Design, Hilversum) and Pascal Zoghbi (Notre Dame University, Lebanon).

Cost & registration

The cost of the symposium is 45 Euro (20 Euro for students with valid ID). Registration includes a free copy of the book Typographic Matchmaking and bonus CD (which has a retail price of 30 Euro), a lunch, and a reception.

More detailed information about the program (schedule, topics, workshops and exhibition) is available on the Khatt Foundation website. Registration is possible online. Click here or use the registration button on the top left of this page. After registering your name will appear on the website as a 'registered visitor'.

El Hema

The symposium will be followed by an exhibition entitled El-HEMA which will take place in Mediamatic’s gallery space (on the ground floor of the PostCS building). The exhibition will open on the night of the 24th of August and will go on until the 4th of November.

The Symposium on Arabic Letters and Contemporary Visual Culture, and related events, have been generously supported by the Fonds BKVB, the Khatt Foundation, Stichting Mediamatic, the Openbare Bibliotheek van Amsterdam, and BIS Publishers.