The Arabic Design Archive Launches The Archival Alliances Movement
we are thrilled to announce the launch of the Archival Alliances (AA) movement. The AA started as a co-curated exhibition with McGill Islamic Studies Library with the same name and soon after we have decided to expand it to become a movement. Now, AA is a global alliance initiated by the Arabic Design Archive with the aim to repatriate the scattered and dispersed history of Arab art and design. Through alliances with all archives in the East and West, collectors, museums, and heirs, we will aim to engage in negotiations with these institutions and secure a (re)host of the digital copies of Graphic Design works that initially came from the SWANA region during the 20th century and were moved to different parts of the world during colonial and modern times.
The initiative was launched in 2023 and since then, we were able to negotiate a re(host) of the collections of important institutions such as
- The Palestinian Museum Archive
- Harvard Fine Arts Library
- The Syrian Design Archive
- Collection of Parviz Tanavoli
We are currently in the process of negotiating with more institutions to expand our network of alliances. If you belong to an institution that has an Arabic graphic design related collection and would like to join the Archival Alliances movement