From the Louvre | Opening Lecture with Souraya Noujaim
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The Musée du Louvre’s Islamic Art Department was established in 2003 and holds over 18,000 objects. In this talk, department director Souraya Noujaim presents some of the masterpieces that could not make the journey to Washington for the exhibition From the Louvre: Masterpieces of Islamic Art. She shares their fascinating story and delves into their journey to the Louvre. Noujaim also focuses on individuals, curators, and donors who helped shape the collections through the present day. Following the lecture, she discusses the exhibition with co-curator Simon Rettig.
This program is made possible with generous support from Villa Albertine.
, Dr. Souraya Noujaim has been the Director of the Department of Islamic Arts at the Musée du Louvre in Paris since 2023. In this capacity, she is responsible for the museum’s curatorial strategy and the ongoing development of its collections, with a focus on engaging a broad and diverse audience. Dr. Noujaim…
Venue: Asian Art Museum. Building: West Building. Event Location: Meyer Auditorium and Livestreamed. Cost: Free. Register in advance (recommended). Categories: Webcasts & Online. Lectures & Discussions. Related Exhibition: From the Louvre: Masterpieces of Islamic Art. Accessibility: Captioning. Wheelchair accessible.
Saturday, October 3, 2026, 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM.
Sneak Peek | Saodat Ismailova and Marianne Kamp in Conversation
Saodat Ismailova’s films weave together archival materials and her own footage to explore Central Asia’s layered histories and landscapes, from the region’s ancient past and Islamic traditions through the Soviet era and into the present. In this online program, Ismailova considers these subjects in conversation with Dr. Marianne Kamp, whose landmark studies of Uzbek social transformation have explored the lives of women and youth amid Soviet-era modernization and unveiling.
Together, their reflections invite us to consider how personal memory, oral history, and historical archives can illuminate the political, social, and environmental changes that have shaped Central Asia. Born in Uzbekistan in 1981, Saodat Ismailova is an Uzbek filmmaker and artist living and working between Paris and Tashkent. She graduated from the Tashkent State Art Institute and Le Fresnoy—National Studio of Contemporary Arts in France. In 2021, she initiated Davra, a research collective dedicated to developing the Central Asian art…
Event Location: Zoom. Cost: Free. Register in advance (required). Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonian.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Wm4PZ642SoeKu8pj_hXRZA. Categories: Webcasts & Online. Lectures & Discussions. Related Exhibition: Saodat Ismailova: Melted into the Sun. Accessibility: Captioning.
Tuesday, October 6, 2026, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM.
Global Conversations: Korean Culture and the Power of Cultural Diplomacy
Registration information for the event to come.
Join museum director Chase Robinson for a fireside conversation with Nicholas Burns, former US Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China, and Kang Kyung-wha, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to the United States.
As the first program in our Global Conversations: The Power of Art, Culture, and Diplomacy [link to series page] series, this discussion will explore the role of museums and cultural institutions as powerful instruments of diplomacy, collaboration, and cross-cultural understanding. Using the remarkable global rise and influence of Korean arts and culture as a point of departure, Ambassadors Burns and Kang will reflect on their distinguished careers in diplomacy and public service, the role of cultural soft power in international relations, and the ways museums, exhibitions, and cultural exchange foster dialogue across societies. Moderated by Robinson, the conversation will also examine regional and global efforts to preserve and protect cultural…
Venue: Asian Art Museum. Building: West Building. Event Location: Meyer Auditorium / Online. Cost: Free. Registration information for the event to come. Categories: Lectures & Discussions. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible. Assisted listening devices.
Saturday, October 17, 2026, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM.
The Peacock Room at 150: Lecture and Reception
Join the Freer Research Center as we celebrate the 150th anniversary of James McNeill Whistler’s most complete Aesthetic-era interior, the Peacock Room. Hear from noted Whistler scholar and former National Museum of Asian Art curator Linda Merrill about the context of the room’s creation. She also discusses some of the art-historical misinterpretations that prevailed before the comprehensive conservation campaign of the 1990s. The program will be followed by a celebratory reception in the courtyard.
The Peacock Room is as awe inspiring for its rich detail as it is notorious for the rupture the project caused between the artist and his patron. Whistler designed the space for shipping magnate Frederick Leyland between 1876 and 1877. Leyland expected a few modest alterations to his new dining room, where he intended to display his collection of Chinese blue-and-white porcelain. The room Whistler ultimately completed, mostly without his patron’s consent, was a lavish space covered floor to ceiling in depictions…
Venue: Asian Art Museum. Building: West Building. Event Location: Courtyard, Meyer Auditorium. Cost: Free. Register in advance (required). Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-peacock-room-at-150-lecture-and-reception-tickets-2000233342773. Categories: After Five. Lectures & Discussions. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Thursday, October 22, 2026, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM.
Conservation Cart Talk | Peacock Room Ceramics
Join objects conservator Ellen Chase to explore the blue-and-white ceramics displayed in the Peacock Room. Learn how artists in China used cobalt pigments and brushes to create their distinctive designs, and discover how conservators study, care for, and preserve them. Examine a replica ceramic and conservation materials up close while gaining a deeper understanding of these works of art. Image: National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Photo by Colleen Dugan.
Venue: Asian Art Museum. Building: West Building. Event Location: Gallery 12. Cost: Free. Register in advance (optional). Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1999025752839?aff=oddtdtcreator. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Lectures & Discussions. Related Exhibition: The Peacock Room. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible. Assisted listening devices.
Friday, October 23, 2026, 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM.
Virtual Book Club | Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar
Register to join. Halloween costumes welcome~
Calling all readers! We’re starting a quarterly virtual book club, hosted by NPR’s Emily Kwong. You may recognize her from the hit podcast Inheriting about AAPI family history. Our club will meet once each season, with fresh recommendations from some of our favorite Asian-owned bookstores (including Loyalty Bookstore and Yu & Me Books).
Expect: open-ended questions, organic conversation, and a structured activity.
To kick off the club, our first book is Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar. Grab a copy from the museum store on your next visit. About Martyr!
A newly sober, orphaned son of Iranian immigrants, guided by the voices of artists, poets, and kings, embarks on a remarkable search for a family secret that leads him to a terminally ill painter living out her final days in the Brooklyn Museum. Electrifying, funny, and wholly original, Kaveh Akbar’s debut novel is a paean to how we spend our lives seeking meaning—in faith, art, ourselves, others. Martyr! is a New York…
Event Location: Online. Cost: Free. Register in advance (required). Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonian.zoom.us/meeting/register/-aNMzt2QS8eO8K6Fh7Uocw#/registration. Categories: Lectures & Discussions. Webcasts & Online. After Five.
Thursday, October 29, 2026, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM.