Speaker
Description
This paper will look at the intersection between architecture and the history of science in the Islamic world, focusing on the early modern Ottoman empire. It will particularly discuss the role of mathematical sciences in relation to architectural practices. Whereas geometry and arithmetic were important in various artistic practices, their use constantly changed, altering architectural practice and knowledge. Architects relied on specific forms of practical knowledge rather than applying theories. Yet scholarship in the history of science frequently relies on a fixed notion of Islamic architecture, leading to anachronistic reading of this interaction. Through a few case studies based on the sciences of surveying, geometry, and arithmetic, I will argue how it is crucial to critically engage with the transformations in art and architectural histories to understand this evolving relationship better. This reevaluation will also place history of science within its social and cultural context in specific periods while considering its link to the practical realm.
Short Biography
Gül Kale is trained as an architect (ITU) and architectural historian (McGill). She is an Associate Professor of Architectural History and Theory at Carleton University, Canada. Before joining Carleton University, she was awarded a Getty/ ACLS postdoctoral fellowship in Art History in 2018-2019. Her areas of expertise are architectural history and theory with a focus on the early modern Ottoman empire and cross-cultural and global histories and theories of material culture and of the built environment in the wider Mediterranean world and the Middle East. Her book-length project is the first critical analysis of the only early modern book written by a scholar, Cafer Efendi, on Ottoman architecture entitled "Risale-i Mimariyye (1614). During the winter of 2019, she was an AKPIA associate at Harvard University. Her scholarship was also supported by postdoctoral fellowships from the University of Bonn’s Annmarie-Schimmel Kolleg and the Art Histories Program of the Forum Transregionale Studien Berlin. She has been a visiting scholar at various institutes, such as the Kunsthistorisches Institute in Florenz, the Art History Department of the Freie Universität, Berlin, and McGill University’s Institute of Islamic Studies. Her published articles appear in the journals Muqarnas, JSAH, RES, Architectural Histories, and H-Art, as well as in edited volumes "Living with Nature and Things" and "The Mercantile Effect.” Most recently, she has been awarded an SSHRC Insight Development Grant for her research on the social and cultural history of architectural tools and measurements.
| Keywords | Architectural history, art history, history of mathematics, critical historiography |
|---|---|
| gulkale@cunet.carleton.ca | |
| Affiliation | Carleton University |
| Position | Associate Professor |
