Operating with a commitment to collective knowledge production as a means to decolonize cultural histories, the Center aims to develop research and pedagogy based upon art narratives and practices from the region and the theoretical perspectives and debates that have been particular to the region in the modern period.

al Mawrid is centered around the construction and management of the Arab Art Archive, which acquires primary source materials pertaining to modern art across the Arab world, between 1850 to 1995. The Center works with artists, their families, collections, galleries, arts organizations, and other institutions throughout the region and around the world to digitize and produce research from a range of documentary material—including artist writings, journals, correspondence, exhibition materials, newspaper clippings, and photographs—pertaining to the history of modern art in the Arab countries.

al Mawrid also currently encompasses the Akkasah Photography Archive, which documents different histories and practices of photography in the broader region with a focus on the UAE and the Gulf, and Haraka: Experimental Lab for Arab Art and Social Thought, which takes the intellectual life of the region as a starting point for exploring alternative modes of knowledge production about its societies and history.

The Center is part of the NYUAD Research Institute and works in collaboration with faculty in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences serving faculty research and undergraduate education.

Center's Highlights

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al Mawrid publications

Recent Publications by al Mawrid's team members