11th Hamad bin Khalifa Symposium on Islamic Art Concludes with Powerful Insights into Contemporary Asian Visual Culture

The 11th Hamad bin Khalifa Symposium on Islamic Art concluded this week at VCUarts Qatar, drawing scholars, artists, and experts from around the world for three days of dialogue and insight centered on the theme “Islam and Visual Culture in Contemporary Asia.” 

“Since its inception in 2004, the Hamad bin Khalifa Symposium on Islamic Art has grown into one of the world’s most significant platforms dedicated to advancing scholarship and elevating new voices in the field,” said Amir Berbić, Dean of VCUarts Qatar. “This Symposium showcases the role of art and design in fostering dialogue, research, and creative exchange across cultures. It brought participants in a shared space where new ways of seeing and interpreting visual heritage emerged — ones that link tradition to experimentation, and scholarship to creative practice. 

“Guests left seeing Islamic art through a new lens, and the conversations that began here will continue to evolve into dialogue that reminds us how creative research can bridge worlds and expand understanding.”

Sponsored by Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) School of the Arts in Richmond, Virginia, VCUarts Qatar and Qatar Foundation, the Hamad bin Khalifa Symposium on Islamic Art seeks to explore broad issues in the visual arts of the Islamic world. The 2025 edition held November 8–10, explored how Muslim communities across South, Southeast, and East Asia express Islamic identity through contemporary visual culture and artistic practice.

This year’s edition pushed the field of Islamic art beyond its traditional geographies, shifting the conversation toward Asian contexts that are often overlooked. Through panels, artist’s talks, and conversations, participants examined how Islamic aesthetics and lived practices intersect with photography, textile art, architecture, and community-based projects.

The Symposium was co-chaired by Dr. Hala Auji, VCUarts Richmond, Hamad bin Khalifa Endowed Chair for Islamic Art and Dr. Radha Dalal, Associate Professor and Director of Art History, VCUarts Qatar, whose curatorial research spanned Hong Kong, Singapore and Seoul. Their site visits to museums, galleries and Islamic cultural sites informed the Symposium’s thematic approach and speaker selection.

A highlight of the event was the keynote address by Malaysian interdisciplinary artist Yee I-Lann, titled “The Surface Remembers: Decolonial Groundwork from the Archipelago.” Yee’s keynote explored Southeast Asia’s layered histories and the role of collective making in resisting colonial narratives. Her accompanying exhibition, paths of the wind weave shadows bare bones of a mat, opened this week at The Gallery at VCUarts Qatar and remains on view to the public through December 6, 2025. The exhibition invites visitors to consider materiality, language, and power through community collaboration.