Project description DEENESFRITPL Re-shaping our understanding of the Qur'an and Early Islam through the study of visuality The EU-funded VISIONIS project aims at writing a cultural history of vision in Early Islam (7th-11th century C.E.). It will examine how discourses, practices and artefacts connected to vision, sight and seeing have been conceptualised and calibrated in a variety of Early Muslim environments. It will investigate a diversity of hitherto unstudied visual dimensions of the Qur'anic text and study the ensuing development of visuality in Early Islamic writings and artefacts. This comprehensive research will offer the possibility of reviewing perceptions of Islam in general and of the visual culture of Early Islam in particular by raising awareness of the specificities of Muslim discourses on seeing and their historical anchoring. Show the project objective Hide the project objective Objective VISIONIS sets out to write a cultural history of vision in Early Islam. It aims to generate a paradigm shift in the understanding of visuality in the transitional period between Late Antiquity and Early Islam. The project argues that the Qur’an is a key locus for our knowledge of the scope of visual strands in the epistemic space of Late Antiquity and the ways in which these visual strands were adapted and transformed by the emerging new religious community of Muslims. It also assumes that Early Islamic exegetical, theological, legal, literary, and historiographic texts and Early Islamic artistic production attest to the heretofore unstudied adjustment, conceptualization, and calibration of the various Qur’anic visual elements in combination with local-temporal trends. The project challenges the text-oriented research on the Qur’an that has prevented scholars from perceiving the work’s entanglement with the visual cultures of Late Antiquity. It also aims to rectify the comparative research of Islamic artwork and Islamic legal statements that resulted in a lack of comprehensive research into the Qur’an and Early Islamic texts as sources for the inquiry of Islamic visual concepts and images. VISIONIS will thus reverse the state of the art through two groundbreaking endeavours: 1) study of fundamental but neglected aspects of the Qur’an and Early Islamic writings, 2) development of a holistic perspective on the use and meaning of the visual, of practices of seeing, and concepts of the sense of sight in Early Islamic textual and material culture. The project will thus dramatically improve our understanding of the cultural dynamics of Late Antiquity and Early Islam, will raise awareness of the specificities of Muslim discourses on seeing, enabling an assessment of their historical anchoring, and challenge prevailing misconceptions of Islamic visual cultures. Fields of science humanitieshistory and archaeologyhistoryancient historyhumanitiesphilosophy, ethics and religionreligionsislam Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme Topic(s) ERC-2020-STG - ERC STARTING GRANTS Call for proposal ERC-2020-STG See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-STG - Starting Grant Host institution THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM Net EU contribution € 1 500 000,00 Address EDMOND J SAFRA CAMPUS GIVAT RAM 91904 Jerusalem Israel See on map Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 1 500 000,00 Beneficiaries (1) Sort alphabetically Sort by Net EU contribution Expand all Collapse all THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM Israel Net EU contribution € 1 500 000,00 Address EDMOND J SAFRA CAMPUS GIVAT RAM 91904 Jerusalem See on map Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 1 500 000,00
