Azra Aksamija is a Sarajevo born Austrian artist, architect, and architectural historian. Her broader artistic and academic practice explores representation of Islamic identities in the West, spatial mediation of identity politics, Orientalism, and cultural interaction through architecture.

She graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at the Technical University Graz, Austria in 2001 with distinction, and received her M.Arch. from Princeton University, USA in 2004. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (History Theory and Criticism Section / Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture).

Azra's academic research focuses on Islamic religious architecture in Europe and the U.S from the 19th century up to the present. She is currently researching her dissertation entitled "Our Mosques Are Us: Rewriting National History of Bosnia-Herzegovina through Religious Architecture" explores construction of Bosnian Muslims' identities though history of mosques, with the focus on the post-socialist period. Besides her academic research, Azra has been working as a conceptual artist and a curator. From 2004 - 2008 she has been holding the position of a Graduate Affiliate at the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at MIT. Her interdisciplinary projects have been published and exhibited in various international venues such as the Generali Foundation Vienna (2002), Biennial de Valencia (2003), Gallery for Contemporary Art Leipzig (2003), Liverpool Biennial (2004), Witte de With Rotterdam (2005), Sculpture Center New York City (2006), Secession Vienna (2007), and most recently at the Manifesta 7 (2008).

Based on the concept of the Nomadic Mosque (see Nomadic Mosque project description) the premise the Dirndlmoschee is the nomadic principle of assimilating certain characteristics of a place into one's own context, whereas a mutual enrichment is achieved. The Dirndl, a traditional Austrian dress, is still worn in the every day life in some places in Austria, such as in the little town of Strobl at the Wolfgang Lake. The Dirndlmoschee can be transformed into an Islamic prayer environment that provides a prayer space for three people. The dirndl's apron is made out of a water-resistant material that can be unfolded into three connected prayer rugs. In the mosque configuration, the traditional shoulder scarf opens up into a veil. The silk decoration at the scarf edge playfully references a person's hair, which is actually hidden by the veil. The belt carries a compass with a carabineer attached, from which prayer beets on ropes are hanging. The prayer beets are decorated with Swiss knifes, locally found souvenirs from which the crosses were not removed, but re-symbolized as a decoration. The project involved a prayer performance in various public spaces, as well as a communication with local Turkish immigrants. Although not willing to participate in the prayer, the Turkish women showed interest in the Dirndlmoschee as a product. The project video documents my daily prayer at the symposium site, - unfolding of the wearable mosque and the prayer on the pre-existing landscape sculpture in shape of concentric circles, which can be understood as a reference to Mecca. This situation also represents a reference to the famous unfolding renaissance Pacher Altar located in the neighborhood town of St.Wolfgang.

You can see the project at this link: Dirndlmoschee: Dirndlmoschee [ Dirndl Dress Mosque ]