Preface.pdf

Annette Hagedorn initiated a panel on the interaction between regional cultures of the Oriental world at the 29th German Orientalist Conference in 2003, which led to a discussion on "The Phenomenon of 'Foreign' in Oriental Art" at the 2004 conference. The term "das Fremde" or "the Foreign" refers to the opposite of near, indigenous, and familiar, and contains an aura of strange, peculiar, bizarre, and even hostile. The conference aimed to examine the phenomenon from various angles, including the portrayal of foreign peoples, attitude towards foreign culture, and treatment of the alien person. The book resulting from the conference explores how art transposes sociological phenomena in different cultures and regions, including the reciprocal fertilization of art between the Middle East, China, Europe, Persia, North Africa, Turkey, and India. Despite previous discussions, the word "das Fremde" has not been satisfactorily defined in relation to Islamic art, and the book's contributors aim to lead to further discussion and possibly a definition of the expression. The chapters discuss various aspects of "das Fremde" or "foreign" in oriental art, including the influence of Chinese art on Islamic art, early Indian and Mediterranean art, and the use of terms like "the other" and "exotic" to describe foreign art.