Literary Play: Contemporary Interpretations of Qazwīnī’s Wonders of Creation and al-Kātib’s Encyclopedia of Pleasure

On September 16th, artists Mohamad Kanaan and Rayyane Tabet will be conversation about Mohamad’s recent project investigating two medieval Arabic texts: Qazwini’s Wonders of Creation (Aja‘ib al-makhluqat), and al-Katib’s Encyclopedia of Pleasure (Jawami al-Ladhdhah). In this talk, Kanaan will discuss his work experimenting with a new interdisciplinary approach for medieval manuscript study, considering how to read, analyze, and visualize premodern Arabic literature critically and challenge how we look at language and archive through contemporary resonances in visual art.