Doha, Qatar: The Media Majlis Museum at Northwestern University in Qatar celebrates the successful conclusion of its 11th exhibition, "What's between, between?", which ran from January 26 to May 14, 2026. The exhibition invited visitors to examine the meanings and complexities of Gulf Futurism and reaffirmed the museum's role as a hub for critical conversations at the intersection of media, technology, and culture.
The exhibition attracted thousands of visitors throughout its showcasing period, who explored the work through critical thinking, dialogues, and interactions. The VIP preview, held in early January, drew more than 700 visitors, including senior representatives from the government, institutional partners, and the broader arts community.
Curated by Jack Thomas Taylor, curator of art, media, and technology, and assistant curator Amal Zeyad Ali, the exhibition examined the Gulf futurism critically, adding new depth and insights to the elusive term coined over a decade ago. The exhibition delved into the Gulf region’s complexities, including questions of hyper-modernity, speculative imaginations, hybrid identities and realities shaped by a state of being in-between. The goal was to go beyond singular and binary narratives in the Gulf region, such as long-existing tropes of between tradition and modernity, between old and new, between now and then. Through loaned works, new commissions and digital content, the exhibition told multi-faceted stories that exist all at once in the Gulf, allowing audiences to understand Gulf futurism as more than an aesthetic.
A key metaphorical framework of the exhibition was salt—in its numerous states to reference aspects such as trade, meaning-making, preservation and extraction. Furthermore, the exhibition used the Earth’s atmospheric layers as a curatorial framework to shape discussions, moving from the troposphere, linked to trade and globalization, to the exosphere, associated with the race to space and ideas of escapism. This structure invited the visitors to consider how multiple temporal and spatial narratives intersect and collide, shaping the region today.
"With 'What's between, between?', The Media Majlis Museum at Northwestern University in Qatar demonstrated how its academic mission can extend beyond the classroom, translating research, critical inquiry, and creative practice into an immersive exhibition that meaningfully engaged the wider local community," said Marwan M. Kraidy, dean and CEO of Northwestern University in Qatar, adding that "the exhibition was a testament to our commitment to evidence-based storytelling, offering audiences a powerful means to engage thoughtfully with the region's layered histories and its fast-changing present, and to think critically about how futures are imagined and shaped."
The exhibition brought together more than 22 artists from across the Gulf region, offering peripheral, poetic, and critical perspectives on life in the Gulf today. Featured artists included Ahaad Alamoudi, Ahmad Makia, Amna AlBaker, Aseel AlYaqoub, Ayman Yossri Daydban, Eman Ali, Faisal Saeed Al Zahrani, Farah Al Qasimi, Fatima Mohammed, Khaled Bin Afif, Larissa Sansour, Lulua Alyahya, Sheikh Maktoum Al Maktoum, Manal AlDowayan, Nasser Al Salem, Rashed AlShashai, Sarah Abu Abdullah, Sarah Aradi, Talal Al Najjar, Tarek Darwish, Voyyyd, and Zahrah Al Ghamdi.
As the Museum concludes this thought-provoking exhibition, Alfredo Cramerotti, director of the museum, remarked: "As a next-generation university museum, Media Majlis Museum is interested in the spaces where meaning is unsettled. This exhibition embraced the in-between, not as ambiguity to be resolved, but as a condition to be explored. It asked whose futures are being imagined, and who gets to participate in shaping them. With its 11th exhibition to date, the museum continues to explore and invite the visitors in exploring the other side "
The exhibition was accompanied by a special publication with Myrna Ayad serving as the guest editor. The publication together original essays, dialogues, and critical reflections on Gulf futurism through artistic, academic and speculative perspectives. Contributors include leading artists, writers, and thinkers, among them Sophia Al-Maria, who coined the term “Gulf futurism” and triggered a vast array of articulations into the subject matter.
The Museum presented a dynamic public program of curator-led walkthroughs, majlis-style conversations, and educational initiatives coinciding with Art Basel Qatar and Web Summit Qatar 2026.
As the first university museum dedicated to exploring journalism, communication, and media in the Arab world, Media Majlis Museum continues to create immersive experiences that challenge conventional narratives.
