حکمت معاصر (Feb 2016)
Understanding Islamic Arts in Epistemological System of Western Museums
Abstract
Abstract Islamic Arts in Museums, are distracted from their original function and placed in another world. Though the role of museums in the semantic transformation of Islamic arts is an open question in this study. In this regard, the formation of the first collections of Islamic art (from the late 18th century to the twentieth century in Europe and then in America) is of great importance. Hence our present understanding of Islamic arts is significantly influenced by the legacy and dominant discourses of those first temporary exhibitions in the West and their approaches. This study is qualitative and used descriptive and analytical method. The article assumes that Islamic arts experience different valuesat Western museums, though, an analysis of the literature is presented and three dominant approaches of orientalism, art history, and cross-cultural studies at museums. The results show that domination of the mentioned epistemological Systems, in early museums of Islamic art in the West, has affected our understanding of Islamic heritage as "goods", "art" and “Cultural Goods", and correspond to three distinct values, i.e. economic, aesthetic, and symbolic, in Islamic art. According to this study Semantic transformation and assigning different values are the consequences of representation of Islamic art in museums.
