Qatar Museums Announces 'Unprecedented' Cultural Developments for fall 2022

Doha, June 29 (QNA) - Qatar Museums (QM) on Wednesday announced a wide-ranging series of cultural initiatives in fall 2022 that confirm the nation’s position as a preeminent arts and culture destination in the region and internationally. The program will begin in September, with exhibitions remaining on view into 2023. The announcement follows the recent transformation of Qatar Creates from a limited period of events into a year-round national cultural movement that curates, promotes and celebrates the diversity of cultural activities in Qatar. Anchoring the cultural program is the opening in October of a completely reimagined and reinstalled Museum of Islamic Art (MIA), designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect I M Pei, a celebrated landmark in the heart of Doha. The MIA will present its collection in completely new thematic interpretations to engage with audiences both local and international. It will also include a new family trail. Accompanying the reopening of the MIA is a wide-ranging program of exhibitions across eight museums and galleries in Doha. These include 'Baghdad: Eye’s Delight' at the Museum of Islamic Art showcasing one of the greatest cities in the Islamic world; contemporary multimedia creations by artists Sophia al-Maria and Taysir Batniji at Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art; an exhibition on the rich cultural heritage of nomads in the Central Sahara, Arab Middle East and Central Eurasia/Mongolia at the National Museum of Qatar; a show celebrating the history of football and the sport’s greatest competitions at the recently opened 3-2-1 Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum; Maison Valentino exhibition that pays homage to its founder at M7; exhibitions on the Art Mill Museum of international modern and contemporary art, designed by Alejandro Aravena and ELEMENTAL, and on the Lusail Museum, designed by Herzog & de Meuron, giving visitors their first glimpse of what they can expect from these two new art institutions now being developed by Qatar Museums. As Qatar prepares for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, Qatar Museums is also transforming the nation’s landscape into a vast outdoor art museum with the installation by fall 2022 of more than 40 new and commissioned public artworks throughout Doha and the nation, in a variety of public spaces, including parks and shopping areas, educational and athletic facilities, Hamad International Airport and Qatar Rail stations, as well as select stadiums that will host World Cup matches. Qatar is hosting the FIFA World Cup this year the first time the world's biggest football tournament will be held in the Middle East. The Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum’s World of Football exhibition celebrates this historic occasion. And like a football match itself, it is displayed over two halves. The first half Football for All, All for Football - examines the universal and global appeal of football; the beautiful game that is played, watched and enjoyed by millions regardless of age, gender, nationality or socioeconomic status. The second half - The Road to Doha - follows the long journey to Qatar 2022, from the first FIFA World Cup matches in Uruguay in 1930, to the final at the Lusail Stadium on December 18. Visitors to the exhibition can relive memories of some of the greatest World Cup moments of the past, get behind the scenes of Qatar’s successful bid to welcome the world, and see the country’s plans. The final FIFA Making Memories section will grow during the exhibition, as objects and artefacts are added to celebrate and record historic milestones as teams make new World Cup history at Qatar 2022. The exhibition is supported by FIFA Museum, the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy, National Football Museum (UK), Musée National du Sport (France) and Qatar Football Association. Labor of Love: Embroidering Palestinian History; October 12 – January 28, 2023; QM Gallery Katara; Part of Qatar-Menasa 2022 Year of Culture Labor of Love: Embroidering Palestinian History will take visitors on a journey of discovery of 'tatreez' embroidery as woven into the social, economic and political fabric of Palestinian society, through different historical periods. The exhibition elucidates the symbols of traditional embroidered Palestinian dress (thobe), and explores 'tatreez' through the lenses of gender, labour, commodification and class. The exhibition thus traces the shift of 'tatreez' from a personal practice, made with love, to national symbol, and onto a product circulating in the global marketplace. The exhibition is curated by Baha Jubeh, Collections manager at the Palestinian Museum, and draws from collections of Qatar Museums and the Palestinian Museum. Experience Al Jazeera; October 19 – March 2023; Fire Station, Doha, Experience Al Jazeera captures how Al Jazeera Media Network, over the past 25 years, has grown from a single pioneering TV channel to a global media phenomenon. The exhibition explores the meteoric trajectory of Al Jazeera, its emphasis on the human story, its founding values, editorial integrity, creative processes and the technologies involved in the creation of award-winning content in multiple formats across a range of platforms. The Al Jazeera exhibition also includes interactive exhibits, such as a ‘Studio Experience’, where visitors can experience the Al Jazeera studio setting first-hand, and an ‘Al Jazeera Immersive’ section, which explores the use of virtual and augmented reality storytelling techniques in broadcasting. The Experience Al Jazeera exhibit illustrates the Network’s commitment to professionalism, independent journalism in the pursuit of the truth to inform and inspire its audiences globally. Art Mill Museum 2030; Qatar Flour Mill Warehouse and Al Najada Heritage House #15, Doha; October 24 – March 30, 2023. The Art Mill Museum 2030 exhibition announces the future museum of international modern and contemporary art developed by Qatar Museums in Doha. It introduces the vision and the definition of the museum, conceived by Catherine Grenier, as well as the architecture by the studio ELEMENTAL, led by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Alejandro Aravena. Due to open in 2030, the Museum will transform an industrial flour mill site on the Corniche. It will include a Creative Village and a Garden by VOGT Landscape Architects, led by Günther Vogt. The Art Mill Museum will house an exceptional and completely international collection constituted over the last 40 years with multidisciplinary works of great diversity, dating from 1830 to the present. The exhibition will present the vision of the museum, the architectural project, and the signature garden. To reflect the transformation of the site and to demonstrate how the Art Mill Museum will be a place for contemporary creativity, artists have been commissioned to create films and photographs establishing parallels between the former flour mill and the future museum. The exhibition will take place in two locations in Doha: the site of the flour mill plant that will later welcome the new construction and the recently restored Al Najada Heritage House #15. The exhibition is curated by Aurelien Lemonier, Art Mill Museum curator of Architecture, Design and Gardens, and Maryam Al-Thani, curator, Exhibitions Department, Qatar Museums. (QNA)