Art and Design Commons^™

Red Dyes From West To East In Medieval Europe: From Portuguese Manuscript Illuminations To Romanian Textiles, Irina Petroviciu, Paula Nabais, Maria J. Melo

Textile Crossroads: Exploring European Clothing, Identity, and Culture across Millennia

Red is the color par excellence, its symbolism being linked with protection and magic through its primary attributes, fire and blood. It was the predominant color from the earliest times, certainly during the Greek and Roman periods and into Medieval Europe, until blue became a competitor around the 13th century. Mineral pigments, like iron oxides, were the first red sources, used to draw lines, dots, or spots on cave walls or stones. Later, other mineral red pigments were also exploited: Cinnabar, natural mercury sulfide, since the Neolithic, and realgar, arsenic trisulfide, in Ancient Egypt. Scientific investigation revealed that, although …

Investigating Organic Colorants Across Time: Interdisciplinary Insights Into The Use Of Madder, Indigo/Woad, And Weld In Historical Written Sources, Archaeological Textiles, And Ancient Polychromy, Paula Nabais, Cecilie Brøns, Magdalena M. Wozniak

Textile Crossroads: Exploring European Clothing, Identity, and Culture across Millennia

Organic dyes have been used from the earliest times to provide color primarily to textiles, but also as a colorant in painting. Such organic dyes could create a wealth of colors, depending on the availability and know-how of resources. These dyes are usually organic in nature, and primarily obtained from different plant sources. Unfortunately, the characterization of natural organic colorants in textiles and artworks is still a challenge. The difficulty of analyzing these materials is sometimes allied to the frequent impossibility of micro-sampling, and the frailty of the objects. Many techniques, such as HPLC (High-Performance Liquid Chromatography) and SERS (Surface-Enhanced …

“What’S In A Name?” Toponyms And Loanwords In European Textile Cultures, Dimitra Andrianou, Klara Dankova, Nade Genevska Brachikj, Angela Huang, Meghan Korten, Elena Miramontes, Jasemin Nazim, Marie-Alice Rebours, Joana Sequeira

Textile Crossroads: Exploring European Clothing, Identity, and Culture across Millennia

Textiles as man-made products have been exchanged over distances for millennia. They can and have been produced almost anywhere; they are also, as a product, highly differentiated and quickly adjustable to changing demands. This brings with it naming practices to communicate about the goods in question. Textiles are labeled so that people can form expectations about them and rely on the reputation tied to the product’s identity. The terminology of textiles and textile items arises and develops in unison with technical innovations, discoveries, fashions, and trade patterns. Although the occurrence of toponyms e.g., in preindustrial trade (10th to 18th century …

The Terminology Of Soft Furnishings In Ancient Babylonia, Greece, And Rome: A Comparative Approach, Dimitra Andrianou, Elena Miramontes, Louise Quillien

Textile Crossroads: Exploring European Clothing, Identity, and Culture across Millennia

Various kinds of textiles were used to furnish domestic spaces in Antiquity, such as curtains, covers, hangings, pillows, cushions, mattresses, rugs, tapestries, tablecloths, and towels. These objects have practical and everyday functions, they embellish and add to daily comfort in the house and speak to the owner’s prosperity. Being made of perishable materials, furnishings have, on the whole, not survived in ancient Mesopotamia, Greece, and Rome. Apart from a few excavated pieces of textiles found in tombs, our information comes primarily from written testimonia and iconography.

It is thus essential to consider soft furnishings in their own right, in order …

Towards Textile Narratives: A Cross-Over Perspective On Textile Imagery In Statuary, Iconography, And Literature, Leyre Morgado-Roncal, Juliane Müller, Marisa Kerbizi

Textile Crossroads: Exploring European Clothing, Identity, and Culture across Millennia

Textiles and clothing constitute a fundamental element of our cultural past, present, and future. Therefore, they were also represented in many mediums, such as iconographic depictions and literature. Images are a source of visual and mental illustration and are often dependent on the viewer’s perspective. As a result, the representations of textiles convey social constructions and their cultural perception. Their study is the focal point of this article: The ways in which textiles and clothing are described by the imagery shown in Greek and Roman statuary and iconography, as well as in contemporary Albanian literature and mythology.

Representations illustrate the …

Searching For The Exotic: Textiles, Orientalism, And Identities, Ana Cabrera, Roxana Coman, Karolina A. Kulpa, Tim Parry-Williams

Textile Crossroads: Exploring European Clothing, Identity, and Culture across Millennia

Textiles, with their economic, sartorial, and identity-constructing functions, have long been at the center of cultural discourses, whether narrative or visual. Objects of desire, but also objects of curiosity, textiles have been the topic of costume books, offered in diplomatic exchanges, collected by private collectors and museums alike, and have traveled, sometimes as sample books. Their Othering function did not only differentiate between members of different civilizations, but also the members of the same society, where clothing was used to signal rank and function. The case studies presented intend to elaborate further on the role and symbolism associated with textiles, …

Clothing In Transition: Social, Symbolic, And Legal Aspects Of Garments From Prehistory To The Early Byzantine Period, Tina Boloti, Francesca Scotti, Cristina Cumbo, Petra Linscheid

Textile Crossroads: Exploring European Clothing, Identity, and Culture across Millennia

Since ancient times, garments served a wide range of purposes: Either functional, providing protection by covering the body, or symbolic, as an element of non-verbal communication and marker of identity. In particular, this stimulates the development of specific characteristics in shape, decoration, or material composition, which generate distinctions among garments, as acknowledged by Roman jurists too.

These distinctions are determined by various factors. One important factor is the social meaning of clothing: There are garments for public life, garments expressing rank, garments suited for special professions, or garments intended for sacred/priestly rites reflecting particular religious symbols. And, of course, clothes …

Young Romans: Status, Dress, And Gender, Mary Harlow, Lena Larsson Lovén

Textile Crossroads: Exploring European Clothing, Identity, and Culture across Millennia

The demographics of the Roman world suggest that it was a world full of children. Demographers argue that in order simply to maintain population levels in a period where life expectancy was very short by modern standards, and infant mortality high, a woman should, on average, have six children, on the assumption that not all would live to adulthood. Despite much research in the last fifty years, children still remain partly invisible in the Roman world. This is primarily because they leave little evidence produced by themselves and are seen through the prism of adult eyes. Inevitably, given the nature …

Inka Khipus, Thread Wrappings And Subject Markers, Lucrezia Milillo

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on Pre-Columbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022.

This work aims to contribute to our current understanding of how information was organized in khipus, Andean colourful knotted cords used as writing. If the idea that khipu signs could work as a flow chart was common in the last two decades, it is not until the notion of kayte as subject marker was elaborated by Sabine Hyland on the basis of Julio C. Tello's notes that the theory could be discussed on more empirical grounds. So far, the term “kayte” applied to needlework bundles, pompons or tufts attached to the beginning of the primary cord. In this work, the …

El Traje Ceremonial De Los Samilantes, Olga Liliana Sulca, Enrique Oscar Cifre Kargachin

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on Pre-Columbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022.

En la Puna salto jujeña (extremo noroeste de Argentina), se celebran todos los años una serie de festividades que vinculan la tradición católica con una serie de rituales, cuyos orígenes tienen profundas raíces prehispánicas. En estas celebraciones se entrelazan música, atuendos, danzas y ceremonias. Una de esas expresiones sincréticas es la denominada Danza del Suri. Sus participantes, también llamados samilantes o “plumudos” se destacan por el uso de un particular atavío, cuya finalidad tiene como objetivo encarnar el aspecto y la conducta del suri o ñandú cordillerano (ave no voladora) que se extiende por el área cordillerana desde el altiplano …

Un Rompecabezas Textil En Las Colecciones Del Mudec: Conservación Y Exposición De Una Prenda Chuquibamba, Carolina Orsini, Cinzia Oliva

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on Pre-Columbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022.

En este artículo presentamos las estrategias adoptadas para conservar un textil de estilo Chuquibamba procedente del mercado anticuario. La pieza había sido reconstruida al azar para darle un aspecto “integro” y facilitar su venta. Las intervenciones permitieron reconstruir su aspecto original y proponer una hipótesis sobre su función.

In this paper we present the strategies adopted to conserve a Chuquibamba textile circulating in the antique market. The piece had been reconstructed randomly to give it an “intact” appearance and facilitate its sale. The interventions made it possible to reconstruct its original appearance and to do some conjectures about its function.

Portada E Información Editorial / Frontmatter And Editorial Information

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on Pre-Columbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022.

Covers - Cubiertas; Contents - Contenido; Programme – Programa; Asociaciones Sponsors; Words from Director – Palabras de la directora ▪ Marina Pugliese; Preface – Prólogo ▪ Carolina Orsini, Federica Villa ; Photos from the workshop - Fotos del taller; Links to recorded sessions online @ Youtube - Enlaces a sesiones grabadas en línea @ Youtube

Festones En Pequeñas Vestimentas De Enterratorios De Altura (Capacocha), Verónica Cereceda Bianchi

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on Pre-Columbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022.

Los festones son bordados exteriores que se incorporan en prendas ya terminadas en un telar. En el presente texto intentamos un análisis de este tipo de terminaciones que circundaba las vestimentas de pequeñas estatuitas en esos importantes rituales de sacrificios infantiles que son las capacocha. Por la cantidad de reglas que implicaba su elaboración, tanto en lo que se refiere a su ubicación como en la sintaxis de su organización cromática, es posible considerarlos como verdaderos códigos que cumplían sus mensajes de comunicación y sus posibles poderes rituales, a partir de angostas listas de diferentes colores, sin necesidad de utilizar …

An Examination Of An Inka(?) Aksu In The Collections Of The Textile Museum, Shelley Burian

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on Pre-Columbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022.

This paper presents the preliminary results and conclusions from an examination of an exceedingly rare example of a weft-face and tapestry-woven aksu in the collections of The Textile Museum. Patterned with figurative butterflies, the garment closely resembles those depicted by Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala in several of his illustrations of ceremonies and elite women. Its features present challenges for determining its dates and the level of social status it represents or confers. The similarity between the aksu’s butterflies and those in a checkerboard unku in the Field Museum provides suggestive evidence for its use in an official state setting. …

Kuna Shirts From Panama In Brussels’ Art And History Museum, Anne-Françoise Martin

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on Pre-Columbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022.

The Kuna live in the San Blas Archipelago off the coast of Panama. Kuna women make cotton shirts (mola/molakana) using the reverse appliqué technique. They start by superimposing several thin layers of very colourful fabric. A subtle positioning of cuts brings out the colours of the lower layers and creates patterns. Kuna women are inspired by plants and animals in the nature that surrounds them when creating these patterns. They also draw on a repertoire of patterns from everyday objects. These shirts, sewn with pride and a great deal of humour, can tell us a lot about Kuna society. They …

Knot Anomalies On Inka Khipus: Revising Locke’S Knot Typology, Sabine Hyland

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on Pre-Columbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022.

In 2007, in the IV Actas de las Jornadas Internacionales sobre Textiles Precolombinos, Kylie Quave noted the existence of various structural anomalies in khipus presumed to date to the Late Horizon. These anomalies included the use of non-cotton vegetal fibres, the inclusion of single red strings, subsidiary cords that are plied through rather than half hitched, and the placement of long knots and figure-8 knots “in a way that precludes a numerical reading”. Since Quave’s article, there has been little examination of such anomalies, nor have scholars known whether such anomalies were to be found in khipus that had …

Evidencias De Tecnología Textil En Un Basural Del Santuario De Pachacamac, Rommel Angeles Falcón, Susana Abad, Janet Oshiro

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on Pre-Columbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022.

Recientes excavaciones arqueológicas en el santuario arqueológico de Pachacamac, valle de Lurín, Costa Central del Perú, permitieron identificar un denso basural del período Inca (Siglos XV-XVI) que contenía una importante cantidad de elementos relacionados a la actividad textil: husos, piruros, ovillos, espadas, estacas y peines, entre otros que permiten visualizar la cadena operativa que se realizaba en el santuario de Pachacamac.

Recent archaeological investigations in the archeological site of Pachacamac (Lurin Valley, Central Coast of Peru) allowed us to identify a dense Inca garbage dump (XV-XVI centuries) that contained an important amount of textile artifacts: spindles, piruros, balls, swords, stakes …

Textiles Y Plumas. Documentación Y Conservación De La Colección Etnográfica Del Museo De Farmacobotánica Juan A. Domínguez, Facultad De Farmacia Y Bioquímica De La Universidad De Buenos Aires (Argentina), Silvana Di Lorenzo, Lucila Pesoa, Cecilia Pérez De Micou, María Del Carmen Toribio

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on Pre-Columbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022.

El museo de Fármacobotánica “Juan A. Domínguez” preserva una interesante colección etnográfica de textiles y plumaria procedente de varias regiones de Argentina, Bolivia y Paraguay. En este trabajo presentamos el estado de avance de la investigación, documentación y conservación preventiva en referencia al patrimonio recolectado en la región del Gran Chaco. Mediante este proyecto independiente de investigación y conservación nuestro objetivo es dar a conocer esta colección inédita para preservarla, ponerla en valor y propender a su visualización.

The “Juan A. Domínguez” Pharmacobotanical Museum preserves an interesting ethnographic collection of textiles and feathers form various regions of Argentina, Bolivia and …

Las Tapicerías Del Sitio Topater En El Contexto De Los Textiles Del Formativo Medio (500 A.C.-100 D.C.) En Atacama, Soledad Hoces De La Guardia Chellew, Ana María T. Rojas Zepeda

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on Pre-Columbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022.

El presente trabajo expone un conjunto excepcional de piezas en técnica de tapicería encontrados en el cementerio de Topater, cercano al rio Loa, ubicado en el desierto de Atacama, Norte de Chile. Estos tejidos, objeto de investigaciones previas (Agüero 2000; Cases 2000; Sinclaire 2001), en conjunto con los anillados y los textiles con afelpados de mecha, constituyen la base de caracterización técnica del sitio. Las nuevas condiciones de almacenaje y reciente procesamiento de este material han permitido abarcar la totalidad de los textiles en tapicería, profundizando un estudio técnico estructural y de sistemas de representación asociados para desde allí replantear …

Inka Interaction At Caleta Vitor, Northern Chile: Evidence From Archaeological Textiles, Tracy Martens

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on Pre-Columbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022.

Our understanding of Inka expansion continues to develop with new research further cementing the idea that the Inka’s expansionary tactics were targeted and agile, specifically enacted to achieve coercive control over populations, resources, and specialist craft expertise. The nature of Inka influence at Caleta Vitor has not yet been established, however, the data now strongly suggest that the population was entangled in a complex negotiated process commonly undertaken by the Inka in new territories. This paper contributes to our understanding of Inka interaction at Caleta Vitor with new data from archaeological textiles that demonstrate Caleta Vitor’s Imperial connections.

Nuestra comprensión …

Moche-Wari Textiles From Huaca Del Sol, Moche Influence In The Middle Horizon, Amy Oakland

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on Pre-Columbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022.

This paper analyzes a selection of textiles excavated in 2013 in the destroyed late Middle Horizon (AD 800-1000) cemetery on Huaca del Sol, Huacas de Moche in the Moche Valley of northern Peru. The Huaca Sol textile group was woven with local, Moche style S-spun cotton yarns between AD 888-1050, calibrated radiocarbon dates along with a small number of Wari textiles, late Moche and Wari ceramics and ceramics in Casma and Cajamarca styles. Textile structure and design provide the basis for reconstruction into complete garment types known to other Middle Horizon collections on the central and southern coast where Moche …

Estrategias Posibles Para La Protección De Las Memorias Y Patrimonios Textiles De La Región Huasteca De México, Claudia Rocha Valverde

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on Pre-Columbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022.

México es un país que cuenta con importantes saberes históricos que han implicado el uso, intercambio y confección de sistemas indumentarios de poderoso valor simbólico y estético relacionado a cosmovisiones indígenas. Este tipo de saberes colectivos guardan una serie de conocimientos tecnológicos, además de complejos repertorios figurativos entre otros. Más allá de su compleja riqueza estética, los textiles tradicionales implican procesos de vida en los que las agentes primordiales han sido las mujeres a lo largo de la historia. En los últimos tres años de manera sistemática en México se han exhibido casos de plagio de elementos textiles que evidencian …

Entre Lo Simbólico Y Lo Material. Textiles Moche Para La Eternidad, Arabel Fernández López

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on Pre-Columbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022.

Una revisión de distintas evidencias materiales provenientes principalmente de contextos funerarios de personajes de la élite gobernante mochica, así como de las imágenes plasmadas en la cerámica, metales y arte mural policromo, dejan entrever aspectos poco conocidos sobre el rol que cumplió la textilería en esta sociedad (100 – 850 d. C.), revelando una serie de temas simbólicos vinculados a los mitos y ritos que formaron parte de la cosmovisión andina mochica que, además, se fundieron con la propuesta ideológica impuesta por la clase gobernante. Las evidencias y contextos registrados durante las excavaciones arqueológicas permiten sostener que, en los distintos …

Las Warakas (Hondas) De Arena Blanca, Cerro Colorado Y Wari Kayan En La Península De Paracas: Nuevos Datos E Interpretaciones, Jessica Lévy Contreras, Ann H. Peters

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on Pre-Columbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022.

Las hondas o warakas halladas en la Península de Paracas, contextos mortuorios que datan del final del Formativo Tardío a inicios del Periodo Intermedio Temprano, 400 a.C. – 250 d.C., ofrecen datos inéditos para entender mejor su confección, uso y función simbólica. A partir del estudio de los registros gráficos y fotográficos de las excavaciones de la tumba T.27 en Arena Blanca, realizadas por Engel y Bischof en 1959, hemos desarrollado un nuevo estudio de sus materiales, tanto para la recuperación de los datos como para su puesta en valor, teniendo en cuenta las problemáticas arqueológicas actuales. Hemos comparado los …

La Representación De Los Seres Voladores En Tejidos Ceremoniales Tiwanaku, Elisa Cont

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on Pre-Columbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022.

Este estudio iconográfico e iconológico se propone analizar la representación de una particular tipología de seres antropo-zoomorfos en la cultura Tiwanaku mediante una investigación transdisciplinaria, que incluye estudios de arqueología, antropología, semiótica y estética. Algunos seres antropo-zoomorfos con atributos de aves, felinos, cérvidos y llamas estarían representados flotando en sentido horizontal, y simbolizarían el chamán en su estado de trance, realizando su viaje mágico, a través del consumo de unas substancias psicoactivas. Los artistas tiwanakotas por medio de las imágenes de “seres voladores” reflejarían unos principios acerca de su cosmovisión, y revelarían el rol fundamental que algunas experiencias mágicos-religiosas ejercían …

El Horizonte Medio En Huacas De Moche: Naturaleza De La Ocupación Post-Mochica En Huaca Del Sol (C. 800-1000 D.C.), Lizbeth Pariona, Carlos Rengifo, Moisés Tufinio

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on Pre-Columbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022.

Este artículo presenta los resultados del análisis estilístico y de técnicas de manufactura de un grupo de textiles recuperados en contextos funerarios correspondientes a la segunda mitad del Horizonte Medio (800-1000 d.C.) excavados en el edificio conocido como Huaca del Sol, en el sitio Huacas de Moche de la costa peruana. Estos materiales orgánicos presentan características que permiten la identificación de rasgos del estilo Mochica local junto con estilos foráneos, lo que ayuda a una mejor comprensión de las interacciones culturales en el sitio durante este singular periodo. Los resultados de este estudio brindan, además, nuevos detalles sobre las características …

Metamorfosis Del Huipil De Chicahuaxtla A Través Del Tiempo, Yatahli Otilia Rosas Sandoval, Hector Manuel Meneses Lozano

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on Pre-Columbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022.

El estudio sistemático de los tejidos que resguardan los museos suelen realizarse por personas ajenas a las comunidades de origen de dichas piezas. Este trabajo presenta un acercamiento entre el Colectivo Llana Huaricnn conformado por tejedoras de la localidad de San Andrés Chicahuaxtla en Oaxaca, México, y el Museo Textil de Oaxaca, con la intención de mirar en conjunto las características técnicas de un grupo de huipiles resguardados tanto por el Colectivo, como por el Museo. El trabajo en conjunto permitió desarrollar una ficha técnica que incluyera información relevante para ambas partes involucradas. El resultado final permite cuestionar las prácticas …

Watu, Chumbe Y Cobija. Patrones Textiles En La Alta Amazonía Peruana. Movilidad, Persistencias Y Transformaciones En El Largo Tiempo, María Elena Del Solar

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on Pre-Columbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022.

La convivencia de dos formas de producción textil, organizadas a partir de técnicas y necesidades histórica y culturalmente modeladas, constituyen lo cotidiano en la mayoría de comunidades tejedoras del territorio andino. Ambas modalidades, el telar de cintura de origen prehispánico y el telar de pedal de tipo español, producen tejidos desde lógicas diversas que testimonian sobre aspectos centrales de la vida de las sociedades andinas, en una suerte de diagnóstico socio cultural e histórico. En este artículo se presentan algunas características constantes, así como peculiares, en los patrones textiles del grupo kichwa lamista del piedemonte amazónico, zona montañosa del nororiente …

Behind The Lens, Jolie M. Adams Miss

Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

What Fuels Me as a Photographer?

Many photographers don’t realize their ability and opportunity to give back and make a difference. I believe photography extends beyond taking a series of photographs. For me, it is my way of serving others, connecting with people, and sharing their stories. I believe photography is a powerful tool to inspire change in communities—especially in those that are underserved. Photos are visual statements of humanity: an abstract of our failures, ignorance, arrogance, compassion, resilience, progress, and so much more. I want my photography to go beyond a small circle of influence. All of us have …

Unfolding Remembrance: Folding Islamic Principles Into Pondering Machines, Hind Al Saad Al-Kuwari

Theses and Dissertations

Principles of early Islamic art can be surveyed as a precursor to Western computational art. Though produced in different historical and cultural contexts, Islamic art and computational art are connected by underlying structures—arithmetic, harmony, and the concept of the Infinite.

Islamic developments in knowledge, like algebra, contributed to mathematics and mechanics—the building blocks of contemporary technology. Returning to Islam’s traditional harmony between religion and science, my creative practice constructs machines as an act of worship (ʿibadah), folding Islamic principles into the medium of computation.

Selected verses from the Quran are used as the core of each automaton (self-operating machine). Their …