Dr. Mazen Asfour, a Jordan

Jordan

Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...

ian art critic who graduated from the University of Bologna

University of Bologna

The Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna is the oldest continually operating university in the world, the word 'universitas' being first used by this institution at its foundation. The true date of its founding is uncertain, but believed by most accounts to have been 1088...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, and he holds a Ph. D in Art criticism and Philosophy of Art and Aesthetics

Aesthetics

Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste...

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Mazen Asfour now is a professor in the History of Arts and Art Aesthetics at Jordan University's Faculty of Fine Arts and Design.

Biography

Dr. Azfour spent almost 15 years in Florence and Bologna, studying “museologia”, art criticism, aesthetics, semiology where Prof. Umberto Eco taking his cultural role at the University of Bologna. Through the same period he worked as art reporter for the Jordan Times and Al Rrai Newspaper, covering Italian art and cultural activities. Then he became a professor in contract at the Faculty of Archeology and Antiquities in Ravenna (University of Bologna) teaching History of Islamic Art and Islamic Archeology for two years.

Philosophy

Called by the Jordan University to participate in the establishing process of the new Faculty of Fine Arts & Design Faculty of as Member of the Higher Founding Committee. His contribution was related to building up the didactic infrastructures, studies plan, methodology, course description, etc., using his personal experience of the Italian art didactic methodology. After that, he became Assistant Professor for teaching the following disciplines: History of Art, Criticism, Aesthetics, Art Theory, Art Terminology, Theory of Colours, Theory of Modern Arts, History of Italian Art (with particular attention to the Renaissance).

Achievements

At the same time he was appointed as Chief Supervisor of Museum and Art Affairs of the Deanship of Students for all the University activities. During the same period, he had been participating in various international conferences and symposiums in the field of artistic and cultural dialogues between the Western Countries and the Mediterranean Countries (Barcellona, Milan, Cagliari, Ankara, etc..). During the last two years he had been assigned as Chief Editor of the National Fine Arts Magazine published by the Ministry of Culture until the end of last year. He is also assigned as Chief of the Accreditation Committee for the Assessment of the Faculties of Art of Jordanian Private Universities, established by the Ministry of Higher Education.

Current Occupations

At the present, Dr. Mazen Asfour is working on a personal publication project concerning two volumes to be destinated for the teaching activities in my faculty:
1) Methodology of Art Criticism Teaching
2) History of Aesthetics
3) The general encyclopedia of Jordanian artists (At present has been published and distributed. He worked in this publication as one of the main team authors.)
Dr. Mazen believes that art studies have a crucial role in the promotion of dialogue between different cultures, specially because of the contemporary challenges at the international level that social and political life is called to face. Art should contribute to reduce barriers in terms of dogmas and self-referred thinking. Progress and development cannot be reached without the support of a cultural change: differences are a resource not a threat.