A lecture by Nasser Rabbat, Aga Khan Professor of Islamic Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), under the title “Orientalist Art and the Mirage of Realism and Objectivity” was held on 12 March 2008 at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina’s conference center.

The lecture reflected upon the current popularity of Orientalist art in the Arab region, as works in this tradition—created mostly during the second half of the 19th century and the first third of the 20th—are sold at auctions in large numbers to wealthy Arab collectors who decorate their homes with artworks of this nature as a statement of cultural identity. Professor Rabbat also analyzed the currently widespread phenomenon of the use of Orientalist images in academic books and articles to represent the Arab culture and heritage.