Artists Set Islamic Futurism Into Motion

"In the visual arts, these questions are unfolding in real time across studios, exhibition spaces, and online platforms. Artists are drawing from Islamic philosophy and long-standing visual traditions in expanded ways, working through code, installation, digital environments, and speculative image-making. Some embrace the terms "Islamic" or "Muslim futurism"; others move alongside it."

"What's taking shape is a living framework grounded in inheritance, tracing back to medieval Islamic astronomers who mapped the skies, and oriented toward what comes next. Of course, Islamic futurism does not emerge in isolation. Afrofuturism established a powerful and inclusive precedent, demonstrating how subaltern histories and cosmologies could be mobilized to imagine collective futures."

"Calligraphy offers a clear point of entry: As the visual medium of Qur'anic revelation, it carries devotional authority and formal discipline, shaping manuscripts, objects, and architecture across centuries. Long before the term "Islamic futurism" circulated widely online, Sudanese modernist painter Ibrahim El-Salahi was already asking what that script could become."

Muslim and Islamic artists are actively reimagining futures through visual arts by drawing from Islamic philosophy, historical traditions, and expanded creative practices including code, installation, digital environments, and speculative image-making. Islamic futurism operates as a living framework grounded in historical inheritance, tracing connections to medieval Islamic astronomers and scholars while orienting toward future possibilities. The movement builds on precedents established by Afrofuturism, which demonstrated how subaltern histories and cosmologies could mobilize collective futures. Islamic visual traditions have long accommodated realities beyond direct perception. Calligraphy serves as a significant entry point, functioning as the visual medium of Qur'anic revelation while carrying devotional authority and formal discipline across centuries of manuscripts, objects, and architecture.

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