The concept of al-jamaal for public art in the institutional outdoor spaces

Abstract

The secularism has brought enormous shifts to the meaning of Islamic aesthetics that caused variance in interpretations of aesthetics and art between Islamic and secular ideologies. Despite many studies in Islamic aesthetics in various disciplines, there has been a handful of study to understand it through appreciation and contemplation in the context of outdoor public art. Numerous studies have attributed Islamic contemplation as the stage of spiritual cognition through the understanding of the Qur’an and Sunnah. In this regard, intellectual and ethical dimensions are vital in dictating the choice of form and content of Islamic public art that promote contemplative outdoor spaces. Even though public art has aesthetic quality, it is often considered only for the beautification of spaces, not promoting a contemplative environment to observers. Thus, aesthetics quality in public art is claimed to contribute limited functions in promoting contemplative environment. This study establishes the concept of ‘Al-Jamaal’ as a lens to explore the Islamic aesthetics concept. A framework derived from the concept can be applied as a public art expression and ways to promote contemplation of outdoor spaces. The framework outlines the meaning, attributes and roles of outdoor Islamic public art in promoting a contemplative environment. Four objectives were set out in the research: (1) To identify the concept of beauty and aesthetics in arts and public art, (2) To examine the meaning of Al-Jamaal in relation to the concept of Islamic aesthetics in public art, (3) To examine the significant attributes and roles of Al-Jamaal concept for public art, and (4) To propose a framework of Al-Jamaal for public art in promoting contemplative outdoor spaces. The research adopted qualitative research with two main types of data collection which are site inventory and in-depth interview. Before main data collections, review from seminal literatures is vital to establish the fundamental concept of Al-Jamaal and the pre-determined variables of the research. Site inventory through direct observation was used to document the forms and contents (message, function and location) of public art with visible Islamic elements such as calligraphy and arabesque forms. In-depth interviews were carried out among 16 key informants by using directed content analysis to explore the meanings, attributes and the roles of Al-Jamaal as public art expression, particularly in the local context. Findings of the research suggest: (1) The meaning of Islamic aesthetics is based on spiritual, intellectual, ethical, socio-cultural, psychological and environmental dimensions. All these dimensions are laid out in the translation of Al-Jamaal (one of the Attributes of Allah as the Most Divine Beauty) in reference to Al-Qur’an and Sunnah. (2) Contents (message of the artwork) and Forms (physical appearance of the artwork) are found to be significant as the attributes of Islamic public art. Findings indicate that outdoor public art applications in the local context have weak meaning and intention. As such, the study suggests that spiritual, intellectual, ethical, environmental and socio-cultural play crucial roles manifest public art in Islamic perspectives. Their contributions transcend the idea of serving society because arts in Islamic context are considered as an act of glorifying the Supreme Creator.