Derrida’s Grammatology and Ibn Arabi’s Meccan Revelations @ TASWIR Projects

5. – 7. April, 2013

Berlin

From April 5th to April 7th 2013, a three days seminar on Derrida and Ibn Arabi took place in the living room of A.S. Bruckstein hosting the Graduate School of Islamic Theology on the premises of TASWIR projects / ha’atelier in Berlin. TASWIR projects therewith continues its practice to work, think, and study in its own individual space, kitchen, library, atelier. This time ha’atelier had the privilege of hosting a group of brilliant doctoral candidates in Germany’s newly emerging field of Islamic theology engaged in the study of Ibn Arabi and other classical literary sources.

The seminar followed the desire of about fifteen graduates of the German Graduate School for Islamic Theology from several German universities to relate selected passages from Ibn Arabi’s Meccan Revelations to Derrida’s Grammatology and to issues of the TASWIR project.The Graduate School for Islamic Theology is a unique project in Europe, initiated and realized by the Mercator Foundation in cooperation with seven universities in Germany.

The workshop was conceived, planned and directed by the Graduate Fellows. Upon their request, I had the pleasure to serve as interlocutor for the seminar. Together we explored the dynamics of seeing, tasting, creative thinking, veiling, mirroring, unveiling, light and color, text, things, and Taswir, inspired by the contemporaneity of Ibn Al’Arabi, groundbreaking 13th century mystic, poet, and thinker.

On the third day, the seminar hosted the artist ALI KAAF who spoke with us about some of his works: “Ras-Ras,” “Mihrab,” “Rift,” and sharing insights into his new video works based on glass and splintered mirrors.

We would like to develop this seminar into a collaborative forthcoming series of workshops tentatively called “KALAM 2.0 – A Radical Project of Thought,” yet to be conceived in collaboration with our loosely associated faculty. The work of Elliot R. Wolfson, Jalal Toufic, Walid Raad, Abdelwahab Meddeb, Oliver Schneller, Gil Anidjar, Judith Butler, Tony Chakar, a.o., played a central role in our discussions.

We thank the Mercator Foundation / Graduate School for Islamic Theology for realizing this very special beginning of what already constitutes an exciting agenda – here and elsewhere.