Azra Aksamija, Ph.D. is an artist and architectural historian born in Sarajevo, BA, and based in Boston, US. She is a Professor in the MIT Department of Architecture, where she is the Director of the Art, Culture, and Technology program. She also directs the Future Heritage Lab.
Dr. Aksamija is the author of two books, Mosque Manifesto: Propositions for Spaces of Coexistence (2015) and Museum Solidarity Lobby (2019), and has edited the volumes Architecture of Coexistence: Building Pluralism (2020) and Design to Live: Everyday Inventions from a Refugee Camp (2021, co-edited with R. Majzoub and M. Philippou).
Her artistic work has been exhibited at leading international venues, including the Generali Foundation and Secession in Vienna, Biennials in Venice, Liverpool, Valencia, and Manila, Manifesta 7, Museums of Contemporary Art in Zagreb, Belgrade, and Ljubljana, Sculpture Center and Queens Museum of Art in New York, the Royal Academy of Arts London, and Design Festivals in Milan, Istanbul, Eindhoven, and Amman. Most recently, her work has been shown at the Kunsthaus Graz, the Aga Khan Museum Toronto, the Venice Biennale of Architecture 2021, and the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale in Riyadh, SA.
Aksamija holds two master’s degrees in architecture from Graz Institute of Technology (2001) and Princeton University (2004), and a Ph.D. in history, theory, and criticism in architecture from MIT (2011). She received the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2013 for her artwork at the in the Islamic Cemetery Altach, Austria, the Art Award of the City of Graz in 2018, and an honorary doctorate from the Montserrat College of Art (2020). More recently, Aksamija received the LafargeHolcim Award 2021 in the Middle East region and in 2021 and a Commendation in the Global Competition, and was recognized as the Emerging Voices Winner by the Architectural League New York in 2022.
