The "Abundance & Scarcity" project, presented at the Diriyah Biennale 2024, links environmental sustainability with cultural heritage into a cultural shelter on two scales: a social shelter in form of an outdoor shading canopy and a personal shelter in form of a "Bishty" wearable. The project embodies an artistic approach to addressing the extremes of desert climates while honoring the traditions of nomadic cultures, including those of Saudi Arabian tribes and contemporary nomads and refugees. The 70-meter-large outdoor canopy, situated on an outdoor area of the Biennale, is crafted from recycled felt used as architectural upholstery of the previous Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah. Based on the dimensions of the Saudi Arabian Bisht, a traditional cloak made from goat wool and camel hair, this modular textile system forms a shading structure that is both functional and visually captivating. The canopy's design, featuring laser-cut patterns, plays with light and shadow to create a dynamic visual effect reminiscent of Sadu weaving. This effect is enhanced by the gentle sway of the fabrics in the desert wind. This structure is not only a nod to the ingenious constructions of nomadic shelters but also incorporates sewn-in sachets of native desert plants, adding a layer of sensory experience through their refreshing scents.

Hallucinating Traditions explores the intersection of AI, fashion, and cultural identity through animated portraits of Azra Akšamija wearing speculative headgear designs. Using a diverse dataset of Akšamija's face and historical costume references, advanced AI software was trained to generate morphing portraits that blend elements from various traditions and eras. The fluid transitions challenge viewers to reconsider notions of identity and tradition, while the AI-generated designs offer a glimpse into a future where technology shapes personal adornment and cultural expression. The project represents a meditation on the role of technology in shaping our understanding of self and cultural traditions. The portraits act as "cultural prototypes," inviting contemplation of the shifting ideals, values, and aesthetics that define our past, present, and future.

Inspired by the nomadic Bisht cloak, Bishty is a modular textile system that represents adaptable textile shelters for climate resilience.

Inspired by the geometric motifs of Islamic art, the piece consists of modular felt carpet that can be transformed into slippers, accommodating both religious and secular functions.

This installation transforms ordinary anaglyph 3D glasses into stained-glass-like windows. By repurposing these familiar consumer items, the project explores the intersection of the mundane and the divine, inviting viewers to perceive the sacred in unexpected places.

Coring is a textile art installation that critiques the global consumerist economy and its impact on the Earth as a sanctuary. Through the stacked T-shirts resembling core samples, the project explores the textile industry's role as one of the most lucrative and polluting industries today.

Future to Be Rewritten #2 is a conceptual public art project by Azra Aksamija that reflects on the politics of representation in commemorative practices, emerging from her decision to withdraw a winning proposal for a Cambridge monument honoring the 19th Amendment, in solidarity with calls for greater inclusion of BIPOC artists and structural change in public art commissioning.

Living Heritage Atlas documents and visualizes Beirut’s living heritage of artisanship by mapping its craftspeople and cataloging its crafts through an open-source database, viewable through an interactive website. This project celebrates the past and present of local artisanship through archival data, interviews and community workshops.

The installation probes what it means to be American today through the techno-economic, socio-cultural, and environmental dimensions embedded in the T-Shirt, the iconic staple of the American culture. The material narratives of identity, cultural mobility, and sustainability yarn a perspective on the American lifestyle–to become less indifferent to the social costs of maintaining our lifestyles means to become more open to the voices of others, not as a negotiating technique, but as an indispensable part of our planet’s chorus.

The installation consists of three components: 1. Stack of T-shirts reminiscent of a core sample, linked to looms made of shredded T-shirts, 2. Process Drawing, and 3. Quilt made of T-shirt scraps. 

Displaced Empire is a speculative installation based on the Al Azraq Refugee Camp in Jordan, reimagining it as the capital of a near-future world shaped by displacement, scarcity, and climate crisis. Through collaboratively designed tents, architectural artifacts, and personal narratives, the project explores the ingenuity of Syrian refugees who adapt and humanize standardized humanitarian shelters—transforming them into spaces of identity, resilience, and creative world-building.

The Glass Helmet is a component of the Silk Road Works (2021). As a symbol of protection for workers in the building industry, the helmet represents a sanctuary where their rights are safeguarded, and their well-being is prioritized; the vulnerability of these rights is reflected in the fragility of the glass material. The blue color of the helmet also evokes the United Nations' Blue Helmets, symbolizing the importance of international peacekeeping efforts and the protection of global stability. The Glass Helmet represents a call for the creation of inclusive, supportive environments that provide a sense of security and belonging for all in the face of global challenges. 

“Silk Road Works” is a symbolic construction site for a pluralist society. The project deploys architectural storytelling to offer a border reflection on issues of migration, labor, and identity politics along the Silk Road in history and today. Three responses to the Biennale theme “How will we live together?” are assembled through three Silk-Road themed architectural wearables: construction workers’ safety vests made of silks from various regions of the Silk Road, coveralls made of Venetian Rubelli fabric, and hard hats made by Murano glass masters of blue glass. 

Future to Be Rewritten is a commemorative public art installation that creates a dignified space for reflecting on voting rights, social justice, and democracy through a sculptural palimpsest of inscribed concrete and brass. Evoking the spirit of a suffrage march, the work engages visitors in a participatory experience of remembrance and critical reflection, symbolically elevating marginalized voices and inviting a rewriting of history from a more inclusive perspective.

Co-MASK is a global collaborative project aimed at creating DIY fabric masks that promote hope, humanity, and hygiene practices in time of crisis. The Co-MASK is being developed by a global network of individuals who collaborate across borders to address a shared concern: to raise awareness about the risks of COVID-19 infection and the need for physical distancing and self-isolation while advocating at the same time for solidarity with […]

This drawing explores the world through the lens of a cotton T-shirt, depicting three parallel narratives. The first story (green) traces the environmental footprint of T-shirts through the resources and the pollution that are part of its manufacturing process. The second plot (blue) examines the technologies of the T-Shirt production, from the cultivation of the cotton plant and the associated history of slavery to the industrialized fabrication […]

The project explores the colloquial connection between birds and psychiatric hospitals. Referencing the history of behaviorism, the project takes shape of the Skinner operant conditioning box* as a symbol of the dark age of psychiatry. In Skinner’s experiments, behavior was assumed to be a mere function of external stimuli without regard to the subjects’ will or agency. He famously conditioned pigeons to play ping-pong or develop superstitious behaviors —implying that with the appropriate […]

The T-Serai is a portable palace for transcultural futures. Inspired by textile histories of the MENA region, the project involves participatory creation of modular tapestries made of recycled clothes. The tapestries can be used to personalize the standardized refugee shelters (T-Shelters), facilitating mobile storage and vertical gardening. They can also be used to set up tents for storytelling and other social gatherings animated through multi-sensory experiences […]

Arteast 2000+ Pavilions is a large-scale installation of nine conceptual structures and graphic manifestos designed to spatially frame overlooked Eastern European artist groups within the exhibition Hello World: Revising a Collection at Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, critically expanding the canon of contemporary art through a dialogue on national collections, institutional critique, and global art histories.

Digital Majlis is a prototype for a future art and educational space developed by the Future Heritage Lab at the Al Azraq Refugee Camp in Jordan, reimagining the traditional majlis as a site for artistic creation, cultural preservation, and transcultural dialogue through collaborative projects between MIT and Syrian refugees.

The Diaspora Scroll is a growing textile book that deconstructs myths of nationalism and local traditions through the embroidery patterns, which depict personal histories of migration, and the creation process, which facilitates transcultural exchange. The project takes the form through the sourcing, analysis of textile art, design, and techniques around the world, as well as through collaborative embroidery. Collaborating textile artists are invited to contribute to the project by […]

A Living Part of This World is a photo story and a poem documenting the creative ingenuity of Syrian refugees in Al Azraq Camp, Jordan—showcasing shelter adaptations, artistic inventions, and personal narratives produced through Future Heritage Lab workshops in photography and writing. The project highlights how art and design foster resilience, cultural preservation, and hope in humanitarian contexts.

Digesting Dayton is an interactive buffet installation mapping the internal political borders of Bosnia and Herzegovina onto a tablecloth, inviting participants—primarily from the Bosnian diaspora—to symbolically “eat away” the divisions imposed by the Dayton Peace Agreement, while sharing food and marking their places of origin in a collective act of remembrance and critique.

Palimpsest of ’89 is an artistic installation exploring the role of Sarajevo’s cultural institutions in shaping the common heritage of Yugoslavia. The project was produced for The Heritage of 1989 exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (Moderna galerija) Ljubljana, which reenacted the Second Yugoslav Documents, the largest retrospective of Yugoslav art before the 1990s Yugoslav breakup. Palimpsest of ’89 visualizes how the region’s history has been “written and rewritten” through the work […]