bio | Azra Akšamija is an artist and architectural historian, an Associate Professor in the MIT Art, Culture and Technology Program. In her multi-disciplinary work, Akšamija investigates the politics of identity and memory on the scale of the body (clothing and wearable technologies), on the civic scale (religious architecture and cultural institutions), and within the context of history and global cultural flows. Her projects explore the agency of art and architecture in transforming conflicts, and in so doing, provide a framework for analyzing and intervening in contested socio-political realities. Her book, Mosque Manifesto, published 2015 by Revolver, provides a critical response to politics of representation of Islam in the West through transcultural aesthetics and cultural mobility. Akšamija holds master degrees from the Technical University Graz and Princeton University, and a Ph.D. from MIT. Her work has been exhibited internationally in venues such as at the Generali Foundation Vienna, Gallery for Contemporary Art Leipzig, Liverpool Biennial, Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb, Sculpture Center New York, Secession Vienna, Manifesta 7, Stroom The Hague, the Royal Academy of Arts London, Jewish Museum Berlin, Queens Museum of Art in New York, Qalandiya International, London Biennale – Manila Pollination 2016 and the Fondazione Giorgio Cini as a part of the 54th Art Biennale in Venice. She received the prestigious Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2013 for her design of the prayer space in the Islamic Cemetery Altach, Austria.
For more information see her websites:
Personal homepage: http://www.azraaksamija.net/
Departmental homepage: http://act.mit.edu/
