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100,000-piece gargantuan afrofuturist lego sculpture acquired by Aga Khan Museum

2021-02-25T12:19:00-05:00

The Aga Khan Museum in Toronto has acquired a colossal sculpture made from 100,000 pieces of Lego by the Ghanian-Canadian artist Ekow Nimako, who is known for his Afrofuturist reimaginings of Black histories built from Lego bricks.

According the The Art Newspaper, "the 30 sq-ft sculpture Kumbi Saleh 3020 CE (2019) conceptually envisions the ancient trading town in Mauritania one thousand years in the future, as a vast and complex metropolis once again." The piece was a part of the artist's 2019 solo exhibition Building Black: Civilisations that was held at the museum.

The Aga Khan to receive the 2017 Architectural League President's Medal

2017-05-15T21:05:00-04:00

The Architectural League of New York awarded their 2017 President's Medal to the honorable Aga Khan, the League revealed in an announcement today. The President's Medal is the League's highest accolade bestowed to an individual in recognition of a distinct body of work in architecture, urbanism, art, or design.

Architectural League President Billie Tsien will present the award to the honorable Aga Khan during a dinner on May 18 in New York.

The Medal's notable roster of recipients include Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown, Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, Ada Louise Huxtable, Richard Meier, Amanda M. Burden, Renzo Piano, Henry N. Cobb, artist Richard Serra, and former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, among others.

Learn more on Bustler.

Toronto set to unveil first museum of Islamic culture in North America

2014-09-11T13:49:00-04:00

The Aga Khan Museum, which opens Sept. 18, offers a welcome antidote to these clichés through art that celebrates the rich cultural history of the Islamic world. The building’s architect, Fumihiko Maki of Japan, has used geometric patterns inspired by the great mosques of classical Islam, repeating them in the inlaid floor of the courtyard, etched glass, and wood screens in the auditorium.