The Aga Khan Museum UK Patrons’ Chapter invites you to join Museum Director Henry Kim as he reflects upon the trajectory of the Aga Khan Museum since its opening in September 2014. He will be speaking as part of the Courtauld Institute’s Contemporaneity in South Asian Art Seminar Series. Henry Kim will talk about the permanent collection and show examples of previous exhibitions. He will share how, four years on, the Museum has made significant advances in connecting cultures through the arts, while simultaneously working to change beliefs and attitudes globally at a time when that work is more important than ever.
The Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, Canada offers visitors a window into worlds unknown or unfamiliar: the artistic, intellectual, and scientific heritage of Muslim civilizations across the centuries from the Iberian Peninsula to China. Its mission is to foster a greater understanding and appreciation of the contribution that Muslim civilisations have made to world heritage. Through education, research, and collaboration, the museum aims to foster dialogue and promote tolerance and mutual understanding among people. As a vibrant educational institution, the museum encourages the full spectrum of public engagement with its diverse permanent collection of more than 1,000 objects and its ever-changing roster of exhibitions and innovative programs – including music and dance performances, theatre, lectures, workshops, and film screenings.
Henry Kim is the director and CEO of Aga Khan Museum, Toronto. An ancient history scholar and classical archaeologist by training, he joined the Aga Khan Museum from the University of Oxford where he taught, curated collections, and managed capital projects at the Ashmolean Museum from 1994 to 2012. Educated at Harvard and Oxford, he served as curator of Greek coins and university lecturer in Greek numismatics at Oxford. From 2004 to 2011, he was the Project Director for the Ashmolean Redevelopment Project, a £70 million redevelopment and transformation of the museum. He then became Director of the University Engagement Programme, a three-year project sponsored by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation aimed at expanding the use of the museum’s collections in teaching across the university.
The event will be followed by a drinks reception