Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Maintenance as Spectacle: Imagery of the Ka’ba’s Cleaning and Kiswa

Alhazmi, Nouran Husain
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1618917807830704

Abstract Details

2021, Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, Art History (Fine Arts).
Through the use of visual documentation, this thesis argues that the maintenance of the Ka’ba is a spectacle. Yearly, two ceremonial events for maintaining the Ka’ba are held at the Haram Mosque located in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. The two events are the ceremony of replacing the Kiswa and the ceremony of cleaning the Ka’ba. The events are integral to the care and appearance of the structure while fulfilling religious and historical requirements and traditions. A spectacle is an atypical event; it is performative and engages the viewer visually. Additionally, the spectacle makes the viewer feel interest, excitement, confusion, or marvel at what is occurring. The qualities of the ceremonies of maintaining the Ka’ba align with the spectacle. The ceremonies are peculiar, grand, visually disruptive, memorable, and eye-catching. Therefore, the ceremonies are a spectacle. However, the spectacle does not end with the completion of the ceremonies; instead, they live on and continue virtually through photos and videos of the events shared and circulated online. The content captured of the ceremonies creates a virtual afterlife prolonging the events while enabling access for the greater Muslim population. The Ka'ba's maintenance reaches a wider audience due to media attention. Traditional media notifies viewers when and how to watch the events, whereas social media enables users to participate in the ceremonies by sharing, re-sharing, voicing their thoughts and opinions, and even creating artwork inspired by the events. The theorist Guy Debord notes, the spectacle is not images, but it is the conversations through images. The availability of the ceremony's documentation on social media is an ideal platform for promoting dialogue and enabling viewers of the events to be part of the spectacle. Lastly, because the ceremonies of the Ka’ba are a spectacle, they push maintenance further by taking place in public and virtually; impacting the longevity of the events, allowing them to be alive in the viewer's memory by the time the events take place the following year.
Marion Lee (Advisor)
Andrea Frohne (Committee Member)
Steve Howard (Committee Member)
156 p.
Art History; Fine Arts
Makkah; Kaba; Kaaba; Kiswa; Maintenance; Spectacle; Cleaning; Ceremony; Visual Culture; Media; Photographs; Videos

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Alhazmi, N. H. (2021). Maintenance as Spectacle: Imagery of the Ka’ba’s Cleaning and Kiswa [Master's thesis, Ohio University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1618917807830704

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Alhazmi, Nouran. Maintenance as Spectacle: Imagery of the Ka’ba’s Cleaning and Kiswa . 2021. Ohio University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1618917807830704.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Alhazmi, Nouran. "Maintenance as Spectacle: Imagery of the Ka’ba’s Cleaning and Kiswa ." Master's thesis, Ohio University, 2021. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1618917807830704

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ohiou1618917807830704
103
© 2021, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Ohio University and OhioLINK.