The Wolfson College of University of Oxford and The Khalili Research Centre jointly organised a two-day conference on Aesthetic and Symbolic Dimensions of Arabic Writing: New Perspectives on Manuscripts, Epigraphy, and Numismatics on 04-05 July 2024. The symposium laid the foundations for a methodological shift in the way we understand calligraphic and epigraphic styles, as it will mainly focus on the ‘why’ and ‘how’ such styles originated, developed, transformed, and became extinct, exposing or disproving their links with doctrinal notions, dynastic claims, aesthetic discourses, cultural identities, or the self-representation of distinct professional groups. Our institute was represented by András Barati.