http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city ... 031375.cms
Humayun's Tomb set to get site museum
Richi Verma,TNN | Oct 2, 2014, 01.42 AM IST
NEW DELHI: Delhi's first site museum for a world heritage monument promises to be nothing less than a world class experience. Designed on lines similar to the Aga Khan Museum, inaugurated in Toronto days ago, it, too, will sport naturally-illuminated galleries set amid a Mughal-inspired landscape.
The Aga Khan Trust for Culture-which is constructing the museum on behalf of Archaeological Survey of India-has roped in Vir Mueller Architects to design the museum. Shaheer Associates will be creating the landscape.
"The Humayun's Tomb site museum is planned as a sunken building bridging the three areas of Humayun's Tomb, Sunder Nursery and Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti, without compromising the visual linkages between monuments standing within the complex," said an official. The museum will host a permanent exhibition and contain an auditorium, a souvenir shop, performance spaces and a cafe as well as a crafts demonstration arena. The part of the building within Sunder Nursery will have an area for temporary exhibitions, seminar rooms and food court.
The project will not only be the capital's first such interpretation of a monument, but also the next major project for Aga Khan Trust for Culture, following the successful inauguration of its Toronto museum. The Toronto museum was conceived four years ago and also sits in a Mughal garden-inspired landscape.
The project is wholly supported by the ministries of culture and tourism. "We gave our recommendation for the site museum as it will enhance visitor experience. It will serve as a wonderful tourist attraction," a top culture ministry official said. Ministry of tourism, meanwhile, has pledged to fund construction of the facility, expected to cater to over two million annual visitors.
Like its Toronto counterpart, the site museum in Delhi will be inspired by the medieval monuments it draws attention to and yet use contemporary design and modern building materials which will enhance the setting rather than compete with its architectural heritage. Courtyards will ensure that galleries and corridors are naturally lit, allowing displayed architecture and objects to be seen up close. "The Humayun's Tomb Site Museum, largely below ground a la Mughal hamams, baolis and tykhanas, will benefit from the earth's thermal efficiency. Dependence on artificial cooling will be limited only to where it's required to ensure preservation of the objet d'art," said an AKTC official.
The roof of the site museum will merge with the garden setting of Sunder Nursery and Humayun's Tomb. Like Aga Khan Museum, the Humayun's Tomb site museum, too, will have dedicated spaces for cultural performances to showcase the 700-year-old musical tradition of Nizamuddin.
In keeping with UNESCO regulations, AKTC carried out a ground-penetrating radar survey and confirmed lack of any underground archaeology. It also submitted a heritage impact assessment report. Building design has ensured that not a single tree was sacrificed.
"The exhibits will comprise new technology-digital walkthroughs, new media, short films, 3D visuals and models-to explain to visitors the development of this part of Delhi over the last 700 years ever since the Sufi saint, Nizamuddin Auliya, came to live here. If they so wish, visitors may spend the entire day," added an official.
Archaeological Survey of India has now sought necessary statutory approvals to commence construction within the year. Sources said, clearances are expected to come through quickly, seeing as the ministry of culture is also planning similar facilities for the Taj Mahal and Qutub Minar world heritage sites. Once completed, the museum is expected to lead to a significant rise in footfall and benefit 3,00,000-odd school students who come here regularly.
Aga Khan Museum - TO
http://www.artnews.com/2014/10/06/aga-k ... n-toronto/
News
Aga Khan Museum, $300 M. Complex Devoted to Islamic Art, Opens in Toronto
By Michael Z. Wise Posted 10/06/14
A $300 million cultural and religious complex has opened in Toronto, designed by leading modern architects and showcasing one of the world’s top collections of Islamic art.
The Aga Khan Museum, housed in a structure designed by Pritzker Prize–winner Fumihiko Maki of Japan, shares a 17-acre site with Toronto’s Ismaili Center, which has a prayer hall crowned by a crystalline glass dome drawn up by Indian architect Charles Correa. It is the first museum devoted to Islamic art to open in North America.
Beirut-based landscape architect Vladimir Djurovic has created a formal Islamic garden between the two cream-colored stone-clad structures with reflecting pools and rows of flowering serviceberry trees. A “vision of paradise” is what Djurovic has said he aims for the minimalist garden to provide.
The museum’s location amidst suburban sprawl, a 20-minute drive northeast of central Toronto, is surprising and was not originally intended. The Aga Khan initially wished to locate the museum in London, but British authorities scuttled that plan in 2002. So instead of standing opposite the Houses of Parliament along the Thames River, it opened on September 18 encircled by beige-hued office and apartment blocks on the outskirts of Canada’s largest city.
Beirut-based landscape architect Vladimir Djurovic is responsible for the campus's formal Islamic garden. Serviceberry trees grow between the structures.
Beirut-based landscape architect Vladimir Djurovic is responsible for the campus’s formal Islamic garden. Serviceberry trees grow between the structures.
The Aga Khan, the 77-year-old spiritual leader of the world’s some 16 million Shia Ismaili Muslims, is a billionaire who embodies the ideal of a modern, liberal Islam, and he directs the Geneva-based Aga Khan Development Network, which funds a variety of philanthropic projects throughout the developing world. His Turkish-Persian title means “lord and commander,” and he has also been a leading advocate of a new Islamic architecture, urban planning, and landscape design.
The museum contains over 1,000 artworks and artifacts dating back over 13 centuries and from throughout the Islamic world. It includes ceramics, metalwork, carpets, textiles, calligraphy, musical instruments, mosaics, paintings, and drawings. Highlights from the trove have been on traveling display in the past few years at the Louvre in Paris, the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, as well as museums in Madrid, Berlin, Istanbul, and Kuala Lumpur.
The core of the collection was assembled by Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, uncle of the current Aga Khan and a former United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. On the museum’s ground floor is a room with red carved wood cabinets showcasing an array of Islamic ceramics that partially replicates a Persian-themed chamber in the Chateau de Bellerive in Geneva where Prince Sadruddin lived until his death in 2003.
Inside the museum.
Inside the museum.
The museum’s director, Henry Kim, said that the museum aims to emphasize the interconnection of Islam with other cultures throughout the religion’s history. In December, it will present an exhibition devoted to the shipwreck of an Arab dhow found off Indonesia’s Belitung Island. The vessel was carrying a rich cargo of goods from China, and the discovery of the wreckage in 1998 provides vivid evidence of intellectual and cultural exchange between Islam’s adherents and those of other religions.
Along with displaying ancient artifacts, the museum is committed to staging exhibitions of contemporary art. These will initially be organized on a country-by-country basis and the inaugural show of current work features six Pakistani artists whose work treats the theme of the garden.
Copyright 2014, ARTnews LLC, 40 W 25th Street, 6th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10010. All rights reserved.
News
Aga Khan Museum, $300 M. Complex Devoted to Islamic Art, Opens in Toronto
By Michael Z. Wise Posted 10/06/14
A $300 million cultural and religious complex has opened in Toronto, designed by leading modern architects and showcasing one of the world’s top collections of Islamic art.
The Aga Khan Museum, housed in a structure designed by Pritzker Prize–winner Fumihiko Maki of Japan, shares a 17-acre site with Toronto’s Ismaili Center, which has a prayer hall crowned by a crystalline glass dome drawn up by Indian architect Charles Correa. It is the first museum devoted to Islamic art to open in North America.
Beirut-based landscape architect Vladimir Djurovic has created a formal Islamic garden between the two cream-colored stone-clad structures with reflecting pools and rows of flowering serviceberry trees. A “vision of paradise” is what Djurovic has said he aims for the minimalist garden to provide.
The museum’s location amidst suburban sprawl, a 20-minute drive northeast of central Toronto, is surprising and was not originally intended. The Aga Khan initially wished to locate the museum in London, but British authorities scuttled that plan in 2002. So instead of standing opposite the Houses of Parliament along the Thames River, it opened on September 18 encircled by beige-hued office and apartment blocks on the outskirts of Canada’s largest city.
Beirut-based landscape architect Vladimir Djurovic is responsible for the campus's formal Islamic garden. Serviceberry trees grow between the structures.
Beirut-based landscape architect Vladimir Djurovic is responsible for the campus’s formal Islamic garden. Serviceberry trees grow between the structures.
The Aga Khan, the 77-year-old spiritual leader of the world’s some 16 million Shia Ismaili Muslims, is a billionaire who embodies the ideal of a modern, liberal Islam, and he directs the Geneva-based Aga Khan Development Network, which funds a variety of philanthropic projects throughout the developing world. His Turkish-Persian title means “lord and commander,” and he has also been a leading advocate of a new Islamic architecture, urban planning, and landscape design.
The museum contains over 1,000 artworks and artifacts dating back over 13 centuries and from throughout the Islamic world. It includes ceramics, metalwork, carpets, textiles, calligraphy, musical instruments, mosaics, paintings, and drawings. Highlights from the trove have been on traveling display in the past few years at the Louvre in Paris, the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, as well as museums in Madrid, Berlin, Istanbul, and Kuala Lumpur.
The core of the collection was assembled by Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, uncle of the current Aga Khan and a former United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. On the museum’s ground floor is a room with red carved wood cabinets showcasing an array of Islamic ceramics that partially replicates a Persian-themed chamber in the Chateau de Bellerive in Geneva where Prince Sadruddin lived until his death in 2003.
Inside the museum.
Inside the museum.
The museum’s director, Henry Kim, said that the museum aims to emphasize the interconnection of Islam with other cultures throughout the religion’s history. In December, it will present an exhibition devoted to the shipwreck of an Arab dhow found off Indonesia’s Belitung Island. The vessel was carrying a rich cargo of goods from China, and the discovery of the wreckage in 1998 provides vivid evidence of intellectual and cultural exchange between Islam’s adherents and those of other religions.
Along with displaying ancient artifacts, the museum is committed to staging exhibitions of contemporary art. These will initially be organized on a country-by-country basis and the inaugural show of current work features six Pakistani artists whose work treats the theme of the garden.
Copyright 2014, ARTnews LLC, 40 W 25th Street, 6th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10010. All rights reserved.
http://english.cntv.cn/2014/10/16/ARTI1 ... 3225.shtml
Toronto's Aga Khan Museum reveals marvel of China's impact on Islamic art
Editor: zhangyerong
Xinhua
10-16-2014 08:26 BJT
by Cristoph De Caermichael, Yan Zhonghua
TORONTO, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- The newly-inaugurated Aga Khan Museum in Toronto is a multifaceted building of fabulous architectural detail that transforms the building into being, not only a home to over 1,000 precious artifacts from the Iberian Peninsula to China but to a functioning lyrical space that uses light play to fascinate the public.
In many ways it's a temple to the graciousness of Islamic thought that is a foundation of the Aga Khan's ethos. His Highness Prince Shah Karim Al Hussaini Aga Khan IV commented that the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto reflects his families' ongoing commitment to pluralism and to the promotion of understanding between civilizations, religions and races.
The Aga Khan Museum opened in Toronto on Sept. 18, 2014. For ten years, three world-class architects worked to create the museum, the Ismaili Center and the landscaped park that connects them. Fumihiko Maki, renowned Japanese architect designed the Aga Khan Museum, the landscape park was designed by Serbian-Lebanese landscape architect Vladimir Djurovic and creates an oasis of water and light that connects to the Ismaili Center designed by noted Indian architect Charles Correa. The museum and its complex are believed to give Toronto another level of sophistication to add to its jewel box collection of superb architecture.
"Maki was asked by His Highness, to design this building based on the principles of light. Maki did that by effectively creating a lantern," Museum Director and CEO Henry Kim told Xinhua. "This building is an outstanding and well thought through building, a very modern building and yet also use pattern and texture from the Islamic world. This is where you find the wonderful blending of cultures together."
According to on-site architect C. Po Ma, the Aga Khan himself was very hands-on in the physical designing of the museum, conducting many on-site inspections to ensure that his vision was accurately implemented. The precise height of the exterior reflecting pools of the landscaped garden through to the veiled lighting of the Mashrabiya are just two examples of his vision for the museum. Honorable mention also goes to the Fibonacci inspired nautilus stairwell in lapis blue and the teak auditorium.
Light play is evident throughout the museum. Reflections define the museum from the moods of the sky, reflecting off the white Brazilian granite exterior walls to the distinct Mashrabiya patterning that encloses the inner courtyard. Mashrabiya is a wooden lattice work that was historically used as a window covering to allow the filtering of air and reduction on sun in places like Egypt.
"The Mashrabiya as a pattern molded by a way of life that created a matrix of behavioral archetypes which generated physical patterns," described Stefano Bianco, an architectural historian and urban designer who is currently director of the Historic Cities Support Program, created by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture.
The museum offers many cultural, artistic and educational programs. Its visitors run the gamut from architectural students to everyday patrons, seeking a glimpse into the past and present with rare antiquities that are until you visit the museum completely unknown to both the East and the West, said Kim, the museum director. "The museum features works that are in remarkable state of preservation, as clear as the day they were painted," he said, noting the detailed craftsmanship, from artists in Iran, Mughal India and Ottoman Turkey, rivals the famous artists of the West and yet much less known.
The Aga Khan is an avid eclectic procurer of 16th century Persian paintings, ceramics, textiles, architectural fragments and illuminated manuscripts. His acumen ensures that the museum collection has the finest examples of Chinese influenced Islamic art, a result of thousands of years of Silk Road trade either through the overland routes or by the maritime ones.
In a permanent exhibition, Dr. Ruba Kana'an, Head of the Education and Scholarly Programs, explained of the significance of the early trade influences of Chinese art in the Islamic world. In the 16th century the presence of Muslims in China and the influence on Chinese trade objects were established with different levels of influence through the arts and textiles. These levels were a direct response from consumer habits and culture.
"Here we have pharmacy jars for trade of spices coming from China made in a form of objects that were influenced by China for trade with Europe," said Kana'an, referring to the blue and white Chinese ceramics that combined Muslim designs with Chinese artistry.
A Ewer jug tells a tale about the awe that rulers of ancient civilizations held for China. "It was made in China in the 15th century and collected by Shah Jahan (reigned 1627-58), the builder of Taj Mahal, when he was the ruler in India. He was known to have been a collector of antiques, and he was fascinated by Chinese ceramics and Chinese jades," she told Xinhua.
An Ablution Basin was ordered by Chinese Emperor Zhengde ( reigned 1505-21) for a member of his court that was Muslim. The mark on the back of the plate is from the emperor. "The overall message conveyed by the Arabic symbol Taharat (Purity) is one of harmony, between the Islamic world and China," Kana'an concluded.
"The history of China and its influences on trade via art and textiles is long established in that region. If you are a student of Islamic art, Muslim culture and civilization you must know China's interactions with the Muslim world through the silk routes, " she said, adding that the museum has a narrative from the 9th century regarding ambassadorial gifts from China to the Khalif in Baghdad.
The Chinese influenced Islamic collection was donated to the Museum from the Aga Khan's personal collection. "Many of the Chinese families in Canada may be interested to see this exhibition. Chinese music programs are part of our upcoming calendar of events. There will be artists from China and a number of lectures. There will be a one-day symposium on the relationships between China and the Muslim world in the early periods. The Aga Khan Museum has lots of stories," Kana'an said.
The Aga Khan Trust for Culture established the museum as part of the development network. The Aga Khan is a philanthropist and contributes considerable amounts of money in support of international social development, education and charity projects. The events of 9/11 in 2001 changed the world's viewpoint of Islam from a peace filled religion to one of terrorism. The Aga Khan's goal is to stimulate global change that allows the world to see a less intimidating face of Islam to the world, in as much as China struggles with a global perception of dysphoric internal affairs.
Beijing has a mosque built in the 10th century, establishing a centuries old connection to Islam. The Aga Khan Museum in Toronto celebrates the extraordinary longevity of interconnection, which may seem superficially disparate but upon closer examination displays an enigmatic interlaced knot.
The Aga Khan Museum and its legacy of Chinese influenced Islamic art, continues its legendary display through The Lost Dhow: A Discovery from the Maritime Silk Route, an exhibition that begins Dec. 13, 2014, and runs to March 15, 2015. In 1998, an Arab ship carrying goods from China was discovered at the bottom of the Indian Ocean off Belitung Island, Indonesia. Dating back to the 9th-century (China's Tang Dynasty), it reveals the interconnections between two great powers, the Tang and Abbasid Empires, whose influence collectively stretched from the East China Sea to North Africa.
Toronto's Aga Khan Museum reveals marvel of China's impact on Islamic art
Editor: zhangyerong
Xinhua
10-16-2014 08:26 BJT
by Cristoph De Caermichael, Yan Zhonghua
TORONTO, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- The newly-inaugurated Aga Khan Museum in Toronto is a multifaceted building of fabulous architectural detail that transforms the building into being, not only a home to over 1,000 precious artifacts from the Iberian Peninsula to China but to a functioning lyrical space that uses light play to fascinate the public.
In many ways it's a temple to the graciousness of Islamic thought that is a foundation of the Aga Khan's ethos. His Highness Prince Shah Karim Al Hussaini Aga Khan IV commented that the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto reflects his families' ongoing commitment to pluralism and to the promotion of understanding between civilizations, religions and races.
The Aga Khan Museum opened in Toronto on Sept. 18, 2014. For ten years, three world-class architects worked to create the museum, the Ismaili Center and the landscaped park that connects them. Fumihiko Maki, renowned Japanese architect designed the Aga Khan Museum, the landscape park was designed by Serbian-Lebanese landscape architect Vladimir Djurovic and creates an oasis of water and light that connects to the Ismaili Center designed by noted Indian architect Charles Correa. The museum and its complex are believed to give Toronto another level of sophistication to add to its jewel box collection of superb architecture.
"Maki was asked by His Highness, to design this building based on the principles of light. Maki did that by effectively creating a lantern," Museum Director and CEO Henry Kim told Xinhua. "This building is an outstanding and well thought through building, a very modern building and yet also use pattern and texture from the Islamic world. This is where you find the wonderful blending of cultures together."
According to on-site architect C. Po Ma, the Aga Khan himself was very hands-on in the physical designing of the museum, conducting many on-site inspections to ensure that his vision was accurately implemented. The precise height of the exterior reflecting pools of the landscaped garden through to the veiled lighting of the Mashrabiya are just two examples of his vision for the museum. Honorable mention also goes to the Fibonacci inspired nautilus stairwell in lapis blue and the teak auditorium.
Light play is evident throughout the museum. Reflections define the museum from the moods of the sky, reflecting off the white Brazilian granite exterior walls to the distinct Mashrabiya patterning that encloses the inner courtyard. Mashrabiya is a wooden lattice work that was historically used as a window covering to allow the filtering of air and reduction on sun in places like Egypt.
"The Mashrabiya as a pattern molded by a way of life that created a matrix of behavioral archetypes which generated physical patterns," described Stefano Bianco, an architectural historian and urban designer who is currently director of the Historic Cities Support Program, created by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture.
The museum offers many cultural, artistic and educational programs. Its visitors run the gamut from architectural students to everyday patrons, seeking a glimpse into the past and present with rare antiquities that are until you visit the museum completely unknown to both the East and the West, said Kim, the museum director. "The museum features works that are in remarkable state of preservation, as clear as the day they were painted," he said, noting the detailed craftsmanship, from artists in Iran, Mughal India and Ottoman Turkey, rivals the famous artists of the West and yet much less known.
The Aga Khan is an avid eclectic procurer of 16th century Persian paintings, ceramics, textiles, architectural fragments and illuminated manuscripts. His acumen ensures that the museum collection has the finest examples of Chinese influenced Islamic art, a result of thousands of years of Silk Road trade either through the overland routes or by the maritime ones.
In a permanent exhibition, Dr. Ruba Kana'an, Head of the Education and Scholarly Programs, explained of the significance of the early trade influences of Chinese art in the Islamic world. In the 16th century the presence of Muslims in China and the influence on Chinese trade objects were established with different levels of influence through the arts and textiles. These levels were a direct response from consumer habits and culture.
"Here we have pharmacy jars for trade of spices coming from China made in a form of objects that were influenced by China for trade with Europe," said Kana'an, referring to the blue and white Chinese ceramics that combined Muslim designs with Chinese artistry.
A Ewer jug tells a tale about the awe that rulers of ancient civilizations held for China. "It was made in China in the 15th century and collected by Shah Jahan (reigned 1627-58), the builder of Taj Mahal, when he was the ruler in India. He was known to have been a collector of antiques, and he was fascinated by Chinese ceramics and Chinese jades," she told Xinhua.
An Ablution Basin was ordered by Chinese Emperor Zhengde ( reigned 1505-21) for a member of his court that was Muslim. The mark on the back of the plate is from the emperor. "The overall message conveyed by the Arabic symbol Taharat (Purity) is one of harmony, between the Islamic world and China," Kana'an concluded.
"The history of China and its influences on trade via art and textiles is long established in that region. If you are a student of Islamic art, Muslim culture and civilization you must know China's interactions with the Muslim world through the silk routes, " she said, adding that the museum has a narrative from the 9th century regarding ambassadorial gifts from China to the Khalif in Baghdad.
The Chinese influenced Islamic collection was donated to the Museum from the Aga Khan's personal collection. "Many of the Chinese families in Canada may be interested to see this exhibition. Chinese music programs are part of our upcoming calendar of events. There will be artists from China and a number of lectures. There will be a one-day symposium on the relationships between China and the Muslim world in the early periods. The Aga Khan Museum has lots of stories," Kana'an said.
The Aga Khan Trust for Culture established the museum as part of the development network. The Aga Khan is a philanthropist and contributes considerable amounts of money in support of international social development, education and charity projects. The events of 9/11 in 2001 changed the world's viewpoint of Islam from a peace filled religion to one of terrorism. The Aga Khan's goal is to stimulate global change that allows the world to see a less intimidating face of Islam to the world, in as much as China struggles with a global perception of dysphoric internal affairs.
Beijing has a mosque built in the 10th century, establishing a centuries old connection to Islam. The Aga Khan Museum in Toronto celebrates the extraordinary longevity of interconnection, which may seem superficially disparate but upon closer examination displays an enigmatic interlaced knot.
The Aga Khan Museum and its legacy of Chinese influenced Islamic art, continues its legendary display through The Lost Dhow: A Discovery from the Maritime Silk Route, an exhibition that begins Dec. 13, 2014, and runs to March 15, 2015. In 1998, an Arab ship carrying goods from China was discovered at the bottom of the Indian Ocean off Belitung Island, Indonesia. Dating back to the 9th-century (China's Tang Dynasty), it reveals the interconnections between two great powers, the Tang and Abbasid Empires, whose influence collectively stretched from the East China Sea to North Africa.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/775780/aga- ... slim-past/
Aga Khan Museum: Decoding the Muslim past
By Teenaz Javat / Creative: Sanober Ahmed
Published: October 19, 2014
From the intricate detail on the wings of a dove-inspired incense stick holder on display, to the sheer grandeur and brilliance of the atrium and the glass dome, the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto is — to put in one word — impressive. Located on a huge swath of green space in northeast Toronto and designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Fumijiko Maki, it is a treasure trove of art that showcases the wealth and heritage of the Islamic world.
The story of Haftvad and the worm, folio from Shahnameh of Shah Tahmasp. PHOTOS COURTESY: AGA KHAN MUSEUM
“For the 30,000-strong Ismaili community that calls Toronto home, this museum is an attempt to demystify Islam,” says a museum guide, who takes visitors on an enlightening 60-minute tour of the permanent collection comprising of more than 1,000 artifacts. Having opened its doors this year on September 18, the museum has tapped into Aga Khan’s private collection, showcasing ancient books and hand-crafted manuscripts from the Holy Quran to Shah Tahmasp’s illustrated version of Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh. An audio recording of the great epic is also recited along the alcove by the display for a complete sensory experience.
This illustration is from Shah Tahmasp I’s Shahnameh showing Firdausi and the three court poets of Ghazna.
PHOTOS COURTESY: AGA KHAN MUSEUM
Along with state-of-the-art multimedia deployed by curators to enhance experience, the structure also makes clever use of sunlight, water and flora, to celebrate all forms of art, be it visual, verbal, written, musical or culinary. “While you can see just a few of the manuscripts on display, we have several in store as works on parchment need to be changed every three months for conservation purposes,” explains Alnoor Keshavjee, a Toronto-based doctor who also volunteers as a museum guide. To maintain the large premises, many members of the community have stepped forward to act as volunteers, dedicating countless hours to studying the collection, he says. “We took lessons from our curators just so that our patrons have a better understanding of what is displayed. So don’t be surprised as you move along to find a teacher, lawyer or a student taking time off to work in the service of the Aga Khan,” he adds.
This scribe’s wooden cabinet is a rare survival and an extraordinary example of luxury woodwork production in Spain under the Nasrids (1232-1492). PHOTOS COURTESY: AGA KHAN MUSEUM
From the Near East and its individualised offshoots in North Africa to the Iranian world that stretches from modern-day Iran through Afghanistan and Central Asia and the Hindustani courts of India and Pakistan to the Muslim communities of China, everything has been covered said Henry S Kim, the director and CEO of the Aga Khan Museum during his welcome remarks at the opening ceremony. The mandate of the museum is to educate and inspire, while illustrating the true artistic diversity of Islamic civilisations. “In my opinion, it is important to explain Islam from a cultural point of view, especially to the Western world.
A brass bowl from the time of the Mamluks, who ruled Syria and Egypt between 1250 and 1517. PHOTOS COURTESY: AGA KHAN MUSEUM
We need the mainstream population to, more than ever, see this version, as opposed to what we see on a daily basis coming out of the Muslim world,” says Keshavjee, who migrated to Canada from Uganda. “This is a large part of my heritage. I am proud of it and I want to share it with you.”
An elaborately decorated metalwork pen box. Profusely decorated with precious gold and silver inlay and engraved geometric, floral and vegetal designs, this luxury pen box would have been carried by a high-ranking individual, perhaps even a ruler. PHOTOS COURTESY: AGA KHAN MUSEUM
Upon advancing from the museum’s permanent collection to the two temporary exhibits, In Search of the Artist and The Garden of Ideas, one cannot help but notice a huge carpet hanging from the ceiling in the museum’s wide atrium. A closer inspection reveals that it is decorated with 1.2 million gold and silver pins, all of which were placed by hand. The exhibit Your Way Begins on the Other Side was commissioned by the museum and is the work of Aisha Khalid from Lahore.
This bottle represents one of several techniques — the mould blown glass technique — used to decorate Iranian glass in the centuries after Islam. PHOTOS COURTESY: AGA KHAN MUSEUM
While the museum has plenty of similar awe-inspiring works of art, there are a few that fail to live up to expectations. But just like art, even criticism is subjective. According to Sheeraz Wania, a Pakistani-Canadian graphic artist, who teaches design in Toronto and had visited the museum on the opening day, the manuscript collection was simply mind-blowing.
The Garden of Ideas is a contemporary art exhibit from Pakistan and is a part of the museum’s current exhibition. PHOTOS COURTESY: AGA KHAN MUSEUM
“But then, one does not expect anything less when visiting a space that has the Aga Khan name attached to it, be it a hospital, school or, in this case, a showcase of art,” she says. Wania was, however, a bit disappointed in the Garden of Ideas exhibit, featuring the works of six internationally acclaimed Pakistani artists, including Bani Abidi, Nurjahan Akhlaq, Atif Khan, David Chalmers Alesworth, Aisha Khalid and Imran Qureshi. The artists took the theme of garden, both flora and fauna, and in the case of Imran Qureshi roses and ants, for aesthetic contemplation. But Wania felt that the primarily Lahore-based artists didn’t do quite as much justice to the Pakistani art scene as she would have preferred a diverse mix from across the country. While the museum’s structure in itself is grand, the space allocated to exhibits is comparatively quite small. “I would have, from an artist’s point of view, preferred more exhibition space. But then, that is just my personal opinion,” she says.
The ivory tusk is decorated with a hunting scene. The carving and the English silver mounts that were added in the 17th century suggest that it may have served a ceremonial role. PHOTOS COURTESY: AGA KHAN MUSEUM
The tour of the museum and the Islamic centre should be wrapped up with a meal at the museum’s Diwan café that has a distinct middle-eastern décor and cuisine. Their Moroccan eggplant sandwich and Persian pomegranate salad is bound to transport you to North Africa and Iran whilst sitting in the heart of Canada. And transporting people to far off lands without physically leaving Toronto is perhaps the museum’s greatest achievement.
Aga Khan Museum: Decoding the Muslim past
By Teenaz Javat / Creative: Sanober Ahmed
Published: October 19, 2014
From the intricate detail on the wings of a dove-inspired incense stick holder on display, to the sheer grandeur and brilliance of the atrium and the glass dome, the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto is — to put in one word — impressive. Located on a huge swath of green space in northeast Toronto and designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Fumijiko Maki, it is a treasure trove of art that showcases the wealth and heritage of the Islamic world.
The story of Haftvad and the worm, folio from Shahnameh of Shah Tahmasp. PHOTOS COURTESY: AGA KHAN MUSEUM
“For the 30,000-strong Ismaili community that calls Toronto home, this museum is an attempt to demystify Islam,” says a museum guide, who takes visitors on an enlightening 60-minute tour of the permanent collection comprising of more than 1,000 artifacts. Having opened its doors this year on September 18, the museum has tapped into Aga Khan’s private collection, showcasing ancient books and hand-crafted manuscripts from the Holy Quran to Shah Tahmasp’s illustrated version of Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh. An audio recording of the great epic is also recited along the alcove by the display for a complete sensory experience.
This illustration is from Shah Tahmasp I’s Shahnameh showing Firdausi and the three court poets of Ghazna.
PHOTOS COURTESY: AGA KHAN MUSEUM
Along with state-of-the-art multimedia deployed by curators to enhance experience, the structure also makes clever use of sunlight, water and flora, to celebrate all forms of art, be it visual, verbal, written, musical or culinary. “While you can see just a few of the manuscripts on display, we have several in store as works on parchment need to be changed every three months for conservation purposes,” explains Alnoor Keshavjee, a Toronto-based doctor who also volunteers as a museum guide. To maintain the large premises, many members of the community have stepped forward to act as volunteers, dedicating countless hours to studying the collection, he says. “We took lessons from our curators just so that our patrons have a better understanding of what is displayed. So don’t be surprised as you move along to find a teacher, lawyer or a student taking time off to work in the service of the Aga Khan,” he adds.
This scribe’s wooden cabinet is a rare survival and an extraordinary example of luxury woodwork production in Spain under the Nasrids (1232-1492). PHOTOS COURTESY: AGA KHAN MUSEUM
From the Near East and its individualised offshoots in North Africa to the Iranian world that stretches from modern-day Iran through Afghanistan and Central Asia and the Hindustani courts of India and Pakistan to the Muslim communities of China, everything has been covered said Henry S Kim, the director and CEO of the Aga Khan Museum during his welcome remarks at the opening ceremony. The mandate of the museum is to educate and inspire, while illustrating the true artistic diversity of Islamic civilisations. “In my opinion, it is important to explain Islam from a cultural point of view, especially to the Western world.
A brass bowl from the time of the Mamluks, who ruled Syria and Egypt between 1250 and 1517. PHOTOS COURTESY: AGA KHAN MUSEUM
We need the mainstream population to, more than ever, see this version, as opposed to what we see on a daily basis coming out of the Muslim world,” says Keshavjee, who migrated to Canada from Uganda. “This is a large part of my heritage. I am proud of it and I want to share it with you.”
An elaborately decorated metalwork pen box. Profusely decorated with precious gold and silver inlay and engraved geometric, floral and vegetal designs, this luxury pen box would have been carried by a high-ranking individual, perhaps even a ruler. PHOTOS COURTESY: AGA KHAN MUSEUM
Upon advancing from the museum’s permanent collection to the two temporary exhibits, In Search of the Artist and The Garden of Ideas, one cannot help but notice a huge carpet hanging from the ceiling in the museum’s wide atrium. A closer inspection reveals that it is decorated with 1.2 million gold and silver pins, all of which were placed by hand. The exhibit Your Way Begins on the Other Side was commissioned by the museum and is the work of Aisha Khalid from Lahore.
This bottle represents one of several techniques — the mould blown glass technique — used to decorate Iranian glass in the centuries after Islam. PHOTOS COURTESY: AGA KHAN MUSEUM
While the museum has plenty of similar awe-inspiring works of art, there are a few that fail to live up to expectations. But just like art, even criticism is subjective. According to Sheeraz Wania, a Pakistani-Canadian graphic artist, who teaches design in Toronto and had visited the museum on the opening day, the manuscript collection was simply mind-blowing.
The Garden of Ideas is a contemporary art exhibit from Pakistan and is a part of the museum’s current exhibition. PHOTOS COURTESY: AGA KHAN MUSEUM
“But then, one does not expect anything less when visiting a space that has the Aga Khan name attached to it, be it a hospital, school or, in this case, a showcase of art,” she says. Wania was, however, a bit disappointed in the Garden of Ideas exhibit, featuring the works of six internationally acclaimed Pakistani artists, including Bani Abidi, Nurjahan Akhlaq, Atif Khan, David Chalmers Alesworth, Aisha Khalid and Imran Qureshi. The artists took the theme of garden, both flora and fauna, and in the case of Imran Qureshi roses and ants, for aesthetic contemplation. But Wania felt that the primarily Lahore-based artists didn’t do quite as much justice to the Pakistani art scene as she would have preferred a diverse mix from across the country. While the museum’s structure in itself is grand, the space allocated to exhibits is comparatively quite small. “I would have, from an artist’s point of view, preferred more exhibition space. But then, that is just my personal opinion,” she says.
The ivory tusk is decorated with a hunting scene. The carving and the English silver mounts that were added in the 17th century suggest that it may have served a ceremonial role. PHOTOS COURTESY: AGA KHAN MUSEUM
The tour of the museum and the Islamic centre should be wrapped up with a meal at the museum’s Diwan café that has a distinct middle-eastern décor and cuisine. Their Moroccan eggplant sandwich and Persian pomegranate salad is bound to transport you to North Africa and Iran whilst sitting in the heart of Canada. And transporting people to far off lands without physically leaving Toronto is perhaps the museum’s greatest achievement.
torontolife.com/informer/toronto-culture/2014/12/01/aga-khan-museum/
Toronto Life
December 2, 2014
Culture
World of Wonders: the Aga Khan brings his treasure trove of Islamic artifacts to Toronto
By Danielle Groen
The Aga Khan Museum
Click to see more of the museum. (Photograph courtesy of The Aga Khan Museum)
Anyone who drives in Toronto knows about the kink in the DVP—that bend below the Eglinton off-ramp where, however swiftly cars have been moving away from downtown, they inevitably slow to a crawl. It’s a pain if you have a pressing engagement north of the 401, but the spot affords a terrific view of the Aga Khan Museum, which hovers over the highway. Each day, thousands of captive drivers will turn their eyes to the gleaming white structure and think: hold on, when did Toronto get a castle from the future?
The museum, designed by the Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki, is an imposing work of modernism, all chiselled angles and polished stone. It’s part of a new Islamic cultural campus on Wynford Drive—a $300-million gift to the city from the Aga Khan, spiritual leader to the world’s 15 million Ismaili Muslims, who consider him a direct descendent of the prophet Muhammad. It’s also North America’s first museum dedicated to Islamic art, packed with 1,000 pieces from the Aga Khan’s personal collection of artifacts. The museum stands at the east end of the campus and faces an Ismaili community centre, its prayer hall capped by a torqued crystalline dome that points toward Mecca. Several acres of greenery surround and connect the buildings, including a formal garden with tidy rows of trees and five black granite reflecting pools. To say the sprawling site looks like nothing else in Toronto is an absurd understatement.
And its price tag is pocket change for Prince Karim Al Husseini Aga Khan IV (“His Highness” to most; “K” to his friends). The Geneva-born septuagenarian inherited the title in 1957 when his grandfather, Sir Sultan Mahomed Shah Aga Khan III, skipped over his own son—Prince Aly Khan, a famous playboy known for his marriage to Rita Hayworth—and selected Karim instead. Sixty years later, the Aga Khan’s personal fortune is estimated to be as high as $13 billion. He lives in a château near Paris, just a short drive from the historic Chantilly racetrack he restored, where he trains a hundred thoroughbred horses. He has a private island in the Bahamas, a $360-million superyacht and two Bombardier jets. And he oversees the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development, a massive business empire of hotels, power plants, telecommunication companies and airlines, with annual revenues in the neighbourhood of $2.3 billion. The surplus—plus annual tithes from his followers, who are expected to hand over a portion of their income—is channelled into medical, educational and sanitation projects, and cultural conservation work spread around the world.
He originally intended to build his palatial art museum in London, England, but the plan fell through in 2002, when doctors at St. Thomas’s Hospital and King’s College medical school threatened to resign if the land went to the Aga Khan instead of the National Health Service. He quickly turned his attention to Canada, a country whose relationship with the Ismaili people spans four decades. When Idi Amin expelled Asians from Uganda in 1972, the Aga Khan phoned his friend Pierre Trudeau to ask for the safe passage of 5,000 Ismailis. That group has since grown to roughly 100,000, with about half of the population living in Ontario, most of them in Toronto.
The Aga Khan Museum
Four highlights from the Aga Khan’s priceless collection (1: Dish) A 16th-century plate from Iznik, Turkey, hand-painted with tulips, carnations and roses. The bright, floral style is an Ottoman Empire trademark—it was replicated on textiles, tiles and carpets. (2: Horn) This ivory tusk was carved in 12th-century Sicily with depictions of animals derived from the Fatimid court in Egypt. Five centuries later, a British lord slapped on the garish silver mount and silver detailing as part of his daughter’s wedding present. (3: Astrolabe) The 14th-century astrolabe was engraved in Arabic, Latin and Hebrew, so just about everyone could navigate by the stars. (4: Folio) A leaf from the 16th century Iranian manuscript The Shahnama of Shah Tahmasp. The manuscript was broken up in the 1970s and dispersed among museums and collectors; now, UNESCO conventions exist to keep artifacts intact. (Photographs courtesy of The Aga Khan Museum)
Since the project was announced, the Aga Khan has linked his museum’s mandate to Toronto’s multi-ethnicity, underscored by the location in Don Mills. The neighbourhood has one of the largest Muslim populations in Canada and is home to a sizable South Asian community. The plot of land on Wynford Drive also offered the Aga Khan a rare luxury in Toronto: seven hectares of uninterrupted space.
And Fumihiko Maki has taken full advantage of the site. Directed by the Aga Khan to design a building around the concept of light, Maki positioned the museum at 45 degrees to true north, so sun bounces off each surface throughout the day. Approximately 300 items will be exhibited in the museum at any given time, with the selection rotating every few months. Much of the collection comes from his uncle, Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, who began focusing on Islamic ceramics in the 1950s. The entire family were avid art buyers: the Aga Khan’s great-grandmother collected illustrated manuscripts of Persian poetry, his father had a weakness for French Impressionists, and the current Aga Khan went through a Breugel phase. Some of the items came by boat, some by plane, some were brought from Geneva by Henry Kim, the museum’s director. “You’d be amazed what you can put in the overhead compartment,” he says.
By the entrance you’ll find copper-coloured leaves from ancient Qurans—one luminous page from a ninth-century north African manuscript, its warm gold script rolling over midnight-blue paint, is particularly dazzling. Further in, there’s a piece of 10th-century Iranian pottery with the inscription, “Beware of the imbecile: do not socialize with him,” which remains good advice. An ultramarine 16th-century Turkish dish is hand-painted with red, wind-tossed tulips, native to the Ottoman Empire. In the 1550s, the flowers caught the eye of an ambassador from the Holy Roman Empire, who introduced them to western Europe with a shipment of bulbs sent to a friend in Vienna.
One of the oldest surviving copies of the Canon of Medicine is displayed, though you won’t see its descriptions of cures and remedies—the fragile pages are hidden behind an overlay covered in Arabic script. The Persian physician and philosopher Avicenna completed the book in 1025, drawing from Chinese, Greek and Islamic scholarship. For more than 700 years, it ranked among the world’s most influential medical texts. Nearby, there is a Spanish planispheric astrolabe from the 14th century, an age of feverish scientific co-operation between Muslim, Christian and Jewish scholars; its bronze face is inscribed with constellation names in Arabic, Latin and Hebrew. These are lovely works of Islamic art, but they don’t exist in isolation: they’ve been chosen for the connections they reveal between cultures, showing how craft and ideas ripple back and forth.
It’s difficult to read the script on the pocket-sized astrolabe, but the museum’s discreet glass cases encourage patrons to get close. You can practically press your nose against a 600-year-old illustrated folio, its details painted with a single squirrel hair. It’s all very intimate, which makes stepping back outside the Aga Khan Museum a little jarring: it takes a moment to readjust to the vast campus and the building’s imposing size. But then you’re struck instead by the sheer calm of the sweeping modernist space. That kind of serenity is hard to come by in the world; it’s hard to come by in downtown Toronto. Finding it seems worth the hike to Don Mills.
Toronto Life
December 2, 2014
Culture
World of Wonders: the Aga Khan brings his treasure trove of Islamic artifacts to Toronto
By Danielle Groen
The Aga Khan Museum
Click to see more of the museum. (Photograph courtesy of The Aga Khan Museum)
Anyone who drives in Toronto knows about the kink in the DVP—that bend below the Eglinton off-ramp where, however swiftly cars have been moving away from downtown, they inevitably slow to a crawl. It’s a pain if you have a pressing engagement north of the 401, but the spot affords a terrific view of the Aga Khan Museum, which hovers over the highway. Each day, thousands of captive drivers will turn their eyes to the gleaming white structure and think: hold on, when did Toronto get a castle from the future?
The museum, designed by the Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki, is an imposing work of modernism, all chiselled angles and polished stone. It’s part of a new Islamic cultural campus on Wynford Drive—a $300-million gift to the city from the Aga Khan, spiritual leader to the world’s 15 million Ismaili Muslims, who consider him a direct descendent of the prophet Muhammad. It’s also North America’s first museum dedicated to Islamic art, packed with 1,000 pieces from the Aga Khan’s personal collection of artifacts. The museum stands at the east end of the campus and faces an Ismaili community centre, its prayer hall capped by a torqued crystalline dome that points toward Mecca. Several acres of greenery surround and connect the buildings, including a formal garden with tidy rows of trees and five black granite reflecting pools. To say the sprawling site looks like nothing else in Toronto is an absurd understatement.
And its price tag is pocket change for Prince Karim Al Husseini Aga Khan IV (“His Highness” to most; “K” to his friends). The Geneva-born septuagenarian inherited the title in 1957 when his grandfather, Sir Sultan Mahomed Shah Aga Khan III, skipped over his own son—Prince Aly Khan, a famous playboy known for his marriage to Rita Hayworth—and selected Karim instead. Sixty years later, the Aga Khan’s personal fortune is estimated to be as high as $13 billion. He lives in a château near Paris, just a short drive from the historic Chantilly racetrack he restored, where he trains a hundred thoroughbred horses. He has a private island in the Bahamas, a $360-million superyacht and two Bombardier jets. And he oversees the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development, a massive business empire of hotels, power plants, telecommunication companies and airlines, with annual revenues in the neighbourhood of $2.3 billion. The surplus—plus annual tithes from his followers, who are expected to hand over a portion of their income—is channelled into medical, educational and sanitation projects, and cultural conservation work spread around the world.
He originally intended to build his palatial art museum in London, England, but the plan fell through in 2002, when doctors at St. Thomas’s Hospital and King’s College medical school threatened to resign if the land went to the Aga Khan instead of the National Health Service. He quickly turned his attention to Canada, a country whose relationship with the Ismaili people spans four decades. When Idi Amin expelled Asians from Uganda in 1972, the Aga Khan phoned his friend Pierre Trudeau to ask for the safe passage of 5,000 Ismailis. That group has since grown to roughly 100,000, with about half of the population living in Ontario, most of them in Toronto.
The Aga Khan Museum
Four highlights from the Aga Khan’s priceless collection (1: Dish) A 16th-century plate from Iznik, Turkey, hand-painted with tulips, carnations and roses. The bright, floral style is an Ottoman Empire trademark—it was replicated on textiles, tiles and carpets. (2: Horn) This ivory tusk was carved in 12th-century Sicily with depictions of animals derived from the Fatimid court in Egypt. Five centuries later, a British lord slapped on the garish silver mount and silver detailing as part of his daughter’s wedding present. (3: Astrolabe) The 14th-century astrolabe was engraved in Arabic, Latin and Hebrew, so just about everyone could navigate by the stars. (4: Folio) A leaf from the 16th century Iranian manuscript The Shahnama of Shah Tahmasp. The manuscript was broken up in the 1970s and dispersed among museums and collectors; now, UNESCO conventions exist to keep artifacts intact. (Photographs courtesy of The Aga Khan Museum)
Since the project was announced, the Aga Khan has linked his museum’s mandate to Toronto’s multi-ethnicity, underscored by the location in Don Mills. The neighbourhood has one of the largest Muslim populations in Canada and is home to a sizable South Asian community. The plot of land on Wynford Drive also offered the Aga Khan a rare luxury in Toronto: seven hectares of uninterrupted space.
And Fumihiko Maki has taken full advantage of the site. Directed by the Aga Khan to design a building around the concept of light, Maki positioned the museum at 45 degrees to true north, so sun bounces off each surface throughout the day. Approximately 300 items will be exhibited in the museum at any given time, with the selection rotating every few months. Much of the collection comes from his uncle, Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, who began focusing on Islamic ceramics in the 1950s. The entire family were avid art buyers: the Aga Khan’s great-grandmother collected illustrated manuscripts of Persian poetry, his father had a weakness for French Impressionists, and the current Aga Khan went through a Breugel phase. Some of the items came by boat, some by plane, some were brought from Geneva by Henry Kim, the museum’s director. “You’d be amazed what you can put in the overhead compartment,” he says.
By the entrance you’ll find copper-coloured leaves from ancient Qurans—one luminous page from a ninth-century north African manuscript, its warm gold script rolling over midnight-blue paint, is particularly dazzling. Further in, there’s a piece of 10th-century Iranian pottery with the inscription, “Beware of the imbecile: do not socialize with him,” which remains good advice. An ultramarine 16th-century Turkish dish is hand-painted with red, wind-tossed tulips, native to the Ottoman Empire. In the 1550s, the flowers caught the eye of an ambassador from the Holy Roman Empire, who introduced them to western Europe with a shipment of bulbs sent to a friend in Vienna.
One of the oldest surviving copies of the Canon of Medicine is displayed, though you won’t see its descriptions of cures and remedies—the fragile pages are hidden behind an overlay covered in Arabic script. The Persian physician and philosopher Avicenna completed the book in 1025, drawing from Chinese, Greek and Islamic scholarship. For more than 700 years, it ranked among the world’s most influential medical texts. Nearby, there is a Spanish planispheric astrolabe from the 14th century, an age of feverish scientific co-operation between Muslim, Christian and Jewish scholars; its bronze face is inscribed with constellation names in Arabic, Latin and Hebrew. These are lovely works of Islamic art, but they don’t exist in isolation: they’ve been chosen for the connections they reveal between cultures, showing how craft and ideas ripple back and forth.
It’s difficult to read the script on the pocket-sized astrolabe, but the museum’s discreet glass cases encourage patrons to get close. You can practically press your nose against a 600-year-old illustrated folio, its details painted with a single squirrel hair. It’s all very intimate, which makes stepping back outside the Aga Khan Museum a little jarring: it takes a moment to readjust to the vast campus and the building’s imposing size. But then you’re struck instead by the sheer calm of the sweeping modernist space. That kind of serenity is hard to come by in the world; it’s hard to come by in downtown Toronto. Finding it seems worth the hike to Don Mills.
Lion Lamb Blog -- David Mundy
Welcome to David Mundy's nearly-daily blog. David is now in his 35th year as a United Church minister and has kept a journal for nearly 30 years. This blog is more public but contains his personal musings and reflections on the world, through the lens of his Christian faith. Follow his Creation Blog, Groundling (groundlingearthyheavenly.blogspot.ca) and Mini Me blog (aka Twitter) @lionlambstp
The Antidote of the Aga Khan Museum
We have watched with horror at ISIS or ISIL maraudes through Iraq and Syria, killing indiscriminately. This terrorist organization beheads many of its victims, a particularly barbaric form of execution, although in the end murder is murder. The members of ISIS, including radicalized young people from Western countries, does all this in the name of Allah.
So, as we know, this means all Muslims are violent terrorists. Muslims are thugs opposed to scientific discovery and artistic endeavour. Of course these are absurd, illogical conclusions, but unfortunately drawn by many. They dismiss every person who is a Muslim and every accomplishment of Islamic religion and culture.
I thought about the stereotypes as we walked through the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto last Saturday. I wrote about the museum before, and that the leader of the Ismaili sect of Islam, the Aga Khan, had chosen Toronto as the site for this impressive tribute to Islamic art because of the tolerant and diverse society in Canada and the city. But this was our first visit since it opened in September.
We were very impressed by the art in its various forms extending back in history for twelve centuries. The main floor focusses on the past, and includes explanatory graphics and descriptions of the background of Islamic culture. There is exquisite detail in the carpets and pottery and in manuscripts, including very old illuminated Qurans. The carpet pictured above is massive, yet contains thousands of finely wrought images. On the upper floor there was a worthwhile exhibit of contemporary work by Muslim artists. The docents were friendly, helpful and obviously proud of their heritage.
In a way this museum is a partial antidote for the horrors emerging from the Middle East and the threat of terror everywhere. We can't allow this distortion of Islam on the part of fundamentalists to become our perception of the religion as a whole.
So, do we need a "class trip" to the museum and the prayer centre next door? Is it reassuring to hear a different story about Islam than those which dominate the news these days?
http://lionlamb-bowmanville.blogspot.ca ... useum.html
Welcome to David Mundy's nearly-daily blog. David is now in his 35th year as a United Church minister and has kept a journal for nearly 30 years. This blog is more public but contains his personal musings and reflections on the world, through the lens of his Christian faith. Follow his Creation Blog, Groundling (groundlingearthyheavenly.blogspot.ca) and Mini Me blog (aka Twitter) @lionlambstp
The Antidote of the Aga Khan Museum
We have watched with horror at ISIS or ISIL maraudes through Iraq and Syria, killing indiscriminately. This terrorist organization beheads many of its victims, a particularly barbaric form of execution, although in the end murder is murder. The members of ISIS, including radicalized young people from Western countries, does all this in the name of Allah.
So, as we know, this means all Muslims are violent terrorists. Muslims are thugs opposed to scientific discovery and artistic endeavour. Of course these are absurd, illogical conclusions, but unfortunately drawn by many. They dismiss every person who is a Muslim and every accomplishment of Islamic religion and culture.
I thought about the stereotypes as we walked through the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto last Saturday. I wrote about the museum before, and that the leader of the Ismaili sect of Islam, the Aga Khan, had chosen Toronto as the site for this impressive tribute to Islamic art because of the tolerant and diverse society in Canada and the city. But this was our first visit since it opened in September.
We were very impressed by the art in its various forms extending back in history for twelve centuries. The main floor focusses on the past, and includes explanatory graphics and descriptions of the background of Islamic culture. There is exquisite detail in the carpets and pottery and in manuscripts, including very old illuminated Qurans. The carpet pictured above is massive, yet contains thousands of finely wrought images. On the upper floor there was a worthwhile exhibit of contemporary work by Muslim artists. The docents were friendly, helpful and obviously proud of their heritage.
In a way this museum is a partial antidote for the horrors emerging from the Middle East and the threat of terror everywhere. We can't allow this distortion of Islam on the part of fundamentalists to become our perception of the religion as a whole.
So, do we need a "class trip" to the museum and the prayer centre next door? Is it reassuring to hear a different story about Islam than those which dominate the news these days?
http://lionlamb-bowmanville.blogspot.ca ... useum.html
http://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwart/art ... 3-20141208
Aga Khan Museum Presents the North American Premiere of THE LOST DHOW: A DISCOVERY FROM THE MARITIME SILK ROUTE, 12/13
December 8
10:27 2014
Aga Khan Museum Presents the North American Premiere of THE LOST DHOW: A DISCOVERY FROM THE MARITIME SILK ROUTE, 12/13
Travelling for the first time outside of Singapore for its North American premiere, the exhibition The Lost Dhow: A Discovery from the Maritime Silk Route opens at the Aga Khan Museum on December 13.
In 1998 the shallow waters off Belitung Island in the western Java Sea yielded what would prove to be the earliest and most important marine archaeological discovery of the 20th century: a ship laden with gold, silver, and bronze objects - in addition to 57,500 Chinese ceramic artifacts. No human remains were found on board, but coins and other personal effects revealed remarkable details about the crew's origins. Ultimately identified as an Arab dhow approximately 1,200 years old, the ship provided the first hard evidence of a Maritime Silk Route that saw the vibrant exchange of goods, ideas, and technologies between Tang China and the Abbasid Empire.
For the first time ever in North America, a stunning array of artifacts from this cargo is on display at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto. Jointly organized by the Asian Civilisations Museum of Singapore, the Singapore Tourism Board, and the Aga Khan Museum, the exhibition The Lost Dhow: A Discovery from the Maritime Silk Route runs from December 13, 2014, to April 26, 2015 with a full complement of multi-disciplinary programming. "This exhibition beautifully shows that creative exchanges between China and the Islamic world were fully under way one thousand years ago," notes Alan Chong, Director of Singapore's Asian Civilisations Museum. Henry Kim, Director and CEO of the Aga Khan Museum, adds, "The Lost Dhow exhibition is a natural fit with the Aga Khan Museum. The cross-cultural exchange exemplified by the dhow's cargo is exactly what our collection and programming both celebrate and explore."
Highlights of the exhibition include:
• A green-splashed ewer featuring a handle in the form of a lion with a dragon-head spout and ringhandled cups, among nearly 200 pieces of white ceramics decorated with splashes of bright green that were found with other higher-value items of cargo from the Belitung shipwreck. Chemical analysis of broken pieces from the wreck suggests they were produced at the Gongxian kilns in Henan Province, renowned for its undecorated white wares.
• A white ware cup stand, among about 300 pieces of white-glazed wares made in northern China at the Xing and Ding kilns in Hebei Province. High-fired white wares approaching porcelain in translucency and hardness were an innovation of northern Chinese kilns during the Tang dynasty. Highly prized by Chinese aristocrats because of their perceived similarity to luxury silver dishes, these wares were also coveted in foreign markets, particularly in West Asia where they were imitated.
• A gold cup, which is completely unique among the items recovered from the cargo. Gold acquired great value in Chinese culture during the Tang dynasty. The shape of this vessel, metallurgical technology, and drinking of grape wine came from West Asia.
The Lost Dhow: A Discovery from the Maritime Silk Route is guest-curated by John Vollmer, an internationally recognized curator and scholar in the fields of Asian art, textiles and costume, decorative arts, and design. An international symposium, a film series, and performances by Silk Road-inspired musicians such as Wu Man, Kayhan Kalhor, and Sandeep Das are among the programming initiatives that will provide historical context for the exhibition and encourage conversation about the importance of preserving and sharing maritime heritage. A richly illustrated publication written by Simon Worrall and published by the Aga Khan Museum accompanies the exhibition.
Aga Khan Museum Presents the North American Premiere of THE LOST DHOW: A DISCOVERY FROM THE MARITIME SILK ROUTE, 12/13
December 8
10:27 2014
Aga Khan Museum Presents the North American Premiere of THE LOST DHOW: A DISCOVERY FROM THE MARITIME SILK ROUTE, 12/13
Travelling for the first time outside of Singapore for its North American premiere, the exhibition The Lost Dhow: A Discovery from the Maritime Silk Route opens at the Aga Khan Museum on December 13.
In 1998 the shallow waters off Belitung Island in the western Java Sea yielded what would prove to be the earliest and most important marine archaeological discovery of the 20th century: a ship laden with gold, silver, and bronze objects - in addition to 57,500 Chinese ceramic artifacts. No human remains were found on board, but coins and other personal effects revealed remarkable details about the crew's origins. Ultimately identified as an Arab dhow approximately 1,200 years old, the ship provided the first hard evidence of a Maritime Silk Route that saw the vibrant exchange of goods, ideas, and technologies between Tang China and the Abbasid Empire.
For the first time ever in North America, a stunning array of artifacts from this cargo is on display at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto. Jointly organized by the Asian Civilisations Museum of Singapore, the Singapore Tourism Board, and the Aga Khan Museum, the exhibition The Lost Dhow: A Discovery from the Maritime Silk Route runs from December 13, 2014, to April 26, 2015 with a full complement of multi-disciplinary programming. "This exhibition beautifully shows that creative exchanges between China and the Islamic world were fully under way one thousand years ago," notes Alan Chong, Director of Singapore's Asian Civilisations Museum. Henry Kim, Director and CEO of the Aga Khan Museum, adds, "The Lost Dhow exhibition is a natural fit with the Aga Khan Museum. The cross-cultural exchange exemplified by the dhow's cargo is exactly what our collection and programming both celebrate and explore."
Highlights of the exhibition include:
• A green-splashed ewer featuring a handle in the form of a lion with a dragon-head spout and ringhandled cups, among nearly 200 pieces of white ceramics decorated with splashes of bright green that were found with other higher-value items of cargo from the Belitung shipwreck. Chemical analysis of broken pieces from the wreck suggests they were produced at the Gongxian kilns in Henan Province, renowned for its undecorated white wares.
• A white ware cup stand, among about 300 pieces of white-glazed wares made in northern China at the Xing and Ding kilns in Hebei Province. High-fired white wares approaching porcelain in translucency and hardness were an innovation of northern Chinese kilns during the Tang dynasty. Highly prized by Chinese aristocrats because of their perceived similarity to luxury silver dishes, these wares were also coveted in foreign markets, particularly in West Asia where they were imitated.
• A gold cup, which is completely unique among the items recovered from the cargo. Gold acquired great value in Chinese culture during the Tang dynasty. The shape of this vessel, metallurgical technology, and drinking of grape wine came from West Asia.
The Lost Dhow: A Discovery from the Maritime Silk Route is guest-curated by John Vollmer, an internationally recognized curator and scholar in the fields of Asian art, textiles and costume, decorative arts, and design. An international symposium, a film series, and performances by Silk Road-inspired musicians such as Wu Man, Kayhan Kalhor, and Sandeep Das are among the programming initiatives that will provide historical context for the exhibition and encourage conversation about the importance of preserving and sharing maritime heritage. A richly illustrated publication written by Simon Worrall and published by the Aga Khan Museum accompanies the exhibition.
thestar.com/life/fashion_style/2014/12
/24/aga_khan_inspires_with_aim_of_crosscultural_unity_style_czar.html
Toronto Star-Dec 24, 2014
Aga Khan inspires with aim of cross-cultural unity: Style Czar
From its modern, open presentation of historic Islamic artifacts to the building's beautiful exterior, this new Toronto museum is 2014's central style event.
Self-described "museographer" Adrien Gardère wanted to avoid glamourization of artifacts in the Aga Khan Museum, and instead focus on how the objects were used in real life.
Janet Kimber
Self-described "museographer" Adrien Gardère wanted to avoid glamourization of artifacts in the Aga Khan Museum, and instead focus on how the objects were used in real life.
By: Karen von Hahn Fashion Columnist, Published on Wed Dec 24 2014
If you haven’t quite found your way yet to the new Aga Khan Museum, you really should. As far as I am concerned, its opening was the single most significant style event of 2014. Not only is the building itself, by the Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki, a glittering, winged visual poem of Brazilian granite, glass and aluminum, and the Aga Khan’s own collection of Islamic art and antiquities impressive, the museum’s beautiful and timely mission to promote cross-cultural understanding and interconnectedness — and to place it here in the jumble of our amazingly diverse city — is itself an inspiration.
What’s more, the way that the museum has chosen to express this mission through the design of its exhibition spaces is both groundbreaking and visionary — no easy feat when dealing with the mysterious treasures of ancient and unfamiliar civilizations, which can be hard for those of us unschooled in Islamic art or the ancient world to interpret and understand. And yet the museum refuses to take the easy, didactic way out. So modern and minimal in fact is the museum’s approach to the display of its precious objects that the cases and vitrines almost disappear and the visitor gets to encounter the collection without the traditional pomp of the velvet-lined, dazzlingly overlit showcase in the way.
The master behind this accomplishment is a man named Adrien Gardère, a self-described “museographer” whose recent work on the Louvre Lens 350,000-square-foot antiquities galleries caught the attention of the Aga Khan’s team. “I like to see myself as a translator,” Gardère explained by phone from his Paris studio. “We work in between the collection and the curator, whose tools are the artifacts, and the scope, goals and context of the architectural project.”
“These artifacts all come from countries who are dealing with a lot of light,” observes Gardère of the Aga Khan’s Islamic art collection. “What we wanted to express, through everything from the architecture to the exhibition of objects, is that this is a civilization of light and not darkness.”
Gardère is dismissive of the traditional exhibition style, which aims to create excitement through resorting to excessive and distancing glamourization. “These artifacts were used — the books and manuscripts were read, the pots and vessels used to cook and to eat from,” says Gardère. “Trying to tell this story in the dark with a ray of light on a pillow in a jewelry box is too much of a collector’s approach.”
Instead of emphasizing their preciousness, Gardère decided, in essence, to remove the physical barriers to our understanding of them as objects. As at the Louvre Lens, almost nothing in the permanent collections hangs on the walls, but appears to float within the space. “Rather than maintain you at a distance, my point is to try to grab you with your own emotion and perceptions, and to allow for a dialogue between objects — a conversation you the viewer undertake with your own eyes and feet as you negotiate the space, rather than a lesson.”
With this month’s launch of The Lost Dhow, which marks the first North American showing of the 1998 discovery of a 1200-year-old shipwreck off the coast of Java as well as the museum’s first new exhibition since its opening, this gentle message of transparency and interconnectedness hits home alongside such recovered wonders from the ship’s well-preserved cargo as a bronze mirror circa 825 with Chinese astrological figures and the world’s earliest-known blue and white ceramics (made in Tang dynasty China but with cobalt from Iran).
“The discovery of the ship provided the first hard evidence of a Maritime Silk Route that saw the vibrant exchange of goods, ideas and technologies from Asia to Africa and the Muslim world,” says the Aga Khan Museum’s director and CEO Henry Kim, marvelling over the scale of the ship’s bounty, which along with precious gold, silver and bronze objects, included some 57,500 Chinese-made mass-produced ceramics packed for shipment in enormous clay vessels.
“It was like the container shipping of today,” says Kim. “Turns out you could carry a lot more in a ship than on the back of a camel.”
What’s more is that the show reveals that what we tend to consider the rather recent phenomenon of globalization is not only not particularly new, but is perhaps as old as the human story. Says Kim: “We can now see the sharing and exchange of goods and ideas as a historical fact that is more than 1,000 years old.”
What better way, then, to while away a leisurely afternoon this holiday season, pondering the ancient story of our interconnectedness and marvelling at its creative output? One would be hard-pressed to find such an inspiring New Years message anywhere — let alone right here, in such exquisite premises, just north of the 401.
/24/aga_khan_inspires_with_aim_of_crosscultural_unity_style_czar.html
Toronto Star-Dec 24, 2014
Aga Khan inspires with aim of cross-cultural unity: Style Czar
From its modern, open presentation of historic Islamic artifacts to the building's beautiful exterior, this new Toronto museum is 2014's central style event.
Self-described "museographer" Adrien Gardère wanted to avoid glamourization of artifacts in the Aga Khan Museum, and instead focus on how the objects were used in real life.
Janet Kimber
Self-described "museographer" Adrien Gardère wanted to avoid glamourization of artifacts in the Aga Khan Museum, and instead focus on how the objects were used in real life.
By: Karen von Hahn Fashion Columnist, Published on Wed Dec 24 2014
If you haven’t quite found your way yet to the new Aga Khan Museum, you really should. As far as I am concerned, its opening was the single most significant style event of 2014. Not only is the building itself, by the Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki, a glittering, winged visual poem of Brazilian granite, glass and aluminum, and the Aga Khan’s own collection of Islamic art and antiquities impressive, the museum’s beautiful and timely mission to promote cross-cultural understanding and interconnectedness — and to place it here in the jumble of our amazingly diverse city — is itself an inspiration.
What’s more, the way that the museum has chosen to express this mission through the design of its exhibition spaces is both groundbreaking and visionary — no easy feat when dealing with the mysterious treasures of ancient and unfamiliar civilizations, which can be hard for those of us unschooled in Islamic art or the ancient world to interpret and understand. And yet the museum refuses to take the easy, didactic way out. So modern and minimal in fact is the museum’s approach to the display of its precious objects that the cases and vitrines almost disappear and the visitor gets to encounter the collection without the traditional pomp of the velvet-lined, dazzlingly overlit showcase in the way.
The master behind this accomplishment is a man named Adrien Gardère, a self-described “museographer” whose recent work on the Louvre Lens 350,000-square-foot antiquities galleries caught the attention of the Aga Khan’s team. “I like to see myself as a translator,” Gardère explained by phone from his Paris studio. “We work in between the collection and the curator, whose tools are the artifacts, and the scope, goals and context of the architectural project.”
“These artifacts all come from countries who are dealing with a lot of light,” observes Gardère of the Aga Khan’s Islamic art collection. “What we wanted to express, through everything from the architecture to the exhibition of objects, is that this is a civilization of light and not darkness.”
Gardère is dismissive of the traditional exhibition style, which aims to create excitement through resorting to excessive and distancing glamourization. “These artifacts were used — the books and manuscripts were read, the pots and vessels used to cook and to eat from,” says Gardère. “Trying to tell this story in the dark with a ray of light on a pillow in a jewelry box is too much of a collector’s approach.”
Instead of emphasizing their preciousness, Gardère decided, in essence, to remove the physical barriers to our understanding of them as objects. As at the Louvre Lens, almost nothing in the permanent collections hangs on the walls, but appears to float within the space. “Rather than maintain you at a distance, my point is to try to grab you with your own emotion and perceptions, and to allow for a dialogue between objects — a conversation you the viewer undertake with your own eyes and feet as you negotiate the space, rather than a lesson.”
With this month’s launch of The Lost Dhow, which marks the first North American showing of the 1998 discovery of a 1200-year-old shipwreck off the coast of Java as well as the museum’s first new exhibition since its opening, this gentle message of transparency and interconnectedness hits home alongside such recovered wonders from the ship’s well-preserved cargo as a bronze mirror circa 825 with Chinese astrological figures and the world’s earliest-known blue and white ceramics (made in Tang dynasty China but with cobalt from Iran).
“The discovery of the ship provided the first hard evidence of a Maritime Silk Route that saw the vibrant exchange of goods, ideas and technologies from Asia to Africa and the Muslim world,” says the Aga Khan Museum’s director and CEO Henry Kim, marvelling over the scale of the ship’s bounty, which along with precious gold, silver and bronze objects, included some 57,500 Chinese-made mass-produced ceramics packed for shipment in enormous clay vessels.
“It was like the container shipping of today,” says Kim. “Turns out you could carry a lot more in a ship than on the back of a camel.”
What’s more is that the show reveals that what we tend to consider the rather recent phenomenon of globalization is not only not particularly new, but is perhaps as old as the human story. Says Kim: “We can now see the sharing and exchange of goods and ideas as a historical fact that is more than 1,000 years old.”
What better way, then, to while away a leisurely afternoon this holiday season, pondering the ancient story of our interconnectedness and marvelling at its creative output? One would be hard-pressed to find such an inspiring New Years message anywhere — let alone right here, in such exquisite premises, just north of the 401.
connaissancedesarts.com/civilisation/actus/l-aga-khan-installe-ses-tresors-a-toronto-109215.php
L'Aga Khan installe ses trésors à Toronto
Signature : Guy Boyer - 24 décembre 2014
Associé à un centre spirituel ismaélien au cœur d’un vaste jardin, l’Aga Khan Museum abrite depuis le 12 septembre des chefs-d’œuvre de l’Islam amassés à partir des années 1950, puis complétés récemment pour proposer une vision globale des arts, du Maroc à l’Iran.
Alors que la mélopée de la sourate du Coran flotte encore dans l'air, sa traduction en anglais puis en français rappelle au public invité à l'inauguration du musée de l'Aga Khan qu'il n'est pas dans un musée classique. Plus qu'un rassemblement de chefs-d'oeuvre des arts de l'Islam, c'est « un lieu de connaissance de cette culture riche et plurielle » qu'ont voulu implanter à Toronto le prince Karim Aga Khan et son frère Amyn. Même si la communauté ismaélienne, une branche des musulmans chiites, ne compte que quinze millions de fidèles de par le monde, elle est bien implantée au Canada et l'existence dans ce pays d'un ministère pour le Multiculturalisme donne à son islam libéral tous les gages de compréhension, tolérance et sécurité. Préférée à Londres la riche et la cosmopolite, Toronto a proposé il y a douze ans déjà un terrain enchâssé dans une boucle d'autoroute mais à seulement quinze minutes en voiture du centre ville. Dans cette parcelle de sept hectares, un jardin au tracé régulier, dessiné par Vladimir Djurovic, rappelle la disposition de la place d'Ispahan avec ses deux mosquées de part et d'autre. Il réunit le Centre ismaélien, construit par Charles Correa sur le point le plus élevé du terrain et surmonté d'une pyramide de verre éclairant la salle des prières, à l'Aga Khan Museum, signé par le Japonais Fumihiko Maki. De l'extérieur, le musée ressemble à un savant origami dont les feuilles pliées tentent de se soulever pour reconstituer une boîte de granit blanc du Brésil. D'où l'incroyable tension dans ses façades minimal i s tes percées uniquement de baies horizontales et d'échancrures pour les lanternons du toit. À l'intérieur, tout le bâtiment rectangulaire est centré sur un patio carré, ceint de verres gravés aux motifs géométriques de moucharabiehs qui se reflètent sur les murs blancs. Au dynamisme de l'enveloppe extérieure répond la stabilité rigoureuse du plan intérieur.
Lire la suite dans le Magazine Connaissance des Arts janvier 2015
L'Aga Khan installe ses trésors à Toronto
Signature : Guy Boyer - 24 décembre 2014
Associé à un centre spirituel ismaélien au cœur d’un vaste jardin, l’Aga Khan Museum abrite depuis le 12 septembre des chefs-d’œuvre de l’Islam amassés à partir des années 1950, puis complétés récemment pour proposer une vision globale des arts, du Maroc à l’Iran.
Alors que la mélopée de la sourate du Coran flotte encore dans l'air, sa traduction en anglais puis en français rappelle au public invité à l'inauguration du musée de l'Aga Khan qu'il n'est pas dans un musée classique. Plus qu'un rassemblement de chefs-d'oeuvre des arts de l'Islam, c'est « un lieu de connaissance de cette culture riche et plurielle » qu'ont voulu implanter à Toronto le prince Karim Aga Khan et son frère Amyn. Même si la communauté ismaélienne, une branche des musulmans chiites, ne compte que quinze millions de fidèles de par le monde, elle est bien implantée au Canada et l'existence dans ce pays d'un ministère pour le Multiculturalisme donne à son islam libéral tous les gages de compréhension, tolérance et sécurité. Préférée à Londres la riche et la cosmopolite, Toronto a proposé il y a douze ans déjà un terrain enchâssé dans une boucle d'autoroute mais à seulement quinze minutes en voiture du centre ville. Dans cette parcelle de sept hectares, un jardin au tracé régulier, dessiné par Vladimir Djurovic, rappelle la disposition de la place d'Ispahan avec ses deux mosquées de part et d'autre. Il réunit le Centre ismaélien, construit par Charles Correa sur le point le plus élevé du terrain et surmonté d'une pyramide de verre éclairant la salle des prières, à l'Aga Khan Museum, signé par le Japonais Fumihiko Maki. De l'extérieur, le musée ressemble à un savant origami dont les feuilles pliées tentent de se soulever pour reconstituer une boîte de granit blanc du Brésil. D'où l'incroyable tension dans ses façades minimal i s tes percées uniquement de baies horizontales et d'échancrures pour les lanternons du toit. À l'intérieur, tout le bâtiment rectangulaire est centré sur un patio carré, ceint de verres gravés aux motifs géométriques de moucharabiehs qui se reflètent sur les murs blancs. Au dynamisme de l'enveloppe extérieure répond la stabilité rigoureuse du plan intérieur.
Lire la suite dans le Magazine Connaissance des Arts janvier 2015
thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2015/01/04/aga_khan_museum_showcases_best_in_islam_marmur.html
Aga Khan Museum showcases best in Islam: Marmur
Liberals in all three monotheistic religions are at the forefront of bridge-building, both with other faith communities and with the secular world.
A preview of the new Aga Khan Museum, hosted by the museum's director Henry Kim.
By: Dow Marmur Columnist, Published on Sun Jan 04 2015
The rule formulated by the late Swedish-American theologian Krister Stendahl that I’ve cited before in this column helps us to understand the essence of interfaith and intercultural relations: always compare their best with your best, not their worst with your best.
At a time when we often read reports of horrendous atrocities in different parts of the world committed by Muslims against “infidels” and other Muslims, it behooves us to recognize that such murderous excesses are aberrations of Islam, not its true manifestations.
The new Aga Khan Museum in Toronto provides ample opportunities to see Islam at its best. Its promotional brochure states that the “unparalleled manuscripts, drawings, paintings, decorated ceramics, metalwork and architectural ornamentations” on display are “to inform, educate and inspire audiences about the arts of Muslims civilizations.” They do all that and much more.
In addition to the permanent collection, there are temporary exhibitions of contemporary artistic creativity in the many countries where Muslims now live. The museum also arranges lectures and performing arts events that showcase past and present cultural achievements of Islam.
The Aga Khan, after whom the museum is named as part of a larger centre, is the spiritual leader of the 15 million adherents of the Shia Ismaili branch of Islam in the world, some 20,000 of whom live in Canada.
He’s a welcome guest in this country. Some time ago he was made an honorary citizen of Canada in appreciation of his lasting contribution to mutual respect and understanding between Muslims and other faiths and cultures all over the world.
The Aga Khan Museum in Toronto provides ample opportunities to see Islam at its best, Dow Marmur writes. The Aga Khan, left, with Stephen Harper at the opening of the Ismaili Centre and the museum on Sept. 12, 2014.
Aaron Vincent Elkaim / THE CANADIAN PRESS file photo
The Aga Khan Museum in Toronto provides ample opportunities to see Islam at its best, Dow Marmur writes. The Aga Khan, left, with Stephen Harper at the opening of the Ismaili Centre and the museum on Sept. 12, 2014.
Ismailis are liberal Muslims and thus only a small minority. The majority is usually in the hands of powerful people, almost invariably men, who confuse and control their adherents by assuring them that they and they alone are the true heirs of their religious tradition. To deviate from it is regarded as infidelity and punished in countless, sometimes cruel, ways.
The phenomenon exists in all three monotheistic religions. If it’s less in evidence in Judaism outside Israel, where Orthodox parties have political clout, it’s because there are relatively few Jews in the world, roughly the same number as Ismailis. But as a liberal Jew I’m persona non grata in virtually all Jewish Orthodox circles. I know of Orthodox Jews in this city who are forbidden to step inside the synagogue I had the honour to serve for many years.
Yet it’s we liberals who are at the forefront of bridge-building, both with other faith communities and with the secular world. It’s also we liberal Jews who usually take the initiative of seeking common cause with Orthodox Jews who may despise what we stand for even when they share our objectives.
We persevere because we know that our work is important, perhaps essential, for the well-being of the societies in which we live. We work on the assumption that Stendahl’s formula isn’t about numbers but about quality and purpose.
The Ismailis are few in number compared to other Muslims in the world, but their contribution, together with the contribution of other liberal Muslims, toward our understanding of what authentic Islam is about is invaluable. The same is true of the contributions of liberal Christians and liberal Jews in Canada and elsewhere.
Seen in this light, the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto promises to become a vital force, not because it represents the majority of Muslims but because it stands for what’s best in Islam. It is bound to grow in importance in years to come in our understanding of this great world religion. Non-Muslims have every reason to wish the museum success in its sacred endeavour.
Dow Marmur is rabbi emeritus at Toronto's Holy Blossom Temple. His column appears every other week.
Aga Khan Museum showcases best in Islam: Marmur
Liberals in all three monotheistic religions are at the forefront of bridge-building, both with other faith communities and with the secular world.
A preview of the new Aga Khan Museum, hosted by the museum's director Henry Kim.
By: Dow Marmur Columnist, Published on Sun Jan 04 2015
The rule formulated by the late Swedish-American theologian Krister Stendahl that I’ve cited before in this column helps us to understand the essence of interfaith and intercultural relations: always compare their best with your best, not their worst with your best.
At a time when we often read reports of horrendous atrocities in different parts of the world committed by Muslims against “infidels” and other Muslims, it behooves us to recognize that such murderous excesses are aberrations of Islam, not its true manifestations.
The new Aga Khan Museum in Toronto provides ample opportunities to see Islam at its best. Its promotional brochure states that the “unparalleled manuscripts, drawings, paintings, decorated ceramics, metalwork and architectural ornamentations” on display are “to inform, educate and inspire audiences about the arts of Muslims civilizations.” They do all that and much more.
In addition to the permanent collection, there are temporary exhibitions of contemporary artistic creativity in the many countries where Muslims now live. The museum also arranges lectures and performing arts events that showcase past and present cultural achievements of Islam.
The Aga Khan, after whom the museum is named as part of a larger centre, is the spiritual leader of the 15 million adherents of the Shia Ismaili branch of Islam in the world, some 20,000 of whom live in Canada.
He’s a welcome guest in this country. Some time ago he was made an honorary citizen of Canada in appreciation of his lasting contribution to mutual respect and understanding between Muslims and other faiths and cultures all over the world.
The Aga Khan Museum in Toronto provides ample opportunities to see Islam at its best, Dow Marmur writes. The Aga Khan, left, with Stephen Harper at the opening of the Ismaili Centre and the museum on Sept. 12, 2014.
Aaron Vincent Elkaim / THE CANADIAN PRESS file photo
The Aga Khan Museum in Toronto provides ample opportunities to see Islam at its best, Dow Marmur writes. The Aga Khan, left, with Stephen Harper at the opening of the Ismaili Centre and the museum on Sept. 12, 2014.
Ismailis are liberal Muslims and thus only a small minority. The majority is usually in the hands of powerful people, almost invariably men, who confuse and control their adherents by assuring them that they and they alone are the true heirs of their religious tradition. To deviate from it is regarded as infidelity and punished in countless, sometimes cruel, ways.
The phenomenon exists in all three monotheistic religions. If it’s less in evidence in Judaism outside Israel, where Orthodox parties have political clout, it’s because there are relatively few Jews in the world, roughly the same number as Ismailis. But as a liberal Jew I’m persona non grata in virtually all Jewish Orthodox circles. I know of Orthodox Jews in this city who are forbidden to step inside the synagogue I had the honour to serve for many years.
Yet it’s we liberals who are at the forefront of bridge-building, both with other faith communities and with the secular world. It’s also we liberal Jews who usually take the initiative of seeking common cause with Orthodox Jews who may despise what we stand for even when they share our objectives.
We persevere because we know that our work is important, perhaps essential, for the well-being of the societies in which we live. We work on the assumption that Stendahl’s formula isn’t about numbers but about quality and purpose.
The Ismailis are few in number compared to other Muslims in the world, but their contribution, together with the contribution of other liberal Muslims, toward our understanding of what authentic Islam is about is invaluable. The same is true of the contributions of liberal Christians and liberal Jews in Canada and elsewhere.
Seen in this light, the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto promises to become a vital force, not because it represents the majority of Muslims but because it stands for what’s best in Islam. It is bound to grow in importance in years to come in our understanding of this great world religion. Non-Muslims have every reason to wish the museum success in its sacred endeavour.
Dow Marmur is rabbi emeritus at Toronto's Holy Blossom Temple. His column appears every other week.
insidetoronto.com/news-story/5319691-aga-khan-performance-series-showcases-global-muslim-influence/
Feb 03, 2015 |
Aga Khan performance series showcases global Muslim influence
Photo/FENG LI
Wu Man, left, and Sanubar Tursun
North York Mirror
By DOMINIK KUREK
The Aga Khan Museum has launched the second half of its inaugural performing arts series that showcases the global reach of the Muslim culture.
The winter and spring series will feature artists from India, Iran, Siberia, China, Canada and elsewhere.
“We’re looking at the entire breadth of where Muslim civilizations and cultures have either, historically or in contemporary times, been present or had an influence in culture, especially in the arts,” said Amirali Alibhai, head of performing arts at the museum.
The series looks at arts cultures from a wide area, including the Iberian Peninsula in Spain to China, and south to Africa and Indonesia and north to Siberia.
“This will be new to a lot of audiences, but I’m trying to make sure that the music doesn’t need translation, literally, in order for it to be enjoyable and moving and touching.” – Amirali Alibhai, head of performing arts at the Aga Khan Museum
“The point of this program is to demonstrate the actual diversity or start to transmit the diversity of where Muslim civilizations have had influence or relationships in the past,” Alibhai said.
He said cultural influence can really be heard in music, whether you’re listening to traditional cultural music or contemporary forms.
The 2015 season of international film and performing arts began Jan. 28 with the film series called Cinematic Discoveries Along the Silk Road and the Spice Route.
The series runs over several Wednesdays until April 8, featuring work from accomplished international filmmakers and emerging media artists working in the Middle East, East and South Asia, and Africa, which the museum refers to as areas connected through the Silk Road and Spice Route.
“The film series will be a voyage of discovery for audiences,” said Dr. Paul Lee, a Scarborough filmmaker and producer who guest curated the film series, in a news release.
A number of live performances by accomplished international artists will continue into May, starting with pipa player Wu Man and singer Sanubar Tursun Friday, Feb. 13 and Saturday, Feb. 14.
The series features music, dance, spoken word, jam sessions and the film series.
Some of the work carries similar themes to the museum’s ongoing exhibits, including the Lost Dhow, which continues to April 26, and Visions of Mughal India, which opens Feb. 21, or it is in line with the museum’s mission to create an understanding between cultures.
Alibhai said this series will present a unique opportunity for people to see acclaimed and accomplished artists, performing arts disciplines that are rarely seen locally.
Alibhai said the shows will be accessible to everyone.
“This will be new to a lot of audiences, but I’m trying to make sure that the music doesn’t need translation, literally, in order for it to be enjoyable and moving and touching,” he said.
The theatre is intimate, with 336 seats, designed for the performing arts.
“This is a very respectful and comfortable space. The building itself is inspiring to artists and makes the visitor experience really unique,” Alibhai said.
For a full schedule of performances, to buy ticke
Feb 03, 2015 |
Aga Khan performance series showcases global Muslim influence
Photo/FENG LI
Wu Man, left, and Sanubar Tursun
North York Mirror
By DOMINIK KUREK
The Aga Khan Museum has launched the second half of its inaugural performing arts series that showcases the global reach of the Muslim culture.
The winter and spring series will feature artists from India, Iran, Siberia, China, Canada and elsewhere.
“We’re looking at the entire breadth of where Muslim civilizations and cultures have either, historically or in contemporary times, been present or had an influence in culture, especially in the arts,” said Amirali Alibhai, head of performing arts at the museum.
The series looks at arts cultures from a wide area, including the Iberian Peninsula in Spain to China, and south to Africa and Indonesia and north to Siberia.
“This will be new to a lot of audiences, but I’m trying to make sure that the music doesn’t need translation, literally, in order for it to be enjoyable and moving and touching.” – Amirali Alibhai, head of performing arts at the Aga Khan Museum
“The point of this program is to demonstrate the actual diversity or start to transmit the diversity of where Muslim civilizations have had influence or relationships in the past,” Alibhai said.
He said cultural influence can really be heard in music, whether you’re listening to traditional cultural music or contemporary forms.
The 2015 season of international film and performing arts began Jan. 28 with the film series called Cinematic Discoveries Along the Silk Road and the Spice Route.
The series runs over several Wednesdays until April 8, featuring work from accomplished international filmmakers and emerging media artists working in the Middle East, East and South Asia, and Africa, which the museum refers to as areas connected through the Silk Road and Spice Route.
“The film series will be a voyage of discovery for audiences,” said Dr. Paul Lee, a Scarborough filmmaker and producer who guest curated the film series, in a news release.
A number of live performances by accomplished international artists will continue into May, starting with pipa player Wu Man and singer Sanubar Tursun Friday, Feb. 13 and Saturday, Feb. 14.
The series features music, dance, spoken word, jam sessions and the film series.
Some of the work carries similar themes to the museum’s ongoing exhibits, including the Lost Dhow, which continues to April 26, and Visions of Mughal India, which opens Feb. 21, or it is in line with the museum’s mission to create an understanding between cultures.
Alibhai said this series will present a unique opportunity for people to see acclaimed and accomplished artists, performing arts disciplines that are rarely seen locally.
Alibhai said the shows will be accessible to everyone.
“This will be new to a lot of audiences, but I’m trying to make sure that the music doesn’t need translation, literally, in order for it to be enjoyable and moving and touching,” he said.
The theatre is intimate, with 336 seats, designed for the performing arts.
“This is a very respectful and comfortable space. The building itself is inspiring to artists and makes the visitor experience really unique,” Alibhai said.
For a full schedule of performances, to buy ticke
aquila-style.com/focus-points/muslimlifestyle/islamic-arts-spotlight-aga-khan-museum/95571/
March 11, 2015
For Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=p ... HzdjFjXr5s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=p ... C5_4fpJtUg
Islamic Arts spotlight: Aga Khan Museum
The Aga Khan Museum is a museum of Islamic arts and culture based in Toronto, Canada. The museum is an initiative of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network.
It houses collections of Islamic art and heritage, including artefacts from the private collections of His Highness the Aga Khan, the Institute of Ismaili Studies in London, and Prince and Princess Sadruddin Aga Khan, which showcase the artistic, intellectual and scientific contributions of Muslim civilizations.
In 1996, the Aga Khan bought the property 77 Wynford Drive from Shell Corporation. In 2002, he bought the adjacent property which together make up the Aga Khan Museum, Ismaili Centre and Park. Soon after the Aga Khan Development Network announced the establishment of these 3 projects on October 8, 2002. In 2007, the modernist Bata Shoes Head Office was controversially demolished to make way for the Ismaili centre, the Aga Khan Museum and Park. The foundation ceremony of the Aga Khan Museum, together with the adjacent Ismaili Centre, Toronto and the park in which the two will be situated, was performed by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Aga Khan on May 28, 2010.
The establishment of the three projects had previously been announced on October 8, 2002 by the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN). The museum opened on September 18, 2014.
Architecturally, the museum is a design of Pritzker Prize winner Fumihiko Maki. The 10,000 square-metre structure is set within formal gardens and surrounded by a large park designed by landscape architect Vladimir Djurovic. The extensive site is shared with a new Ismaili Centre designed by the Indian architect Charles Correa.
The museum will be dedicated to the acquisition, preservation, display and interpretation of artefacts relating to the intellectual, cultural, artistic and religious traditions of Muslim communities, past and present. Artefacts will include ceramics, metalwork, and paintings covering all periods of Islamic history. Manuscripts in the collection will include the earliest known copy of Avicenna’s Qanun fi’l-Tibb (The Canon of Medicine) dated 1052. A music programme is planned, which will work to expand knowledge of the traditional music of Asia and the Islamic world, as well as their contemporary expression.
The museum will become a repository of historical materials related to the Ismaili community and house research programmes related to each one of the aspects of its institutional mission. It will also provide a space for permanent exchanges between the Islamic and the Western worlds on educational, cultural and socioeconomic issues.
The collection, which comprises some 1,000 pieces, includes several superb examples of Qur’an manuscripts that demonstrate the variety of script, media and decorative styles that evolved in the Muslim world. Among them, an eighth century North African folio demonstrates the earliest style of kufic script written on parchment. A page from the well known Blue Qur’an provides an example of gold kufic script on indigo-dyed parchment. The Blue Qur’an is considered one of the most extraordinary Qur’an manuscripts ever created; its origins are 9th-tenth century North African, and it was likely created for the Fatimid imam-caliphs ruling from Qayrawan.
March 11, 2015
For Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=p ... HzdjFjXr5s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=p ... C5_4fpJtUg
Islamic Arts spotlight: Aga Khan Museum
The Aga Khan Museum is a museum of Islamic arts and culture based in Toronto, Canada. The museum is an initiative of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network.
It houses collections of Islamic art and heritage, including artefacts from the private collections of His Highness the Aga Khan, the Institute of Ismaili Studies in London, and Prince and Princess Sadruddin Aga Khan, which showcase the artistic, intellectual and scientific contributions of Muslim civilizations.
In 1996, the Aga Khan bought the property 77 Wynford Drive from Shell Corporation. In 2002, he bought the adjacent property which together make up the Aga Khan Museum, Ismaili Centre and Park. Soon after the Aga Khan Development Network announced the establishment of these 3 projects on October 8, 2002. In 2007, the modernist Bata Shoes Head Office was controversially demolished to make way for the Ismaili centre, the Aga Khan Museum and Park. The foundation ceremony of the Aga Khan Museum, together with the adjacent Ismaili Centre, Toronto and the park in which the two will be situated, was performed by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Aga Khan on May 28, 2010.
The establishment of the three projects had previously been announced on October 8, 2002 by the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN). The museum opened on September 18, 2014.
Architecturally, the museum is a design of Pritzker Prize winner Fumihiko Maki. The 10,000 square-metre structure is set within formal gardens and surrounded by a large park designed by landscape architect Vladimir Djurovic. The extensive site is shared with a new Ismaili Centre designed by the Indian architect Charles Correa.
The museum will be dedicated to the acquisition, preservation, display and interpretation of artefacts relating to the intellectual, cultural, artistic and religious traditions of Muslim communities, past and present. Artefacts will include ceramics, metalwork, and paintings covering all periods of Islamic history. Manuscripts in the collection will include the earliest known copy of Avicenna’s Qanun fi’l-Tibb (The Canon of Medicine) dated 1052. A music programme is planned, which will work to expand knowledge of the traditional music of Asia and the Islamic world, as well as their contemporary expression.
The museum will become a repository of historical materials related to the Ismaili community and house research programmes related to each one of the aspects of its institutional mission. It will also provide a space for permanent exchanges between the Islamic and the Western worlds on educational, cultural and socioeconomic issues.
The collection, which comprises some 1,000 pieces, includes several superb examples of Qur’an manuscripts that demonstrate the variety of script, media and decorative styles that evolved in the Muslim world. Among them, an eighth century North African folio demonstrates the earliest style of kufic script written on parchment. A page from the well known Blue Qur’an provides an example of gold kufic script on indigo-dyed parchment. The Blue Qur’an is considered one of the most extraordinary Qur’an manuscripts ever created; its origins are 9th-tenth century North African, and it was likely created for the Fatimid imam-caliphs ruling from Qayrawan.
aquila-style.com/focus-points/muslimlifestyle/islamic-arts-spotlight-aga-khan-museum/95571/
Islamic Arts spotlight: Aga Khan Museum
By Aquila Style, 12:44 pm Wednesday, 11th March 2015
The Aga Khan Museum is a museum of Islamic arts and culture based in Toronto, Canada. The museum is an initiative of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network.
It houses collections of Islamic art and heritage, including artefacts from the private collections of His Highness the Aga Khan, the Institute of Ismaili Studies in London, and Prince and Princess Sadruddin Aga Khan, which showcase the artistic, intellectual and scientific contributions of Muslim civilizations.
In 1996, the Aga Khan bought the property 77 Wynford Drive from Shell Corporation. In 2002, he bought the adjacent property which together make up the Aga Khan Museum, Ismaili Centre and Park. Soon after the Aga Khan Development Network announced the establishment of these 3 projects on October 8, 2002. In 2007, the modernist Bata Shoes Head Office was controversially demolished to make way for the Ismaili centre, the Aga Khan Museum and Park. The foundation ceremony of the Aga Khan Museum, together with the adjacent Ismaili Centre, Toronto and the park in which the two will be situated, was performed by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Aga Khan on May 28, 2010.
The establishment of the three projects had previously been announced on October 8, 2002 by the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN). The museum opened on September 18, 2014.
Architecturally, the museum is a design of Pritzker Prize winner Fumihiko Maki. The 10,000 square-metre structure is set within formal gardens and surrounded by a large park designed by landscape architect Vladimir Djurovic. The extensive site is shared with a new Ismaili Centre designed by the Indian architect Charles Correa.
The museum will be dedicated to the acquisition, preservation, display and interpretation of artefacts relating to the intellectual, cultural, artistic and religious traditions of Muslim communities, past and present. Artefacts will include ceramics, metalwork, and paintings covering all periods of Islamic history. Manuscripts in the collection will include the earliest known copy of Avicenna’s Qanun fi’l-Tibb (The Canon of Medicine) dated 1052. A music programme is planned, which will work to expand knowledge of the traditional music of Asia and the Islamic world, as well as their contemporary expression.
The museum will become a repository of historical materials related to the Ismaili community and house research programmes related to each one of the aspects of its institutional mission. It will also provide a space for permanent exchanges between the Islamic and the Western worlds on educational, cultural and socioeconomic issues.
The collection, which comprises some 1,000 pieces, includes several superb examples of Qur’an manuscripts that demonstrate the variety of script, media and decorative styles that evolved in the Muslim world. Among them, an eighth century North African folio demonstrates the earliest style of kufic script written on parchment. A page from the well known Blue Qur’an provides an example of gold kufic script on indigo-dyed parchment. The Blue Qur’an is considered one of the most extraordinary Qur’an manuscripts ever created; its origins are 9th-tenth century North African, and it was likely created for the Fatimid imam-caliphs ruling from Qayrawan.
Islamic Arts spotlight: Aga Khan Museum
By Aquila Style, 12:44 pm Wednesday, 11th March 2015
The Aga Khan Museum is a museum of Islamic arts and culture based in Toronto, Canada. The museum is an initiative of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network.
It houses collections of Islamic art and heritage, including artefacts from the private collections of His Highness the Aga Khan, the Institute of Ismaili Studies in London, and Prince and Princess Sadruddin Aga Khan, which showcase the artistic, intellectual and scientific contributions of Muslim civilizations.
In 1996, the Aga Khan bought the property 77 Wynford Drive from Shell Corporation. In 2002, he bought the adjacent property which together make up the Aga Khan Museum, Ismaili Centre and Park. Soon after the Aga Khan Development Network announced the establishment of these 3 projects on October 8, 2002. In 2007, the modernist Bata Shoes Head Office was controversially demolished to make way for the Ismaili centre, the Aga Khan Museum and Park. The foundation ceremony of the Aga Khan Museum, together with the adjacent Ismaili Centre, Toronto and the park in which the two will be situated, was performed by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Aga Khan on May 28, 2010.
The establishment of the three projects had previously been announced on October 8, 2002 by the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN). The museum opened on September 18, 2014.
Architecturally, the museum is a design of Pritzker Prize winner Fumihiko Maki. The 10,000 square-metre structure is set within formal gardens and surrounded by a large park designed by landscape architect Vladimir Djurovic. The extensive site is shared with a new Ismaili Centre designed by the Indian architect Charles Correa.
The museum will be dedicated to the acquisition, preservation, display and interpretation of artefacts relating to the intellectual, cultural, artistic and religious traditions of Muslim communities, past and present. Artefacts will include ceramics, metalwork, and paintings covering all periods of Islamic history. Manuscripts in the collection will include the earliest known copy of Avicenna’s Qanun fi’l-Tibb (The Canon of Medicine) dated 1052. A music programme is planned, which will work to expand knowledge of the traditional music of Asia and the Islamic world, as well as their contemporary expression.
The museum will become a repository of historical materials related to the Ismaili community and house research programmes related to each one of the aspects of its institutional mission. It will also provide a space for permanent exchanges between the Islamic and the Western worlds on educational, cultural and socioeconomic issues.
The collection, which comprises some 1,000 pieces, includes several superb examples of Qur’an manuscripts that demonstrate the variety of script, media and decorative styles that evolved in the Muslim world. Among them, an eighth century North African folio demonstrates the earliest style of kufic script written on parchment. A page from the well known Blue Qur’an provides an example of gold kufic script on indigo-dyed parchment. The Blue Qur’an is considered one of the most extraordinary Qur’an manuscripts ever created; its origins are 9th-tenth century North African, and it was likely created for the Fatimid imam-caliphs ruling from Qayrawan.
Visit Aga Khan Museum free with library’s MAP access pass
insidetoronto.com/news-story/5534249-visit-aga-khan-museum-free-with-library-s-map-access-pass/
Visit Aga Khan Museum free with library’s MAP access pass
31 March 2015
Scarborough Mirror
By DOMINIK KUREK
Toronto Public Library card holders now have the opportunity to visit the Aga Khan Museum for free.
That’s because the North York museum has been added to the library’s Sun Life Financial Museum + Arts Pass (MAP) program, giving residents a chance to check out the venue for free.
“We see the MAP pass as an excellent way not only to introduce the museum to library patrons, but to also encourage them to develop an ongoing relationship with this museum, its park and everything else it has to offer,” said Aga Khan Museum director Henry Kim at an event announcing the addition of the museum to the MAP program Tuesday, March 31.
The Aga Khan Museum is now one of 18 museums and cultural attractions across the city that are part of the MAP program.
Aga Khan Museum MAP passes are available at 50 branches across the city. Five passes per week are available at each participating branch. The pass grants free access to the museum to a family of up to two adults and three children. Regular admission costs $20 per adult, or $15 per student, child or senior.
“We are of course thrilled with our new partnership,” said city librarian Vickery Bowles at the event, held at the Aga Khan Museum at 77 Wynford Dr. “Families from across the city can experience this wonderful addition to the MAP program and to Toronto’s rich cultural experience.”
Bowles said the MAP program gives Torontonians access to the city’s rich culture at its leading museums and attractions. Since launching in 2007, the MAP program has resulted in more than a million free visits to local attractions.
Kim said joining the MAP program is an extension of the Aga Khan Museum’s mission.
“We are at our core an educational institution,” he said. “Our aim is to share knowledge with as many people as possible, to welcome all Torontonians to a place where connections in between and among cultures are explored through exhibitions, performing arts, and other educational programs.”
Visitors to the Aga Khan Museum will get to explore more than a millennium’s worth of art, ranging from the Iberian Peninsula to China, he said. The museum is a window to the world, Kim said.
“We are a museum for all Torontonians and we’re very pleased to share the cultural landscape with so many other exceptional Toronto attractions.”
Paul Joliat, Sun Life Financial assistant vice-president, philanthropy, said it’s important to provide children with access to the arts.
“With the many different activities in their busy lives, they risk missing some of the basic traditions that make life so rich for all of us,” Joliat said.
Other MAP attractions include the Toronto Zoo, Royal Ontario Museum, Art Gallery of Ontario and more.
For a full list of MAP attractions and which branches carry passes to the locations you wish to see, visit www.tpl.ca/mappass
Visit Aga Khan Museum free with library’s MAP access pass
31 March 2015
Scarborough Mirror
By DOMINIK KUREK
Toronto Public Library card holders now have the opportunity to visit the Aga Khan Museum for free.
That’s because the North York museum has been added to the library’s Sun Life Financial Museum + Arts Pass (MAP) program, giving residents a chance to check out the venue for free.
“We see the MAP pass as an excellent way not only to introduce the museum to library patrons, but to also encourage them to develop an ongoing relationship with this museum, its park and everything else it has to offer,” said Aga Khan Museum director Henry Kim at an event announcing the addition of the museum to the MAP program Tuesday, March 31.
The Aga Khan Museum is now one of 18 museums and cultural attractions across the city that are part of the MAP program.
Aga Khan Museum MAP passes are available at 50 branches across the city. Five passes per week are available at each participating branch. The pass grants free access to the museum to a family of up to two adults and three children. Regular admission costs $20 per adult, or $15 per student, child or senior.
“We are of course thrilled with our new partnership,” said city librarian Vickery Bowles at the event, held at the Aga Khan Museum at 77 Wynford Dr. “Families from across the city can experience this wonderful addition to the MAP program and to Toronto’s rich cultural experience.”
Bowles said the MAP program gives Torontonians access to the city’s rich culture at its leading museums and attractions. Since launching in 2007, the MAP program has resulted in more than a million free visits to local attractions.
Kim said joining the MAP program is an extension of the Aga Khan Museum’s mission.
“We are at our core an educational institution,” he said. “Our aim is to share knowledge with as many people as possible, to welcome all Torontonians to a place where connections in between and among cultures are explored through exhibitions, performing arts, and other educational programs.”
Visitors to the Aga Khan Museum will get to explore more than a millennium’s worth of art, ranging from the Iberian Peninsula to China, he said. The museum is a window to the world, Kim said.
“We are a museum for all Torontonians and we’re very pleased to share the cultural landscape with so many other exceptional Toronto attractions.”
Paul Joliat, Sun Life Financial assistant vice-president, philanthropy, said it’s important to provide children with access to the arts.
“With the many different activities in their busy lives, they risk missing some of the basic traditions that make life so rich for all of us,” Joliat said.
Other MAP attractions include the Toronto Zoo, Royal Ontario Museum, Art Gallery of Ontario and more.
For a full list of MAP attractions and which branches carry passes to the locations you wish to see, visit www.tpl.ca/mappass
nowtoronto.com/art-and-books/art/passage-to-india_1/
Passage to India
Hodgkin proves a superb guide
by Fran Schechter
April 1, 2015
6:26 PM
Maharaja Raj Singh And His Elephants is in Howard Hodgkin's collection at Aga Khan.
Howard Hodgkin/Visions Of Mughal India at the Aga Khan Museum (77 Wynford), to June 21. $20, stu/srs $15, free Wednesday 4-8 pm. 416-646-4677. Rating: NNNN
Suffering from a Eurocentric education? There's a remedy: visit the Aga Khan Museum and get a primer on the breadth and depth of Middle Eastern and Asian culture.
This two-part show devotes one room to works by Turner Prize-winning contemporary British artist Howard Hodgkin, who lives part-time in India. His semi-abstract paintings on handmade paper or framed wooden panels feature bold swaths and dabs of hot colours that echo the palette of the Subcontinent.
They serve as a bridge to the treasures beyond: beautiful Mughal paintings and drawings from Hodgkin's collection dating from the 17th to early 19th century. He's chosen these elegant works with an artist's appreciation for line, colour and composition.
Larger paintings on cotton would have hung on walls. Others may have been part of albums or served as preparatory studies. Many were made at smaller courts away from the Mughal imperial centre in Delhi, where Hodgkin believes artists had more freedom to experiment.
The Mughal rulers, Muslims who came from Central Asia, brought the style of Persian miniatures to India, where it was adapted to local tastes. Artists achieved a high degree of realism within the Indian conventions of figuration, in which faces were depicted in profile with large, curvaceous eyes and swirling moustaches. Both portraits and crowd scenes testify to their sensitivity and skill.
Especially exquisite are paintings and drawings of elephants, the Indian equivalent of European equestrian art. Lovingly portrayed, the powerful yet graceful creatures bear maharajas in processions and soldiers into battle or stand for portraits adorned in finery.
The culture's high sophistication is evident in the synesthetic Ragmalas, leisure scenes that illustrate the spirit of Indian music, while paintings of dancing Gopis from a Hindu temple testify to the religious tolerance that prevailed under the Mughals.
Artworks of this calibre speak eloquently, so forget at about the gaps in your Eurocentric education and do as Hodgkin asks - just see.
Passage to India
Hodgkin proves a superb guide
by Fran Schechter
April 1, 2015
6:26 PM
Maharaja Raj Singh And His Elephants is in Howard Hodgkin's collection at Aga Khan.
Howard Hodgkin/Visions Of Mughal India at the Aga Khan Museum (77 Wynford), to June 21. $20, stu/srs $15, free Wednesday 4-8 pm. 416-646-4677. Rating: NNNN
Suffering from a Eurocentric education? There's a remedy: visit the Aga Khan Museum and get a primer on the breadth and depth of Middle Eastern and Asian culture.
This two-part show devotes one room to works by Turner Prize-winning contemporary British artist Howard Hodgkin, who lives part-time in India. His semi-abstract paintings on handmade paper or framed wooden panels feature bold swaths and dabs of hot colours that echo the palette of the Subcontinent.
They serve as a bridge to the treasures beyond: beautiful Mughal paintings and drawings from Hodgkin's collection dating from the 17th to early 19th century. He's chosen these elegant works with an artist's appreciation for line, colour and composition.
Larger paintings on cotton would have hung on walls. Others may have been part of albums or served as preparatory studies. Many were made at smaller courts away from the Mughal imperial centre in Delhi, where Hodgkin believes artists had more freedom to experiment.
The Mughal rulers, Muslims who came from Central Asia, brought the style of Persian miniatures to India, where it was adapted to local tastes. Artists achieved a high degree of realism within the Indian conventions of figuration, in which faces were depicted in profile with large, curvaceous eyes and swirling moustaches. Both portraits and crowd scenes testify to their sensitivity and skill.
Especially exquisite are paintings and drawings of elephants, the Indian equivalent of European equestrian art. Lovingly portrayed, the powerful yet graceful creatures bear maharajas in processions and soldiers into battle or stand for portraits adorned in finery.
The culture's high sophistication is evident in the synesthetic Ragmalas, leisure scenes that illustrate the spirit of Indian music, while paintings of dancing Gopis from a Hindu temple testify to the religious tolerance that prevailed under the Mughals.
Artworks of this calibre speak eloquently, so forget at about the gaps in your Eurocentric education and do as Hodgkin asks - just see.
as received
Reliable sources have indicated that the opening ceremony for the Aga Khan Park in Toronto will take place at the end of May. For the globe trotters no deedar will take place, just the official opening of the
Wynford Park @ ICT/AK Museum in Toronto.
Reliable sources have indicated that the opening ceremony for the Aga Khan Park in Toronto will take place at the end of May. For the globe trotters no deedar will take place, just the official opening of the
Wynford Park @ ICT/AK Museum in Toronto.
Last edited by Admin on Sat May 16, 2015 4:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Treasures of Islam
Huma Yusuf— Published Apr 13, 2015 06:21am
No traveller to Toronto should miss the Aga Khan Museum, which I had the pleasure of visiting on a recent trip. The museum’s permanent collection comprises objects highlighting the artistic, scientific and scholarly heritage of Islamic civilisations.
As is often the case when I visit the Islamic collections of museums in the West, I was struck by the irony that such great effort is made to promote awareness among Westerners about the contribution of Muslims to world heritage even though knowledge of this erudite past is now most lacking — or actively denied — within the Muslim world itself.
I was first struck by those objects that betray a hunger for knowledge and love for science, innovation and experimentation, which is sadly increasingly rare in many Muslim-majority countries today.
The museum holds one of the oldest surviving copies of Ibn Sina’s Qanun, which aggregated medical knowledge from the Muslim, Greco-Roman and Chinese worlds.
Another highlight is a glinting planispheric astrolabe dating back to 14th-century Spain that was likely made by Muslim scientists working closely with Christian and Jewish peers. A 13th-century Arabic translation of Dioscorides’s De Materia Medica with rich illustrations of medicinal plants is yet another gem, and a reminder that Muslims preserved and enhanced much ancient knowledge, which was then re-appropriated by Europeans during the Renaissance.
More...
http://www.dawn.com/news/1175523/treasures-of-islam
Huma Yusuf— Published Apr 13, 2015 06:21am
No traveller to Toronto should miss the Aga Khan Museum, which I had the pleasure of visiting on a recent trip. The museum’s permanent collection comprises objects highlighting the artistic, scientific and scholarly heritage of Islamic civilisations.
As is often the case when I visit the Islamic collections of museums in the West, I was struck by the irony that such great effort is made to promote awareness among Westerners about the contribution of Muslims to world heritage even though knowledge of this erudite past is now most lacking — or actively denied — within the Muslim world itself.
I was first struck by those objects that betray a hunger for knowledge and love for science, innovation and experimentation, which is sadly increasingly rare in many Muslim-majority countries today.
The museum holds one of the oldest surviving copies of Ibn Sina’s Qanun, which aggregated medical knowledge from the Muslim, Greco-Roman and Chinese worlds.
Another highlight is a glinting planispheric astrolabe dating back to 14th-century Spain that was likely made by Muslim scientists working closely with Christian and Jewish peers. A 13th-century Arabic translation of Dioscorides’s De Materia Medica with rich illustrations of medicinal plants is yet another gem, and a reminder that Muslims preserved and enhanced much ancient knowledge, which was then re-appropriated by Europeans during the Renaissance.
More...
http://www.dawn.com/news/1175523/treasures-of-islam
insidetoronto.com/news-story/5630137-north-york-s-ismaili-centre-wins-architectural-awards/
May 15, 2015
North York’s Ismaili Centre wins architectural awards
Ismaili Centre
Photo/Geoff Grenville
The Ismaili Centre, seen in the bottom left, picked up a pair of architectural design awards from the Ontario Association of Architects (OAA). The centre is situated on a shared park with the Aga Khan Museum.
North York Mirror
The Ismaili Centre on Wynford Drive has picked up a pair of architectural design awards from the Ontario Association of Architects (OAA).
The Celebration of Excellence Awards were held Friday, May 8, showcasing the best in design by Ontario’s architects.
The Ismaili Centre, which is situated on a shared park with the Aga Khan Museum, was one of 20 buildings that picked up the Design Excellence Award.
Additionally, the centre picked up the People’s Choice award, which was decided by public vote.
The Ismaili Centre was designed by Moriyama & Teshima Architects in association with Charles Correa Associates.
Other Toronto winners of the Design Excellence awards include: Echo House, Fraser Mustard Early Learning Academy, and Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport. Honourable mentions included 14 Division, Annex Residence. Fort York Branch Library, Fort York National Historic Site Visitors Centre, and Gold Corp Innovation Suite Lassonde Mining Building
May 15, 2015
North York’s Ismaili Centre wins architectural awards
Ismaili Centre
Photo/Geoff Grenville
The Ismaili Centre, seen in the bottom left, picked up a pair of architectural design awards from the Ontario Association of Architects (OAA). The centre is situated on a shared park with the Aga Khan Museum.
North York Mirror
The Ismaili Centre on Wynford Drive has picked up a pair of architectural design awards from the Ontario Association of Architects (OAA).
The Celebration of Excellence Awards were held Friday, May 8, showcasing the best in design by Ontario’s architects.
The Ismaili Centre, which is situated on a shared park with the Aga Khan Museum, was one of 20 buildings that picked up the Design Excellence Award.
Additionally, the centre picked up the People’s Choice award, which was decided by public vote.
The Ismaili Centre was designed by Moriyama & Teshima Architects in association with Charles Correa Associates.
Other Toronto winners of the Design Excellence awards include: Echo House, Fraser Mustard Early Learning Academy, and Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport. Honourable mentions included 14 Division, Annex Residence. Fort York Branch Library, Fort York National Historic Site Visitors Centre, and Gold Corp Innovation Suite Lassonde Mining Building
Understanding our common interwoven history an imperative to peace
Henry Kim, Director and CEO of the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, Canada, recently sat down for a conversation with TEDxCalgary. This in-depth and far-ranging video explores the underlying importance of understanding the interwoven history between civilizations as an imperative to understanding ourselves. The exchange and trade of ideas, art, merchandise and knowledge are not new phenomenon, and examples such as the Iberian peninsula prior to the reconquest of Spain are not isolated, but were realities of many places in times past, and need to be the realities of today and a peaceful future.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-W-9S_KbSes
Henry Kim, Director and CEO of the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, Canada, recently sat down for a conversation with TEDxCalgary. This in-depth and far-ranging video explores the underlying importance of understanding the interwoven history between civilizations as an imperative to understanding ourselves. The exchange and trade of ideas, art, merchandise and knowledge are not new phenomenon, and examples such as the Iberian peninsula prior to the reconquest of Spain are not isolated, but were realities of many places in times past, and need to be the realities of today and a peaceful future.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-W-9S_KbSes
Bridging the Middle East and North America through art
Dubai: Contemporary works of artists from across the Middle East are expected to dispel ignorance in how people view the Muslim world when they go on display at the first museum dedicated to Muslim Civilisations in North America.
More than 20 diverse works of 12 artists, all united by the theme of migrations and geographical displacement, including the struggle of having to cope with an ever-shifting world, will be on display at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto from July 25, 2015 to January 3, 2016.
The works of the artists from the Barjeel Art Foundation from Sharjah, which was established by Sultan Sooud Al Qassimi, will range from photography and video to installation, sculpture and painting and will give the audience in Toronto a better understanding of the type of work coming from this part of the world.
The exhibition, Home Ground: Contemporary Art from the Barjeel Art Foundation, will help link two global cities and create a mutual understanding, said Al Qassimi at a press conference held at the Ismaili Centre in Dubai.
“This exhibition is opening at a time of great importance in which we are all in need of more understanding and sharing of values not only between the Middle East and North America but across the world,” he said. A city like Toronto resembles Dubai in the sense that they are global cities with many people who have migrated in search of better opportunities.”
Al Qassimi said the artwork reflects this reality. “The exhibition is not only sharing with people those artworks but is creating a network by connecting the audience there with the artists.”
Arif Lalani, Canada’s Ambassador to the UAE, believes that during this critical time, culture can be a tool to help others understand the Islamic world and Islamic principles in depth, including the diversity in Islamic civilisations and their contribution to humanity.
Suheyla Takesh, Curator and Exhibitions Manager of the Barjeel Art Foundation, said the artists are expressing their years of travel, the challenges of migration and what is it like building a home abroad.
“Through works of art these contemporary artists have also been able to describe what is it like to live abroad. The stories are very specific to the artists, but they have a universal relevance and many people will relate to them,” she said.
On the sidelines of the exhibition there will be music and dance from the Arab world as part of the overall programme, confirmed Henry Kim, Director and CEO of Agha Khan Museum, in a videoconference call. He also said a catalogue will be produced in Arabic and English.
http://gulfnews.com/news/uae/media/brid ... -1.1542619
Dubai: Contemporary works of artists from across the Middle East are expected to dispel ignorance in how people view the Muslim world when they go on display at the first museum dedicated to Muslim Civilisations in North America.
More than 20 diverse works of 12 artists, all united by the theme of migrations and geographical displacement, including the struggle of having to cope with an ever-shifting world, will be on display at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto from July 25, 2015 to January 3, 2016.
The works of the artists from the Barjeel Art Foundation from Sharjah, which was established by Sultan Sooud Al Qassimi, will range from photography and video to installation, sculpture and painting and will give the audience in Toronto a better understanding of the type of work coming from this part of the world.
The exhibition, Home Ground: Contemporary Art from the Barjeel Art Foundation, will help link two global cities and create a mutual understanding, said Al Qassimi at a press conference held at the Ismaili Centre in Dubai.
“This exhibition is opening at a time of great importance in which we are all in need of more understanding and sharing of values not only between the Middle East and North America but across the world,” he said. A city like Toronto resembles Dubai in the sense that they are global cities with many people who have migrated in search of better opportunities.”
Al Qassimi said the artwork reflects this reality. “The exhibition is not only sharing with people those artworks but is creating a network by connecting the audience there with the artists.”
Arif Lalani, Canada’s Ambassador to the UAE, believes that during this critical time, culture can be a tool to help others understand the Islamic world and Islamic principles in depth, including the diversity in Islamic civilisations and their contribution to humanity.
Suheyla Takesh, Curator and Exhibitions Manager of the Barjeel Art Foundation, said the artists are expressing their years of travel, the challenges of migration and what is it like building a home abroad.
“Through works of art these contemporary artists have also been able to describe what is it like to live abroad. The stories are very specific to the artists, but they have a universal relevance and many people will relate to them,” she said.
On the sidelines of the exhibition there will be music and dance from the Arab world as part of the overall programme, confirmed Henry Kim, Director and CEO of Agha Khan Museum, in a videoconference call. He also said a catalogue will be produced in Arabic and English.
http://gulfnews.com/news/uae/media/brid ... -1.1542619
Sharjah’s Barjeel Art Foundation will showcase work by Arab artists at Toronto’s Aga Khan Museum
Sharjah’s Barjeel Art Foundation, built on more than 1,000 modern and contemporary Arab artworks from the private collection of its founder Sheikh Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi, will launch its first exhibition in North America on Saturday.
The venue is fitting. Home Ground: Contemporary Art from the Barjeel Art Foundation will open at Toronto’s renowned Aga Khan Museum, whose mission is to foster a greater appreciation of the contribution that Muslim civilisations have made to world heritage.
The collaboration
Sheikh Sultan will give a talk at the launch ceremony, highlighting the global importance of modern and contemporary artworks from the Arab world.
As well as regular exhibitions at the foundation’s gallery in Sharjah, Sheikh Sultan and his team have collaborated with several overseas organisations, including the Singapore Art Museum in 2013. The not-for-profit organisation also collaborated with Tokyo’s Mori Art Museum in 2012, the Contemporary Art Platform in Kuwait this year, as well as the UAE’s National Pavilion at the ongoing Venice Biennale.
“Collaborating with international museums is one of the best ways to open up the collection to international audiences,” says Sheikh Sultan. “I believe that art can counter some of the negative stereotypes that have sadly been associated with the region. We must continue to build cultural bridges with the rest of the world, and the Aga Khan Museum and the city of Toronto itself are ideal platforms to do this.”
The focus
Through its presentation of work – a range of photographs, installations, sculpture and paintings – by 12 artists from the Middle East and North Africa, the exhibition will address pertinent issues at the heart of art in the region: the idea of home, the ever-fluid notion of identity, and how private life is shaped by current political events.
Of course, with so many cultures and nations spread across the region, to present an overarching definition of contemporary art practices from the Arab world is impossible, but themes related to migration and forced movement of people due to political strife or unrest are particularly common.
Suheyla Takesh, the exhibition’s curator and Barjeel’s resident collection coordinator, stresses on the importance of the theme.
“In today’s globalising world, this is a subject that people from nearly anywhere can feel a connection to and relate to,” she says. “Canada, in particular, is a very cosmopolitan place and has for a long time been home to a large number of immigrants, refugees and other international nomads, many of whom happen to be from the Arab world.”
The talent
The artists featuring in the show come from diverse backgrounds. Manal Al Dowayan from Saudi Arabia created Suspended Together in 2012, showing porcelain doves printed with the travel documents of hundreds of Saudi women who are not allowed to travel without a male guardian.
Egyptian Australian Raafat Ishak presents an extremely complex work titled Responses to an Immigration Request from One Hundred and Ninety-Four Governments. Triggered by the Australian government’s 2001 policy to direct immigrants to detention centres on surrounding islands, the artist drafted and sent a letter to many countries requesting citizenship. The governments’ responses, or lack of responses, were then documented as stylised flags with Arabic script on medium-density fibreboard.
Sheikh Sultan says: “Home Ground is an attempt to narrate, through art, the personal stories of the Arab world.” Ishak’s work is “a selfless attempt to highlight the plight of 21st century immigrants into Australia”.
The intimacy of the personal stories in the exhibition, he explains, also gives viewers accessible entry points.
The exhibition’s earliest work, from 1989, is by a rarely seen Israeli-Palestinian artist who died before he turned 30. Sheikh Sultan says Asim Abu Shakra’s cacti paintings are “slowly acquiring a status not unlike that of Vincent Van Gogh’s Sunflowers series”.
Abu Shakra uses the cactus as a symbol for the identity of Palestinians who continue to live within the confines of a Jewish state.
“Abu Shakra was a Palestinian Arab who spoke Hebrew fluently and lived and studied in Tel Aviv,” says Sheikh Sultan.
“He never left his homeland, and yet he never truly belonged where he lived. He and the other artists in this exhibition have, through the medium of art, marked their own home ground.”
Other pieces include a video by Youssef Nabil about his emigration from Egypt, and two sculptural works by exiled Palestinian Lebanese artist Mona Hatoum.
• Home Ground: Contemporary Art from the Barjeel Art Foundation runs from Saturday to January 3. For more information, visit www.agakhanmuseum.org and www.barjeelartfoundation.org
[email protected]
http://www.thenational.ae/arts-lifestyl ... han-museum
****
He brought us the Arab Spring, live. Now, he’s bringing art.
http://metronews.ca/news/toronto/143848 ... pring-art/
Contemporary Arab art exhibit at Toronto's Aga Khan isn’t afraid to provoke
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/art ... e25723061/
Sharjah’s Barjeel Art Foundation, built on more than 1,000 modern and contemporary Arab artworks from the private collection of its founder Sheikh Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi, will launch its first exhibition in North America on Saturday.
The venue is fitting. Home Ground: Contemporary Art from the Barjeel Art Foundation will open at Toronto’s renowned Aga Khan Museum, whose mission is to foster a greater appreciation of the contribution that Muslim civilisations have made to world heritage.
The collaboration
Sheikh Sultan will give a talk at the launch ceremony, highlighting the global importance of modern and contemporary artworks from the Arab world.
As well as regular exhibitions at the foundation’s gallery in Sharjah, Sheikh Sultan and his team have collaborated with several overseas organisations, including the Singapore Art Museum in 2013. The not-for-profit organisation also collaborated with Tokyo’s Mori Art Museum in 2012, the Contemporary Art Platform in Kuwait this year, as well as the UAE’s National Pavilion at the ongoing Venice Biennale.
“Collaborating with international museums is one of the best ways to open up the collection to international audiences,” says Sheikh Sultan. “I believe that art can counter some of the negative stereotypes that have sadly been associated with the region. We must continue to build cultural bridges with the rest of the world, and the Aga Khan Museum and the city of Toronto itself are ideal platforms to do this.”
The focus
Through its presentation of work – a range of photographs, installations, sculpture and paintings – by 12 artists from the Middle East and North Africa, the exhibition will address pertinent issues at the heart of art in the region: the idea of home, the ever-fluid notion of identity, and how private life is shaped by current political events.
Of course, with so many cultures and nations spread across the region, to present an overarching definition of contemporary art practices from the Arab world is impossible, but themes related to migration and forced movement of people due to political strife or unrest are particularly common.
Suheyla Takesh, the exhibition’s curator and Barjeel’s resident collection coordinator, stresses on the importance of the theme.
“In today’s globalising world, this is a subject that people from nearly anywhere can feel a connection to and relate to,” she says. “Canada, in particular, is a very cosmopolitan place and has for a long time been home to a large number of immigrants, refugees and other international nomads, many of whom happen to be from the Arab world.”
The talent
The artists featuring in the show come from diverse backgrounds. Manal Al Dowayan from Saudi Arabia created Suspended Together in 2012, showing porcelain doves printed with the travel documents of hundreds of Saudi women who are not allowed to travel without a male guardian.
Egyptian Australian Raafat Ishak presents an extremely complex work titled Responses to an Immigration Request from One Hundred and Ninety-Four Governments. Triggered by the Australian government’s 2001 policy to direct immigrants to detention centres on surrounding islands, the artist drafted and sent a letter to many countries requesting citizenship. The governments’ responses, or lack of responses, were then documented as stylised flags with Arabic script on medium-density fibreboard.
Sheikh Sultan says: “Home Ground is an attempt to narrate, through art, the personal stories of the Arab world.” Ishak’s work is “a selfless attempt to highlight the plight of 21st century immigrants into Australia”.
The intimacy of the personal stories in the exhibition, he explains, also gives viewers accessible entry points.
The exhibition’s earliest work, from 1989, is by a rarely seen Israeli-Palestinian artist who died before he turned 30. Sheikh Sultan says Asim Abu Shakra’s cacti paintings are “slowly acquiring a status not unlike that of Vincent Van Gogh’s Sunflowers series”.
Abu Shakra uses the cactus as a symbol for the identity of Palestinians who continue to live within the confines of a Jewish state.
“Abu Shakra was a Palestinian Arab who spoke Hebrew fluently and lived and studied in Tel Aviv,” says Sheikh Sultan.
“He never left his homeland, and yet he never truly belonged where he lived. He and the other artists in this exhibition have, through the medium of art, marked their own home ground.”
Other pieces include a video by Youssef Nabil about his emigration from Egypt, and two sculptural works by exiled Palestinian Lebanese artist Mona Hatoum.
• Home Ground: Contemporary Art from the Barjeel Art Foundation runs from Saturday to January 3. For more information, visit www.agakhanmuseum.org and www.barjeelartfoundation.org
[email protected]
http://www.thenational.ae/arts-lifestyl ... han-museum
****
He brought us the Arab Spring, live. Now, he’s bringing art.
http://metronews.ca/news/toronto/143848 ... pring-art/
Contemporary Arab art exhibit at Toronto's Aga Khan isn’t afraid to provoke
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/art ... e25723061/
Yo Yo Ma Silk Route Ensemble Music
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/mu ... to-to.html
Yo-Yo Ma brings his message of hope to T.O.
TIFF, Massey Hall and the Aga Khan Museum unite to present Silk Road Ensemble film and concert
By: Trish Crawford Music, Published on Thu Sep 10 2015
Famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma had a dream that music could unite cultures and he searched the world in 2000 for members of his Silk Road Ensemble.
Hailing from more than 20 different countries, the music collective creates and performs works resonating with both tradition and innovation.
Then, Sept. 11 happened and Ma, seeing fear and distrust in its wake, became convinced that the arts had an even more important role in promoting international co-operation.
“I decided to continue with more fortitude and passion. We have to have enough hope in our world for people to say, ‘This is worth going for,’” he says.
Ma’s journey “to chart a course that doesn’t take us off a cliff” is the subject of the documentary The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival Sept. 13. Its director is Morgan Neville, who won an Oscar for Twenty Feet From Stardom, his doc about backup singers.
On Sept. 15, the ensemble performs at Massey Hall in a concert presented in collaboration with the Aga Khan Museum, where the ensemble will have a weeklong residency working with students.
The link between TIFF, Massey Hall and the Aga Khan Museum demonstrates the kind of artistic co-operation that has been the hallmark of the ensemble’s mission, says Ma.
Interviewed in Boston where he was attending the Tanglewood Festival before coming to Toronto, Ma says it was the Aga Khan who initially urged him to fulfil his dream of creating an international, multi-faith, multi-tradition team of musicians.
The Aga Khan is the spiritual leader, or imam, of the world’s Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims. He has used his wealth to foster peaceful international respect and chose Toronto as the site of his cultural centre because “it is the most global city in the world,” says Ma.
The ensemble fits the goals of the Aga Khan Museum, says Amir Ali Alibhai, the museum’s head of performing arts. “Our mission is to connect cultures through the arts and they exemplify that.”
Ma chose the name Silk Road for its references to the many cultures connected by the ancient trade route from Western Europe through Asia.
“It was the Internet of antiquity,” he says. “People were connected by sailboats, horses and camels. When they discovered the world was not flat, the land lines became sea routes. The internet has just speeded up everything.”
All the members of the ensemble are composers as well as musicians — they include Canadian Jeffrey Beecher, principal bass player with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra — and their original works will be presented at the Massey Hall concert, featuring singer Aynur from Eastern Turkey.
“We need to tackle fundamental issues of what creates a good, stable, healthy economy and culture that allows people’s imagination and creativity,” Ma says.
“If you don’t have hope, you’re in trouble.”
Yo-Yo Ma brings his message of hope to T.O.
TIFF, Massey Hall and the Aga Khan Museum unite to present Silk Road Ensemble film and concert
By: Trish Crawford Music, Published on Thu Sep 10 2015
Famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma had a dream that music could unite cultures and he searched the world in 2000 for members of his Silk Road Ensemble.
Hailing from more than 20 different countries, the music collective creates and performs works resonating with both tradition and innovation.
Then, Sept. 11 happened and Ma, seeing fear and distrust in its wake, became convinced that the arts had an even more important role in promoting international co-operation.
“I decided to continue with more fortitude and passion. We have to have enough hope in our world for people to say, ‘This is worth going for,’” he says.
Ma’s journey “to chart a course that doesn’t take us off a cliff” is the subject of the documentary The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival Sept. 13. Its director is Morgan Neville, who won an Oscar for Twenty Feet From Stardom, his doc about backup singers.
On Sept. 15, the ensemble performs at Massey Hall in a concert presented in collaboration with the Aga Khan Museum, where the ensemble will have a weeklong residency working with students.
The link between TIFF, Massey Hall and the Aga Khan Museum demonstrates the kind of artistic co-operation that has been the hallmark of the ensemble’s mission, says Ma.
Interviewed in Boston where he was attending the Tanglewood Festival before coming to Toronto, Ma says it was the Aga Khan who initially urged him to fulfil his dream of creating an international, multi-faith, multi-tradition team of musicians.
The Aga Khan is the spiritual leader, or imam, of the world’s Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims. He has used his wealth to foster peaceful international respect and chose Toronto as the site of his cultural centre because “it is the most global city in the world,” says Ma.
The ensemble fits the goals of the Aga Khan Museum, says Amir Ali Alibhai, the museum’s head of performing arts. “Our mission is to connect cultures through the arts and they exemplify that.”
Ma chose the name Silk Road for its references to the many cultures connected by the ancient trade route from Western Europe through Asia.
“It was the Internet of antiquity,” he says. “People were connected by sailboats, horses and camels. When they discovered the world was not flat, the land lines became sea routes. The internet has just speeded up everything.”
All the members of the ensemble are composers as well as musicians — they include Canadian Jeffrey Beecher, principal bass player with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra — and their original works will be presented at the Massey Hall concert, featuring singer Aynur from Eastern Turkey.
“We need to tackle fundamental issues of what creates a good, stable, healthy economy and culture that allows people’s imagination and creativity,” Ma says.
“If you don’t have hope, you’re in trouble.”
Art Sales: an Arab autumn begins
A new exhibition of Arab art in London aims to combat negative stereotypes by sharing the Middle East’s artistic heritage with the rest of the world
In his art collecting, Al-Qassemi breaks with traditional Arab secrecy about private possessions by displaying his art to the public, and listing and illustrating everything on the Barjeel Art Foundation website. Currently he is also lending works from his collection to the UAE pavilion for the Venice Biennale and to the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto in an exhibition about immigration and displacement.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/luxury/art/8 ... egins.html
******
Together exhibit brings 53-foot call to action to Aga Khan Museum
The Aga Khan Museum will be hosting 1,000 square feet of travelling exhibition intended to shine a light on a global effort to end poverty and to issue a call to action to those who see it.
Together: an exhibition on global development, will roll in a 53-foot long trailer to the Aga Khan Museum, 49 Wynford Dr., in North York. It will be at the site from Thursday, Sept. 17 to Saturday, Sept. 19. Admission is free.
http://www.insidetoronto.com/news-story ... an-museum/
A new exhibition of Arab art in London aims to combat negative stereotypes by sharing the Middle East’s artistic heritage with the rest of the world
In his art collecting, Al-Qassemi breaks with traditional Arab secrecy about private possessions by displaying his art to the public, and listing and illustrating everything on the Barjeel Art Foundation website. Currently he is also lending works from his collection to the UAE pavilion for the Venice Biennale and to the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto in an exhibition about immigration and displacement.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/luxury/art/8 ... egins.html
******
Together exhibit brings 53-foot call to action to Aga Khan Museum
The Aga Khan Museum will be hosting 1,000 square feet of travelling exhibition intended to shine a light on a global effort to end poverty and to issue a call to action to those who see it.
Together: an exhibition on global development, will roll in a 53-foot long trailer to the Aga Khan Museum, 49 Wynford Dr., in North York. It will be at the site from Thursday, Sept. 17 to Saturday, Sept. 19. Admission is free.
http://www.insidetoronto.com/news-story ... an-museum/
Shoheb Gwaduri from the Aga Khan Museum discusses the tradition of gift giving during Eid al-Adha and shows off some ideas.
http://canadaam.ctvnews.ca/am-extras/ei ... -1.2575287
September 18, 2015) – Young Toronto Muslims hosted a federal election debate at the Aga Khan Museum in North York on Friday evening.
http://iqra.ca/2015/canadian-muslims-ho ... al-debate/
The International Indian Film Festival Toronto hosting Gala at the AKM
http://www.iifft.ca/
http://canadaam.ctvnews.ca/am-extras/ei ... -1.2575287
September 18, 2015) – Young Toronto Muslims hosted a federal election debate at the Aga Khan Museum in North York on Friday evening.
http://iqra.ca/2015/canadian-muslims-ho ... al-debate/
The International Indian Film Festival Toronto hosting Gala at the AKM
http://www.iifft.ca/
Prince Amyn Aga Khan on the occasion of the First Annual Aga Khan Museum Gala in Toronto
https://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2015/ ... n-toronto/
https://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2015/ ... n-toronto/
Book Launch and Signing
Join author Nazneen Sheikh as she introduces The Place of Shining Light, a riveting tale of war and redemption that travels from Afghanistan to Pakistan. - See more at:
https://www.agakhanmuseum.org/learn/eve ... NzBaK.dpuf
Join author Nazneen Sheikh as she introduces The Place of Shining Light, a riveting tale of war and redemption that travels from Afghanistan to Pakistan. - See more at:
https://www.agakhanmuseum.org/learn/eve ... NzBaK.dpuf
Spoken word event with Dr. Poetry and Sheniz Janmohamed at Aga Khan Museum
North York Mirror
The Aga Khan Museum in North York is hosting one of its Spoken Word Series events Thursday, Oct. 8.
The event features series regular Sheniz Janmohamed along with special guest Robert Priest.
Priest is the author of 14 poetry books, three plays, two novels, seven music CDs, columns and appears on CBC Radio’s hit spoken word show Wordbeat using the alias Dr. Poetry.
Tickets cost $20. Space is limited.
The event starts at 8 p.m. An open mic session starts at 7 p.m. The museum is at 77 Wynford Dr. The event will be held in the auditorium.
For tickets and more information, visit www.agakhanmuseum.org
http://www.insidetoronto.com/news-story ... an-museum/
North York Mirror
The Aga Khan Museum in North York is hosting one of its Spoken Word Series events Thursday, Oct. 8.
The event features series regular Sheniz Janmohamed along with special guest Robert Priest.
Priest is the author of 14 poetry books, three plays, two novels, seven music CDs, columns and appears on CBC Radio’s hit spoken word show Wordbeat using the alias Dr. Poetry.
Tickets cost $20. Space is limited.
The event starts at 8 p.m. An open mic session starts at 7 p.m. The museum is at 77 Wynford Dr. The event will be held in the auditorium.
For tickets and more information, visit www.agakhanmuseum.org
http://www.insidetoronto.com/news-story ... an-museum/
The Aga Khan Museum, Connecting Cultures Through the Arts: A Year in Review
Oct 22, 4 - 6 pm
Aga Khan Museum Director Henry Kim discusses programming, outreach strategies and communities engagement practices in the museum’s first year. The talk reflects on the museum’s relation with its communities in Toronto and beyond. Refreshments provided at the event. All welcome.
Henry S. Kim is Director and CEO of the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, a new museum devoted to Islamic Art that opened in September 2014.
https://www.events.utoronto.ca/index.ph ... ntid=12024
Oct 22, 4 - 6 pm
Aga Khan Museum Director Henry Kim discusses programming, outreach strategies and communities engagement practices in the museum’s first year. The talk reflects on the museum’s relation with its communities in Toronto and beyond. Refreshments provided at the event. All welcome.
Henry S. Kim is Director and CEO of the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, a new museum devoted to Islamic Art that opened in September 2014.
https://www.events.utoronto.ca/index.ph ... ntid=12024
Aga Khan Museum presents Abbas Kiarostami: Doors Without Keys
Exhibition Dates: November 21, 2015 – March 27, 2016
Curatorial Team: Amirali Alibhai (curator), Peter Scarlet (curator), Abbas Kiarostami (Artist).
Walls and doors are both boundaries and barriers. The difference is that doors offer us hope of entry or of escape. Hope for connection, for finding another world, for freedom.
With this evocative premise, acclaimed Iranian filmmaker, poet, and photographer presents the world premiere of his remarkable installation piece, Doors Without Keys at the Aga Khan Museum.
Comprised of images he photographed over two decades in Iran, Italy, France, and Morocco, the weathered doors in these life-size photographs are all thresholds to abandoned buildings, and each is hasped and locked.
These portals have been witnesses to the many lives lived behind, through, and before them; they are confrontational in their scale, and are rich in the unspoken stories they tell. The multi-sensory installation, which includes sound, atmospheric lighting, poetry and short films, offers a multi-faceted view of this remarkable artists’ prolific contribution to world culture.
A series of feature films by Abbas Kiarostami, curated by Peter Scarlet and presented in partnership with the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), will be screened at the Aga Khan Museum in 2016.
Abbas Kiarostami is recognized internationally for his contributions not only to cinema, but also to photography, visual arts, and poetry. The Aga Khan Museum is proud to present Kiarostami’s work in its first exhibition of a solo artist and to launch Doors Without Keys on a planned international tour.
Abbas Kiarostami – Doors Without Keys
About Abbas Kiarostami
Abbas Kiarostami was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1940. He graduated from university with a degree in Fine Arts before starting work as a painter and graphic designer. He worked for the Center for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, where he started a film section, beginning his career as a filmmaker at the age of 30.
One of the true masters of contemporary cinema, Kiarostami has won the admiration of audiences and critics worldwide and of directors as distinguished as Jean-Luc Godard, Nanni Moretti, Chris Marker, Akira Kurosawa, and Martin Scorsese, who has noted that “Kiarostami represents the highest level of artistry in the cinema.” His awards are numerous and include the prestigious Palme d’Or for Best Film for Taste of Cherry at the 50th Cannes International Film Festival, France, 1997 and the Akira Kurosawa Honorary Award of the 43rd San Francisco International Film Festival, USA, 2000.
Over the years, Kiarostami has established himself as a multi-disciplinary artist with gallery exhibitions of his photography and installation work, at the Victoria and Albert Museum (London, 2005) Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris, 2007), and Museum of Modern Art (New York, 2007). He is also recognized as a screenwriter, and poet, having published several collections of his poetry.
https://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2015/ ... hout-keys/
*******
Aga Khan Museum promotes Azerbaijani culture and art of mugham in Canada with “Oyan!”
By Laman Sadigova
27 October 2015, 16:52 (GMT+04:00)
A concert titled “Oyan!” of the chairman of the Azerbaijan Union of Composers, People’s Artist, composer and pianist Firangiz Alizade was held in Toronto, Canada.
The concert was organized with the support of the Azerbaijani Embassy in Canada, the “Sashar Zarif Dance Theatre” and the Museum of Aga Khan.
Firangiz Alizade introduced the guests her composition performing on the piano. The concert program also featured performance by singers Miralam Miralamov, performer on kamancha Elnur Mikayilov and dancer Sashar Zarif.
A short film about the creation of the work “Oyan!” was shown as a part of the concert.
The main purpose of the event is to promote Azerbaijani culture and art of mugham in Canada.
Azerbaijan’s Consul in Canada Faig Babayev gave Firangiz Alizadeh a thanksgiving diploma.
Firangiz Alizade’s works have been performed at festivals in Stockholm, Warsaw, London, Heidelberg, Amsterdam, New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Frankfurt, Berlin, Zurich, Bonn and Cologne.
Since Azerbaijan gained its independence in 1991, Alizade has worked abroad in Turkey, Switzerland and Germany.
—
https://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2015/ ... with-oyan/
Exhibition Dates: November 21, 2015 – March 27, 2016
Curatorial Team: Amirali Alibhai (curator), Peter Scarlet (curator), Abbas Kiarostami (Artist).
Walls and doors are both boundaries and barriers. The difference is that doors offer us hope of entry or of escape. Hope for connection, for finding another world, for freedom.
With this evocative premise, acclaimed Iranian filmmaker, poet, and photographer presents the world premiere of his remarkable installation piece, Doors Without Keys at the Aga Khan Museum.
Comprised of images he photographed over two decades in Iran, Italy, France, and Morocco, the weathered doors in these life-size photographs are all thresholds to abandoned buildings, and each is hasped and locked.
These portals have been witnesses to the many lives lived behind, through, and before them; they are confrontational in their scale, and are rich in the unspoken stories they tell. The multi-sensory installation, which includes sound, atmospheric lighting, poetry and short films, offers a multi-faceted view of this remarkable artists’ prolific contribution to world culture.
A series of feature films by Abbas Kiarostami, curated by Peter Scarlet and presented in partnership with the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), will be screened at the Aga Khan Museum in 2016.
Abbas Kiarostami is recognized internationally for his contributions not only to cinema, but also to photography, visual arts, and poetry. The Aga Khan Museum is proud to present Kiarostami’s work in its first exhibition of a solo artist and to launch Doors Without Keys on a planned international tour.
Abbas Kiarostami – Doors Without Keys
About Abbas Kiarostami
Abbas Kiarostami was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1940. He graduated from university with a degree in Fine Arts before starting work as a painter and graphic designer. He worked for the Center for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, where he started a film section, beginning his career as a filmmaker at the age of 30.
One of the true masters of contemporary cinema, Kiarostami has won the admiration of audiences and critics worldwide and of directors as distinguished as Jean-Luc Godard, Nanni Moretti, Chris Marker, Akira Kurosawa, and Martin Scorsese, who has noted that “Kiarostami represents the highest level of artistry in the cinema.” His awards are numerous and include the prestigious Palme d’Or for Best Film for Taste of Cherry at the 50th Cannes International Film Festival, France, 1997 and the Akira Kurosawa Honorary Award of the 43rd San Francisco International Film Festival, USA, 2000.
Over the years, Kiarostami has established himself as a multi-disciplinary artist with gallery exhibitions of his photography and installation work, at the Victoria and Albert Museum (London, 2005) Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris, 2007), and Museum of Modern Art (New York, 2007). He is also recognized as a screenwriter, and poet, having published several collections of his poetry.
https://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2015/ ... hout-keys/
*******
Aga Khan Museum promotes Azerbaijani culture and art of mugham in Canada with “Oyan!”
By Laman Sadigova
27 October 2015, 16:52 (GMT+04:00)
A concert titled “Oyan!” of the chairman of the Azerbaijan Union of Composers, People’s Artist, composer and pianist Firangiz Alizade was held in Toronto, Canada.
The concert was organized with the support of the Azerbaijani Embassy in Canada, the “Sashar Zarif Dance Theatre” and the Museum of Aga Khan.
Firangiz Alizade introduced the guests her composition performing on the piano. The concert program also featured performance by singers Miralam Miralamov, performer on kamancha Elnur Mikayilov and dancer Sashar Zarif.
A short film about the creation of the work “Oyan!” was shown as a part of the concert.
The main purpose of the event is to promote Azerbaijani culture and art of mugham in Canada.
Azerbaijan’s Consul in Canada Faig Babayev gave Firangiz Alizadeh a thanksgiving diploma.
Firangiz Alizade’s works have been performed at festivals in Stockholm, Warsaw, London, Heidelberg, Amsterdam, New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Frankfurt, Berlin, Zurich, Bonn and Cologne.
Since Azerbaijan gained its independence in 1991, Alizade has worked abroad in Turkey, Switzerland and Germany.
—
https://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2015/ ... with-oyan/
If Joan of Arc were Muslim
Excerpt:
'The Aga Khan exhibit included photos of the stage curtain, decorated with a Persian seal called a tughra and Armide’s name in Farsi. The curtain also functions as the title page of a book — each set is another page of the elaborate illustrated books used by both Christians and Muslims in the 17th century — with the names of composer Jean-Baptiste Lully and librettist Philippe Quinault in small rectangles.
Members of the Aga Khan Museum attended Atelier’s last production of Armide, in 2012, giving it favourable reviews."
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/st ... uslim.html
Excerpt:
'The Aga Khan exhibit included photos of the stage curtain, decorated with a Persian seal called a tughra and Armide’s name in Farsi. The curtain also functions as the title page of a book — each set is another page of the elaborate illustrated books used by both Christians and Muslims in the 17th century — with the names of composer Jean-Baptiste Lully and librettist Philippe Quinault in small rectangles.
Members of the Aga Khan Museum attended Atelier’s last production of Armide, in 2012, giving it favourable reviews."
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/st ... uslim.html