A Veiled Gazelle - Intimations of the Infinite and Eternal

The Al-Andalus region, linking North Africa and Europe, was a meeting place for people and ideas in the medieval period. Its architectural legacy is distinguished by ceilings, floors, and walls intricately patterned with complex geometries that unite mathematics and aesthetics. A Veiled Gazelle uses experiential environments, three-dimensional films, and miniatures of sites from Spain and Morocco to teach visitors about the artistic and intellectual underpinnings of Islamic architecture. This immersive exhibition is conceived as a site for programming related to Islamic art, geometry, and science, including a stereoscopic film on the history and architecture of Al-Andalus. The gallery has been reimagined as an installation of two key Islamic architectural forms: muqarnas—plaster or ceramic honeycombed squinches, arches, vaults, and domes—and lacería, ceilings made of intricate latticed wood. Visitors learn about the geometric families central to Islamic design and discover how these beautiful and often confoundingly complex patterns have been created for more than a thousand years simply using a compass and straightedge.