The Center of the Revival of Arab Scientific Heritage Organizes a Workshop“The Influence of Baghdad on Fine Arts,”
Under the supervision of Professor Dr. Laith Majid Hussein, Director of the Center for the Revival of Arab Scientific Heritage at the University of Baghdad, the Baghdad Documentation Department organized a workshop on Wednesday, November 5, 2025in the Professor Nabeela Abdul Muneem Dawood Hall. it was attended by a number of researchers and academics specializing in art, sociology, and cultural heritage. The workshop, entitled “The Influence of Baghdad on Fine Arts,” the lecture presented by Assistant Lecturer Surur Mohammed Khalil from the College of Arts – University of Baghdad. She discussed Baghdad’s pioneering role as a complex social and cultural space that has contributed to shaping the aesthetic structure of Iraqi fine art. She emphasized that this art cannot be understood apart from the social and historical structures that produced it. The discussion addressed Baghdadi art as a symbolic system reflecting the dynamics of Iraqi society and its transformations through periods of prosperity, conflict, and war. The researcher also presented examples from the works of Jawad Salim and his colleagues in the Baghdad School of Modern Art, highlighting their embodiment of the dialectical relationship between the artist and society. According to Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of the artistic field, the artist interacts with social structures, values, and institutions to produce visual symbols that express collective identity and reveal a symbolic capital tied to place and history. The workshop aimed to emphasize the significance of Baghdadi fine art, which is not merely an aesthetic practice but a visual social discourse documenting the transformations of collective consciousness and expressing the spirit of the city — between nostalgia and resistance, continuity of heritage, and the question of modernity. The session included several interventions discussing the importance of art and heritage. At the conclusion of the workshop, the center’s administration thanked the researcher, wishing her continued success in serving the University of Baghdad and beloved Iraq.
