This course will focus on five collections of Islamic art housed Israeli museums and galleries from the 7th century to the 21st: the Rockefeller Archaeological Museum, Jerusalem; the Islamic collection at the Eretz Israel Museum, Ramat Aviv; the Museum of Islamic Art, Jerusalem; Museum of Islamic and Near Eastern Cultures, Beer-Sheva; Umm al-Fahem Art Gallery. Having visited all 5 collections, the students will be asked to write a final paper based on their insights following these guidelines: 

What were the academic, ideological and financial premises on which the 5 collections were assembled and presented? How have they dictated the curatorial practices? Who are the patrons or owners of the collections? Where are they housed? How is the museum's space organized? What is the link if at all between the name of the museum and its exhibitions? Which texts accompany the displays? And finally, who frequents the museums and how is it marketed to the different audiences? Through critical reading of the Israeli museums of art from the Islamic lands, we will conceive how the construct of each museum\collection\exhibition reflects the political, social, and cultural aspects of our time.

The first three meetings will be held on Thursday at the Faculty of the Arts between 12:00-14:00; the next five meetings will be held at each one of the museums listed, three on Friday between 8:30-13:30 at the most, one on Thursday between 12:00-14:00 (Musa) and one on Thursday between 10:00-15:00 at the most; the last meeting will be held on 26.12.2019 again at the Faculty of the Arts, between 12:00-14:00.