Category Archives: Events

Archnet Content Manager invited to participate in “Preserving and conveying memory to foster Alterity.”

Michael Toler, Archnet Content Manager, has been invited to participate in a webinar, “Préserver et transmettre la mémoire pour ancre l’Altérité,” organized by the Ta’aruf Center of the Rabita Mohammedia Al Ulema in Morocco. The event takes place January 25-28, is part of a continuing dialogue on “how to resolve a number of tensions which have ossified the dialogue between cultures and religions. The issues around memory – how to preserve it and pass it on to the next generations – seem to be a major challenge for our societies in terms of peacebuilding and encouraging open-mindedness to the notion […]

AKDC to offer Introduction to Islamic Calligraphy

In collaboration with calligrapher and graphic designer Sangeetha Kowsik, AKDC@MIT will offer an introductory workshop on “Arabic Calligraphy: An Artistic Journey from Kufic to Contemporary Design,” January 14, 2021 from 2 to 4 PM EST, during MIT’s Independent Activities Period (IAP). The workshop introduces a brief history of Arabic calligraphy, a tradition whose practice spans more than one thousand years and continues today, where it is globally recognized for its unique aesthetics of geometric proportion and sinuous curve. In the first part of this workshop, the most important of the classical Arabic scripts are introduced through famous examples of artworks, […]

IAP Presentation: Spies, Pirates, and Atlas Lions: US-Moroccan Relations through the lens of the Tangier American Legation

AKDC@MIT is organizing a presentation, “Spies, Pirates, and Atlas Lions: US-Moroccan Relations through the lens of the Tangier American Legation,” on Tuesday, January 19, 2021, 4 to 5:30 pm. The lecture is part of the Independent Activities Period (IAP) offerings of the MIT Libraries. The old American Legation in the medina (walled city) of Tangier, Morocco holds a number of distinctions. It is the first property the United States owned abroad, it is the only overseas site on the National Register of Historic Places, and it was an active diplomatic structure longer than any other diplomatic presence of the US […]

Online Screening of 10 Days Before the Wedding, a new feature film from Yemen

For several years AKDC@MIT has sponsored a film series with the Center for Arabic Culture here in Boston. Though we have not been able to host in-person screenings since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have decided on a new way to continue this series online. In collaboration with CAC Boston and the Middle Eastern Studies Program at Wellesley College, we will be hosting our first virtual screening of the new movie 10 Days Before the Wedding (2018), the first feature film shot in Yemen since the start of the conflict in 2014. The movie is directed by independent […]

Archnet Content Manager to deliver the first AKPIA lecture of the fall

Archnet Content Manager, Michael Toler, will be giving the first lecture of the Fall 2020 AKPIA@MIT Lecture Series on Monday, September 21, 6 PM (Eastern). His presentation, “Tangier at the Crossroads: Memories of Cosmopolitanism and Dreams of Technological Modernity,” looks at the urban development of Tangier, Morocco at two key periods in the history of the city, the early 20th century when it was designated an International Zone, and at the beginning of the 21st century when the city once again started a major expansion. The presentation considers the causes behind these transformative periods and the impacts. Read the abstract […]

Endangered Heritage: An Online Panel of the A3-Archnet Collaborative

IMPORTANT UPDATE: REGISTRATION FOR THIS SESSION IS NOW CLOSED. The event is at capacity. If your registration was successfully processed, you will soon receive instructions on how to join. July 27, 2020 The A3-Archnet Collaborative for the Documentation of Africa’s built heritage will hold an online public panel on “Endangered Heritage,” July 31 at 16:30-18:30 WAT/11:30-13:30 EDT. The panel will include three presenters known for their work in cultural heritage preservation: Ṣọlá Akíntúndé, Founder Trustee, WASCHTrust (West Africa Shared Cultural Heritage Trust); Kuukuwa Manful, Principal Investigator for the Accra Archive: and Raj Yudhishthir Isar, Director of the Aga Khan Trust […]

Books and Bites displays new books, zines, and other media in Rotch Library

Art, Architecture and Urban Studies and Planning Librarian Kai Alexis Smith and Matt Saba, Visual Resources Librarian in AKDC, joined forces to host the first Books and Bites at Rotch Library. This event welcomed visitors to peruse featured new books, zines, and ephemera while also enjoying snacks. Among the highlights were recent additions to the library’s ephemera collection including the music album from the Lithuanian Pavilion, the winning international pavilion at the 2019 Venice Biennale; select items from the new zine collection which included items collected from the 2018 Feminist Zinefest and the 2019 Black in Design Conference at Harvard […]

As I Open My Eyes- Film Screening at MIT on February 21

The Center for Arabic Culture & The Aga Khan Documentation Center, MIT Libraries, will present the 2015 Tunisian film As I Opened My Eyes on Friday, February 21, 2020 at 6:30 pm in room 3-333 on the MIT campus. Directed by Leyla Bouzid and staring Baya Medhaffer, the film tells the story of a young woman fronting a rock band on the eve of Tunisia’s “Jasmine Revolution.” The screening is part of the “One Voice, Endless Change” Film Series of the CAC and AKDC@MIT. The screening will be followed by an informal reception and discussion lead by AKDC Program Head, […]

AKDC Visual Resources Librarian to lecture on Palace Building and Poetry at Abbasid Samarra

Dr. Matt Saba, Visual Resources Librarian in the Aga Khan Documentation Center, will speak on “Durability through Verse: Palace Building and Poetry at Abbasid Samarra,” at 6 pm on Monday, February 10 in 3-133 at MIT. The presentation “examines the relationship between palace building and poetry writing at Samarra, the capital of the Abbasid Empire in Iraq from 836 to 892 CE.” and is part of the Spring 2020 lectures of the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at MIT. The series continues on February 24 with a presentation by Farrokh Derakhshani, Director of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, […]

Join us for Books and Bites, February 26

MIT Libraries and the Aga Khan Documentation Center are pleased to invite you to “Books and Bites,” a new event hosted in Rotch Library showcasing recent library acquisitions of interest to Architecture + Islamic Studies. We will have an array of newly acquired books and other materials available for you to peruse, and your librarians will be there to answer questions. Come see what’s new, have a bite to eat, and chat with colleagues. Wednesday, February 26 from 5 to 7 PM Rotch Library Reading Room MIT Building 7-238 Light Finger Food and Refreshments Served