DOHA: Doha’s newly renovated Fire Station will open its first exhibition next month, one of the highlights of Qatar Museum’s (QM) line-up this spring.
‘555’ opens on March 15, with installations, photographs and videos of what Doha’s inaugural art residences were like since the early 1990s, introducing visitors to part of Qatar’s recent history that has never been extensively shared before. QM recently announced that the Fire Station has been transformed to host Fire Station: Artists in Residence programme, headed by Hala Al Khalifa.
The programme fulfils a key part of QM’s commitment to nurture emerging talent by offering artists opportunities to develop best practice and a platform to exchange ideas.
Al Khalifa, along with other QM officials, announced exhibitions and events in the coming weeks, at a media event at Idam restaurant in Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) yesterday.
Two new exhibitions will open at MIA this spring — Marvellous Creatures: Animal Fables in Islamic Art; and Qajar Women: Images of Women in 19th Century Iran.
Opening on March 4, Marvellous Creatures focuses on real and mythical animals in legends, tales and fables of the Islamic world, featuring timeless stories such as Shahnameh, Kalila wa Dimna and One Thousand and One Nights.
Qajar Women, opening on March 25, demonstrates the centrality of women in the artistic expression of 19th-century Iran and how it continues to inspire artists.
Showcasing women at the court, and in private, alongside images of female musicians and aristocratic women, the expo explores rarely-told narratives of Qajar artistic tradition.
Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art will open a major solo exhibition, Wael Shawky: Cabaret Crusades and Other Stories, on March 17. Shawky is one of the most powerful and urgent voices to emerge in the Middle East in the last decade. The expo presents two newly completed film trilogies, each inspired by stories and scripts of literature; Cabaret Crusades (2010-2014) draws on Amin Maalouf’s novel The Crusades through Arab Eyes (1983) while Al Araba Al Madfuna (2012-2015) collages stories of Mohamed Mustagab with artists’ experience living in Upper Egypt.
The programme culminates with the opening of Ismail Azzam: For Them expo at QM Gallery at Katara on April 25.
It will showcase Azzam’s portraits of painters and sculptors who have contributed to Arab art, created for the show in Doha. “Culture and art support the realisation of Qatar National Vision 2030, developing and inspiring the next generation of cultural audiences and ideas. Wonderful initiatives like the Fire Station Artists in Residence programme are critical to nurturing our wealth of artistic talent, while nostalgic exhibitions like Marvellous Creatures help us celebrate our favourite childhood stories that are known and loved by us all,” said Hamad Al Eida, Director of Communications, QM.
QM also announced the extension of one of its most popular collections, the Yousef Ahmad Exhibition “Story of ingenuity” to March 28 at QM Gallery at Katara.
The Peninsula
