RE-APPROACHING ISLAMIC VISUAL TRADITION THROUGH THE LANGUAGE OF PHYSICS - GEOMETRY AND THE GRAMMAR OF HARMONY

RE-APPROACHING ISLAMIC VISUAL TRADITION THROUGH THE LANGUAGE OF PHYSICS - GEOMETRY AND THE GRAMMAR OF HARMONY

Abstract.
This paper takes off from the following proposition by Ismail Zain,
"My conviction is that with the advent of scientific theories on relativity, infinity, dematerialization, implosion, etc, the introduction to sacred primary experience in the future is not history or anthropology, but physics." (Ismail Zain:1995, p91)

The paper begins with a brief survey of existing literatures on Islamic visual tradition in Malaysia. The main focus is on critical problems in regards to the need to re-approach tradition through the language of physics, as proposed by Ismail Zain, and initially explored by Redza Piyadasa and Sulaiman Esa through their writings and artworks. The main question is how physics can be deployed in re-approaching Islamic visual tradition and what new insights can such deployment bring forward.  Therefore the objective is to further explore Ismail Zain's proposition and initial exploration by Piyadasa and Sulaiman Esa with the hope of finding new insights that will contribute critically to the appreciation of Islamic visual tradition within contemporary context.

This paper uses comparative formal and textual analysis of visual samples and textual descriptions. The visual samples and textual descriptions are sourced from selected primary and secondary materials encompassing two fields - physics and Islamic visual tradition. The visual samples include diagrams,  vector graphics, scientific and mathematical visualizations, schematic drawings, motion capture markings, cymatic images, composite images, 2D artworks, astrophotographs and photographic documentations. The textual descriptions include selected quotations from physicists, mathematicians, visual artists & theorists.

Originally, the research uses eight main themes in discussing the re-approachment. This paper focuses on one of the themes - geometry and the grammar of harmony.

The result is a critical insight, revealing that Islamic visual tradition speaks in a quantum language of higher energy.