"Towards Better Arabic Calligraphy"
Conference
20–22 July 2004
A conference on “Towards Better Arabic calligraphy” was held for three days from 20-22 July 2004. This conference was organized by the Arabic Calligraphy Unit of the Calligraphy Center in cooperation with the General Egyptian Society for Arabic Calligraphy, the Education Directorate of Alexandria and some Faculties of Alexandria University under the auspices of Dr. Ismail Serageldin, Director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina.
An exhibition entitled “The Deterioration and Creativity of Arabic Calligraphy” was held to accompany the conference. It included the work of the three pioneers of Arabic calligraphy: Sayed Ibrahim, Mohamed Ibrahim and Kamel Ibrahim. It also included the work of Egyptian calligraphers who won in the Sixth International Competition for Arabic Calligraphy which was organized by the Research Center of Islamic Culture, Art and History in Istanbul which is part of the Islamic Conference Organization. In addition, it included samples of the writings of Calligraphy School students and students in all stages of education and some institutions. In this exhibition a workshop for talented students in Arabic calligraphy was held.
The conference was a result of great efforts which lasted for 10 months during which the Center held two sessions to study and discuss the problem of 'not- up- to- the' standard handwriting and providing the proper attention to the art of Arabic calligraphy not being given the proper attention by students in all stages of educational in particular, and by the mass people in general. The Center invited a group of specialists in Arabic calligraphy, language, curriculum and teaching methodology, university professors and media experts. The outcome of these two sessions brought forth a number of views and ideas that were defined and limited by a committee of syllabus, teaching methodology and Arabic language professors at the Faculties of Education and Arts, in addition to Education and Arabic calligraphy experts.
