Globally renowned researcher, archivist and curator Dr. Kenneth X. Robbins has joined the Cosmos Foundation as its newest Advisory Board member.
A psychiatrist by profession, he received his B.A. from Columbia University in 1963 and M.D. from the New York University School of Medicine. Dr. Robbins started collecting Rajput, Deccani, Mughal and other South Asian artefacts from dealers and auction houses in the 1960s and has used his collections to publish fourteen books on South Asian history and culture. His special interests range from Maharajas, Nawabs, and Deccani Sultans to minority groups like Afro-South Asians.
Dr. Robbins and his wife Joyce have accumulated a collection of more than 100,000 items over the period of more than five decades that covers the history of South Asia and Africans in the larger Indian Ocean world, and the Jewish diaspora in India and beyond.
Welcoming Dr. Robbins on board, Chairman of Cosmos Foundation and Managing Director of the Cosmos Group, Enayetullah Khan, said, “Having Dr. Kenneth X. Robbins on our Advisory Board is an honour for us. The passion and unquenchable thirst for South Asian art, history and unexplored connection between peoples that Dr. Robbins has demonstrated through his expanded collection and published works are awe-inspiring. As a leading organisation working to familiarise the world with Bangladeshi art and culture, having Dr. Robbins on Cosmos Foundation’s Advisory Board perfectly aligns with our vision.”
Nahar Khan, Executive Director of Cosmos Foundation, said, “The ways in which our cultures influenced one another historically and, in many cases, still influence one another today, provide us with invaluable insights into humankind. Dr. Robbins’ pioneering work on the movement of people across the Indian Ocean – from Africa to India, the fascinating historical exchanges in knowledge, music, arts and culture open doors for and deserves in-depth research that can shed light on some missing chapters in world history. His decades-spanning explorations will surely enrich Cosmos Foundation as it navigates the global cultural sphere.”
About Cosmos Foundation
Cosmos Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the Cosmos Group – registered as a trust dedicated to providing strategic insights and policy solutions to help Bangladesh chart its course towards a better future. The Foundation works towards discovering, cultivating and disseminating for a global audience the art of Bangladesh.
It provides direction to the Cosmos Group’s flagship curatorial space, Gallery Cosmos, and its pioneering printmaking studio, Atelier71, which work in tandem.
The Foundation aims to engage both local and global audiences in artistic and intellectual interventions that aim to illuminate the past, examine the present, and imagine the future.