Enfilade

From ArtHist.net:

Interiors Reconfigured: Changing Materiality and Craftsmanship in the Decorative Arts of the Middle East and North Africa, 18th–20th Centuries
Vitrocentre Romont, Switzerland, 3–4 November 2023

Organized by Francine Giese, Sarah Keller and Mercedes Volait

This  international conference is dedicated to the decorative arts of the Middle East and North Africa with a special focus on material aspects and local practices. In the course of profound changes since the 18th century, local tastes and craftmanship began to mutate under Ottoman and Western influence. The conference will address these changes and emphasise the growing importance of material-based analysis in the field of Middle Eastern and Maghrebi décors. Participation is free of charge; registration is required by 30 October 2023 at claudine.demierre@vitrocentre.ch.

f r i d a y ,  3  n o v e m b e r  2 0 2 3

9.30  Opening Remarks
• Francine Giese (Vitrocentre Romont) and Mercedes Volait (CNRS/InVisu)

9.45  Keynote Lecture
• The Manifold Dynamics of Domestic Space and Architectural Fashion: Glimpses from Beirut, Sidon, and Cairo between the 18th and 20th Centuries — Ralph Bodenstein (German Archaeological Institute Cairo)

10.45  Coffee

11.15  Transformations
Chair: Francine Giese (Vitrocentre Romont)
• Cairene Interiors as Dynamic Spaces: The Successive Refurbishments of Manzil al-Sadat in the 19th Century — Mercedes Volait (CNRS/InVisu)
• Réorientaliser l’architecture « mauresque »: Intérieurs algériens recomposés aux XIXe et XXe siècles — Claudine Piaton (CNRS/InVisu)
• Ramsès Wissa Wassef et la rénovation de la kamariya — Leïla el-Wakil (University of Geneva)

13.00  Lunch

14.15  Materiality
Chair: Doris Behrens-Abouseif (SOAS University of London)
• A Changing Preference for Textile in Ottoman Interiors, 1705–1755 — Nazlı Songülen (Kadir Has University)
• Furnishing Fabrics: The Qalamkar Textiles in the Domestic Interiors of the Qajar, Iran — Fahimeh Ghorbani (University of Toronto)
• The Materiality of Stucco-Glass Windows in 19th-Century Egypt — Francine Giese, Sarah Keller, and Sophie Wolf (Vitrocentre Romont)
• Technical Heritage of Making Stucco and Glass Lattice Works in Iran — Amir-Hossein Karimy and Afsaneh Sobhani (Art University of Isfahan)

16.15  Coffee

16.45  Reconstructions
Chair: Sarah Keller (Vitrocentre Romont)
• František Schmoranz in Budapest: Reconstructing the Interior of the Oriental Pavilion at the 1885 National Exhibition in Budapest — Péter Nagy (Qatar Museums, Doha) and Ajla Bajramović (University of Vienna)
• The Railway Station of Bosanski Brod: A Historical and Visual Reconstruction of a Major Work of Orientalist Design in the Balkans — Maximilian Hartmuth (University of Vienna) and Malka Dizdarević (Vienna University of Technology)
• 3D Restitution of Saint-Maurice Residence in Cairo: 3D as a Tool to Monitor and Study Architectural Reuses — Vincent Baillet (Archeosciences Bordeaux)

s a t u r d a y ,  4  n o v e m b e r  2 0 2 3

9.00  Nationalism, Part I
Chair: Nadia Radwan (University of Bern)
• The Reception of Glass Stucco Windows as Vernacular Element of «Turkish» Interior Decoration — Franziska Niemand (Vitrocentre Romont/University of Fribourg)
• The Bait Al-Naboodah in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates: A 19th-Century Pearl Merchant’s House between Tradition and Globalisation — Martin Nixon (Zayed University, Dubai)

10.00  Coffee

10.30  Nationalism, Part II
Chair: Ralph Bodenstein (German Archaeological Institute Cairo)
• Variations sur céramiques bleues: Concevoir l’intérieur oriental — Nadia Radwan (University of Bern)
• A Tale of Three Perspectives: Local Authenticity, Colonial Interference, and Hybridity within the Construction Methods of at-Tastīr – Moroccan Geometric Arts — El Fasiki (Craft Draft)
• Back to the Future? The 1927 ‹Arab Style› Interior of Hoda Shaarawy’s ‹House of the Egyptian Woman› as a Display of the Nation — Philipp Zobel (University of Regensburg)

12.15  Lunch

13.00  Presentation of Original Documents at Vitromusée Romont
• La Maison Tarazi: A Family-Run Furnishing Company from Beirut — Camille Tarazi (Maison Tarazi)