Revisiting Multisensory Aesthetics in Contemporary Islamic Art: Embodied, Postcolonial, and Phenomenological Approaches to the Intangible

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Art, Islamic Azad University Qaimshahr branch, Qaimshahr, Iran

2 Department of Art, Faculty of Theoretical Science Studies, Iran University of Art, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Abstract: This study revisits multisensory aesthetics in contemporary Islamic art, foregrounding the role of non-visual senses—sound, touch, smell, and taste—in artistic experience and meaning-making. Traditional historiography of Islamic art, dominated by ocularcentrism, has marginalized embodiment and the intangible. Employing postcolonial, embodied, and phenomenological frameworks, the article analyzes how contemporary Muslim artists transcend visual media to reconfigure sensory paradigms in cultural, ritual, and digital contexts. Through qualitative, context-sensitive comparison of artworks from Iran, Turkey, Egypt, Pakistan, Malaysia, and Morocco, it argues that multisensory art redefines Islamic aesthetics while resisting mono-sensory modernism. Findings reveal that embodiment and overlooked senses, intertwined with technology and historical memory, reconstruct the intangible and generate concepts like "sensory journey," "perceptible aura," and "tactile aesthetics." These insights expand Islamic art studies, positioning art as a site for reviving suppressed collective memories.
Introduction: Recent scholarship on contemporary Islamic art has embraced the "sensory turn," shifting from visual-centric analyses to multisensory and embodied inquiries. Christiane Lange (2022) calls to historicize senses in the Islamic world, critiquing ocularcentrism for sidelining olfaction, tactility, and audition. Nilay Ergin (2014) and Patricia Blessing (2022) similarly advocate re-readings of non-visual patterns. Yet a comprehensive framework that integrates postcolonial and phenomenological approaches under an embodied lens to analyze multisensory contemporary Islamic art is missing—a gap this study addresses. Key questions are: (1) How do artists use auditory, tactile, and olfactory media to forge multisensory experiences? (2) How does embodiment reshape subjectivity, identity, and postcolonial resistance? The study advances (i) a theoretical model for multisensory Islamic art analysis; (ii) a poststructural critique of visual hegemony; and (iii) links between digital technologies and sensory legacies.
Methodology: This qualitative research uses context-sensitive comparative analysis of selected contemporary Islamic artworks. Purposive criteria include: (i) emphasis on non-visual media (sound, touch, olfaction/gustation); (ii) representation of postcolonial identity and resistance; (iii) innovation blending digital technologies with Islamic sensory heritage. Data come from sensory analyses, artist statements, critiques, archives, and field observations where possible. The analytical framework synthesizes Merleau-Ponty’s embodied phenomenology, postcolonial theory (Said, Bhabha, Spivak), and multisensory aesthetics (McLuhan, Howes), with triangulation through historical sources and expert consultations.
Literature Review:
Sensory Aesthetics in Art
The sensory turn challenges ocularcentrism, emphasizing multisensory complexity (Howes, 2005). Laura Marks’s work on haptic visuality and tactility extends to multisensory media, while Enfoldment and Infinity links new media to Islamic motifs. Howes’s sensory ethnography and Classen’s cross-cultural mappings are foundational. McLuhan frames media as sensory extensions and Salter examines interactive installations. Unlike cinema- or ethnography-focused studies, this research applies these frameworks to contemporary Islamic art with an emphasis on resistance.
Postcolonial Studies on Islamic Art
Said’s Orientalism reveals Western discursive control; Nochlin critiques colonial fantasy in 19th-century painting; Naficy theorizes accented embodiment in diasporic cinema. This study flips the lens to center Muslim artists’ multisensory agency as counter-discourse.
Gaps and Innovations
Existing literature lacks an integrated model merging multisensory aesthetics, embodiment, and postcolonial critique for contemporary Islamic art. Innovations here include combining Benjamin’s notion of aura with haptic theories, foregrounding resistance through non-visual senses, and tracing technology–memory interactions that reconstruct the intangible.
Theoretical Framework
Multisensory Aesthetics
This framework contests visual primacy (Jay, 1993) and treats art as an interplay of senses (Howes; Marks). Haptic visuality, Islamic auditory and olfactory traditions, and digital mediations form analytic nodes.
Embodied Phenomenology
Merleau-Ponty positions the body as the primary locus of perception; sensory immersion evokes bodily memory. Naficy’s accented embodiment and Rancière’s distribution of the sensible inform readings of multisensory resistance.
Postcolonial Sensory Experience
Orientalist discourses exoticize non-visual senses; multisensory art reclaims heritage, giving voice to subaltern memory and trauma. The synthesis treats multisensory practices as political embodiment that reconstructs intangible Islamic heritage.
Historical Sensory Precedents in Islamic Culture
From the 8th–14th centuries, sacred spaces like Isfahan’s Jameh Mosque integrated geometry, acoustics, and light. Calligraphy implies tactile rhythm. Philosophers (e.g., Suhrawardi) and Sufi practices (sama) fused motion, sound, and scent. Ritual uses of attars and poetic forms mediated spiritual senses—precedents that contemporary artists rework.
Analysis of Selected Works
Using sensory historiography, selected works highlight non-visual resistance, heritage revival, postcolonial embodiment, and digital sacrality:
 
Chadi El-Tayeb (Morocco), Perfumes of Exile (2022): An olfactory sequence (rosewater → petroleum → tear gas) embodies colonial memory and enacts "olfactory resistance."
Fereshteh Tehrani (Iran), Echoes of Silence (2021): 364 speakers recreate suppressed female recitations; bone-conduction and spatial sound enact sonic embodiment.
Zohra Bukhari (Pakistan), Eve’s Table (2020): A gustatory performance using laddu cultivates "gustatory solidarity."
Ahmad Matin (Malaysia), Touching Light (2023): Haptic gloves and AR simulate calligraphic touch, fusing Suhrawardi’s light with digital tactility.
These works model alternative Islamic modernities, redefining sacrality and reclaiming intangible heritage through multisensory practice.
Discussion and Findings: Multisensory art reconstructs intangible collective memories and rituals by mobilizing overlooked senses as cultural carriers, activating embodied memory. The selected works—shown in international venues such as the Islamic Arts Biennale—demonstrate how multisensory strategies resist sensory hierarchies, enact postcolonial subjectivities, and bridge technology with ritual memory. Concepts emergent from the analysis (e.g., "sensory journey," "perceptible aura," "tactile aesthetics") provide tools for future research and curatorial practice.

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References

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 URL1: https://www.moma.org/collection/works/419364?locale=en
 URL2:https://athrart.com/artworks/9819-muhannad-shono-letters-in-light-lines-we-write 2023/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
 URL3: https://art.tfl.gov.uk/projects/joe-namy-radio-underground
URL4: http://danaawartani.com/artwork/where-the-dwellers-lay
URL5: https://www.artsy.net/artwork/hadieh-shafie-love
URL6: https://art.state.gov/personnel/ajlan_gharem/#foogallery-176298/i:2
 

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History

  • Receive Date: 19 September 2025
  • Revise Date: 16 October 2025
  • Accept Date: 31 October 2025
  • Publish Date: 22 June 2026

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