KINGS AND PAWNS: Partial chess set made of alabaster, Lapis lazuli and coral, probably between 10th-11th century, from MIA collections.
DOHA: A record number of people visited the fall exhibitions organised by Qatar Museums Authority (QMA) at various cultural sites across the country. More than 135,000 visitors including locals, residents, international visitors and school groups have seen the world class expos.
‘Relics’, Damien Hirst’s first and largest expo in the Middle East which was held at AlRiwaq saw 62,000 visitors while ‘Haj: A Journey Through Art’ expo also witnessed 62,000 visitors.
Thousands of visitors also came to Francesco Vezzoli’s ‘Museum of Crying Women’ held at the QMA Gallery in Katara and Adel Abdessemed’s “L’âge d’or” at Mathaf. “It was clear that these exhibitions were going to attract attention. However, the attendance figures are an achievement and show that Qatar is a leading destination for culture,” said Kimberly French, QMA Chief Marketing Officer.
Building on the success of these expos, QMA has lined up an exciting programme this spring, starting with the opening of Mona Hatoum: Turbulence at Mathaf early this month. Hatoum’s largest solo exhibition to date in the Arab world, ‘Turbulence’ brings to the forefront the diversity of Mona Hatoum’s work over the last 30 years. Mathaf’s second spring show ‘Art is one of the roads to Paradise’ by Lebanese-American artist Etel Adnan will be open from March 16 till July 6.
Louma Salame, Head of PR and Publishing at Mathaf, said the expo will display 170 artworks by Adnan consisting of paintings, drawings, tapestries, leporellos, writings and films from 1960s onwards.
The recently opened Mathaf Project Space will see its first installation by Egyptian artist Magdi Mostafa to explore the dialogue between sound and space.
Following the 2011 installation of the artist’s first public artwork in the Middle East, 7, a vertical steel sculpture in the MIA Park, QMA has invited American sculptor Richard Serra to exhibit in two cultural spaces in Doha. The exhibitions, both entitled Richard Serra, are curated by Alfred Pacquement, Honorary Director, National Museum of Modern Art, Centre Pompidou, Paris. Both exhibitions run from April 10 to July 6. At Al Riwaq, visitors will be able to experience Passage of Time comprising two immense steel curves, snaking diagonally through the large volume of the exhibition space. Concurrently at the QMA Gallery in Katara, seven sculptures and four large drawings present the main stages in the development of Serra’s work, from the first Props in lead and steel to one of the more recent Torqued Ellipses. The works provide an historical context for both 7 and Passage of Time.
The exhibition ‘Kings and Pawns: Board Games from India to Spain’ will be showing in the Special Exhibitions Gallery at the MIA from March 19 to June 21. This exhibition uncovers the history of board games in the Islamic world, from India to Spain between the 7th and the 20th century.
The Peninsula
