Category Archives: Events

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

Balloons Over Babylon screens to a packed house

Room 3-133 was packed on Saturday evening for the first US screening and discussion of Balloons Over Babylon, a documentary film produced and directed by Folke Rydén, who responded to audience questions after the screening via Webex. He was joined online by Dr. Muhamed Almaliky of Harvard’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, and Dr. Kanan Makiya, writer, Senior Fellow of the Crown Center for Middle Eastern Studies, and Professor Emeritus at Brandeis University, who attended the screening at MIT. The event was part of a joint series organized by AKDC@MIT and the Center for Arabic Culture (CAC), Boston. Murtada al-Hachami, whose project is […]

Center for Arabic Culture and AKDC to present Balloons Over Babylon

The Center for Arabic Culture and the Aga Khan Documentation Center, MIT Libraries, will screen Balloons Over Babylon on Saturday, January 11, 2020, 6 PM – 9 PM in Room 3-133 of the MIT campus. The film is part of the “One Voice, Endless Change” film series for Spring 2020. Balloons Over Babylon tells the story of Murtada al-Hachami, one man’s quest to fight terrorism and promote peace and love by flying hot air balloons over his war-torn country.” The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with Folke Rydén, the Director; Murtada al-Hachami, the subject of the film; Dr. […]

Michael Toler Chairs Conference Committee for the American Institute for Maghrib Studies

AKDC Interim Program Head and Archnet Content Manager Michael Toler has volunteered to chair the conference committee for the American Institute for Maghrib Studies (AIMS). The main purpose of the committee is to evaluate proposals to organize the annual AIMS Conference, which rotates each year between one of the AIMS centers in Oran, Algeria, Tunis, Tunisia, and Tangier Morocco, where this year’s conference will be held. The AIMS conference is a signature event that brings together delegations of scholars from the US, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and occasionally individual scholars from other countries. The 2020 AIMS Conference will be held in […]

AKDC Program Head Participates in Regional Conference on Cultural Heritage Protection for Religious Communities

The Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, with the support of the U.S. Department of State and the partnership of the Rabita Mohammadia des Oulémas (Mohammadia Association of Ulema)recently organized the “First Regional Conference on Cultural Heritage Protection for Religious Communities” October 3-4 in Rabat, Morocco. AKDC Program Head Michael Toler was one of approximately 100 experts and government officials from Morocco, the US, Europe, and multiple countries in North Africa and the Sahel regions; as well as representatives of other International Organizations, NGOs and other organizations involved in the preservation of cultural heritage, who were invited to […]

AKDC Program Head to Speak at the Gulf Architecture Project Conference in the Qatar National Library

AKDC Program Head and Archnet Content Manager Michael Toler will present the on the collections and activities of the Aga Khan Documentation Center, MIT Libraries (AKDC@MIT), Saturday, October 12, at 9 am, in Auditorium of the Qatar National Library (QNL), Doha, Qatar. Toler’s presentation, “Gulf Architecture in the Archives of the Aga Khan DocumentationCenter, MIT Libraries: Stories and Lessons,” in a Keynote of the Gulf Architecture Conference and Exhibition, organized by the QNL in collaboration with Liverpool University’s School of Architecture, Qatar University’s Department of Architecture and Urban Planning, and Ibrahim Jaidah, CEO and Chief Architect, Arab Engineering Bureau. The […]