In conversation with Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès (Founding Director of the Khatt Foundation, Center for Arabic Typography, Netherlands) and Jasmin Holtkötter (Curator of the SWANA Collection at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg – MK&G, Germany)

The exhibition “Inner Structures – Outer Rhythms: Contemporary Arab and Persian Graphic Design”, shown at the MK&G from April 2024 to August 2025, not only highlighted contemporary design practices from the region but also had a lasting impact on the museum’s curatorial approach. The collaboration influenced curatorial thinking within the collection formerly known as “Islamic Art” and contributed to the decision to rename the collection “SWANA” (Southwest Asia and North Africa). This shift marked an important step in redefining the museum’s scope and perspective, culminating in the collection presentation “Inspiring SWANA”, which opened at MK&G in October 2025.

In this “Museum Mutuals” session, Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès and Jasmin Holtkötter will share the impetus for their collaboration and discuss how their open and critical exchange surrounding the exhibition sparked broader institutional change. Developed during a time of heightened debate, the exhibition required particular care and responsibility toward artists, lenders, and audiences. The speakers will reflect on how attentive listening, mutual understanding, and the building of trust can inform both the working process and the final presentation – and how such curatorial collaboration might reorient institutional structures.

Dr Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès is the Founding Director of the Khatt Foundation and Khatt Books publishers, based in Amsterdam. She works as an independent design curator, researcher, writer, designer, and editor, specialising in typographic design research and Arab design history. She holds degrees in graphic design and design history from Leiden University (PhD, 2017), Yale University (MFA, 1990), and Rhode Island School of Design (BFA, 1987). She is the author of several seminal books on design and serves as Editor-in-Chief of Khatt Books’ “Arabic Design Library” series, for which she has authored two titles.

Jasmin Holtkötter is the Curator of the SWANA collections at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg (MK&G). She specialises in modern and contemporary visual and material culture from the SWANA region and its diasporas. Her curatorial practice highlights perspectives from the region and engages with the diasporic gaze, while critically reflecting on Eurocentric structures within the museum. She develops participatory and inclusive formats designed to create space for diverse audiences and foster dialogue across disciplines and communities. Jasmin Holtkötter holds an MA in Islamic Art History and Archaeology from the University of Bamberg and also studied at the University of Tehran.