Inside/Outside Islamic Art and Architecture

When we walk into a gallery we have a fairly good idea where the building begins and ends; and inside while observing a painting we are equally confident in distinguishing between the painting-proper and its frame and borders. Yet things are often more complicated. A building defines an exterior space just as much as an interior and what we perceive to be ornamental and marginal to a given painting may in fact be central to what it represents. In this volume a simple question is presented: instead of dichotomous separations between inside and outside or exterior and interior what other relationships can we think of?<br/><br/>The first book of its kind to grapple with this question <i>Inside/Outside Islamic Art and Architecture</i> focuses on a wide spectrum of mediums and topics including painted manuscripts objects architectural decoration architecture and urban planning and photography. Bringing together scholars with diverse methodologies-who work on a geographical span stretching from India to Spain and Nigeria and across a temporal spectrum from the thirteenth to the twenty-first century-this original book also poses engaging questions about the boundaries of the field.