One of the most important forms of artistic expression in Islam is Kufic calligraphy. It was precisely in this form of writing that God’s word in the Qur’an was taken down with devotion at the beginnings of Islam’s history.

Kufic calligraphy incarnates the foundational concept of “logocentrism” which defines Islamic metaphysics and spirituality. We could succinctly define this concept by saying that “logocentrism” characterizes cultures whose system of values and metaphysical construction lies in speech, language and writing, namely its “logos.” In Islam, God is known and knowable only through language, which means that the divine is “logos” from the human perspective. Therefore, if we adhere to the religious meaning of the adjective “Islamic,” any cultural or artistic expression thus categorized in some way or another bears features of logocentrism. In the sacred art of Islamic writing, the great beauty of the aesthetic experience of Kufic calligraphy emphasizes and enhances the message received from God, which the object in and of itself is supposed to convey. By performing this basic act of sublimation, Kufic calligraphy bestowed a sacred connotation and high aesthetic value to the art of calligraphy in general, combining all types of artistic styles and media, including objects and architecture itself, whether of a secular or religious nature.

On the basis of these premises, Valérie González, who will be accompanied by the General Director of Casa Árabe, Pedro Villena, will be analyzing the role played by writing and calligraphy, and more specifically Kufic writing, as artistic paradigms in Islamic logocentrism at this conference. She will examine masterpieces of Kufic calligraphy used in different media, such as books, architecture and objects created by artists, to show how the sacred human act of setting down Divine Revelation in writing gave rise to a sublimating visualization that transcended beyond just religious art. A special emphasis will be placed on the Samanid ceramics of the tenth and eleventh centuries, whose wonderful calligraphic decoration blurs the border between the ordinary and the extraordinary, so deeply rooted within the West’s aesthetic consciousness.