An Evening With: Sumayya Vally

Join us for an evening with South African architect Sumayya Vally who stands at the forefront of architectural innovation and cultural redefinition with her architectural practice Counterspace. Vally’s work seeks to articulate expressions of hybrid identities, with a particular focus on the complex relationships between territories. Aric Chen (General and Artistic Director of the Nieuwe Instituut) will talk to her about her work, career, and what drives her. They will delve into her decolonial principles, reinterpretations of traditional paradigms, and reverence for rituals and myths.

Sumayya Vally
Sumayya Vally is the principal of architecture and research practice, Counterspace. She is the youngest architect ever commissioned for the Serpentine Pavilion, and was Artistic Director of the inaugural Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah, which marked a pivotal moment in reimagining the definition of Islamic art. Sumayya Vally is a TIME100 Next honoree and a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and Dezeen’s Emerging Architect of the Year 2023.

Vally has been identified as someone who will shape the future of architectural practice and pedagogy. She is Honorary Professor of Practice at The Bartlett School of Architecture, and an Honorary Fellow by the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada.

An Evening With
An Evening With is a monthly series of talks featuring emerging and established international voices in design, architecture and digital culture. Designers and artists take you on a journey through their practice, sources of inspiration, fascinations and dreams of the future.

Make your evening complete!
Combine this event with a visit to our exhibitions – admission to the museum is free on Thursday evenings. Fancy a bite to eat? Join us in the Nieuwe Café!