Art is Taking Over Qatar This Autumn

From Damien Hirst’s umbilical journey to a Baldaccini thumb, the nation is critically redefining what it means to experience art on a larger-than-life scale

Doubling as both the stadium to international football and an open-air museum to some of the art world’s heavyweights, Qatar is reinventing itself this Autumn.

On Tuesday, Qatar Museums (QM) unveiled an extensive art line-up set to transform the nation’s public spaces into a “vast outdoor art museum experience.” Commissioning 40 new pieces ahead of the Fifa World Cup this fall, it’s a move that will certainly do more than just showcase contemporary art, rather, will pedestal Qatari artists alongside their regional and international counterparts on a global stage of celebration.

Serving as part of Qatar Creates — a year-long national art programme— QM have hauled the works of some of contemporary art’s avant-gardists, bearing the likes of American sculptor and balloon enthusiast Jeff Koons, Japanese polka-dot fanatic Yayoi Kusama, British assemblagist Damien Hirst and all-things-spiders from the late Louise Bourgeois.

Centring on homegrown creatives, QM will also unveil the works of Qatari artists in the names of Shouq Al Mana, Faraj Daham, and Shua’a Ali as well as those that ring a bell within the wider region, notoriously that of Lebanese sculptor Saloua Raouda Choucair.

Subtlety is not the name of the game here.

Installations won’t be traditionally housed in a gallery, rather, will be scattered around the nation, whether it be a staggering KAWS figurine welcoming your arrival out of Hamad International Airport or planting a golden Baldaccini thumb between the hustle and bustle of Souq Waqif.

Chairperson of Qatar Museums, Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani reaffirmed the deliberation of interspersing the works, noting in a statement that “These works vary in size and form, and they encompass a wide range of subject matter, but all further our mission to make art more accessible, engage our publics, celebrate our heritage, and embrace the cultures of others.”

So, whether you’re coming for the football or staying for the art, one thing remains certain: it will be the likes of an installation like Subodh Gupta’s ‘Spooning’ — two larger than life spoons — that will mediate an interaction between frenzied fans and art appraisers alike.

For more information visit qatarmuseums.org

Lead Image Courtesy of Qatar Museums: Simone Fattal, Gates to the Sea.