DOHA: Qatar Museums is set to launch two major exhibitions at separate locations this month. Iranian artist Shirin Neshat will open her first solo exhibition in the Middle East on Sunday at Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art.
Running until February 15, the expo entitled ‘Afterwards’ introduces a group of new and existing works as well as the photographic series, The Book of Kings (2011); Our House is on Fire (2013) as well as the video installation, Turbulent (1998) that comment on historical, cultural and political realities on which the artist has focused on for the past 30 years.
At 3.30pm on the opening day, Shirin will be joining Abdellah Karroum, Director of Mathaf for a public discussion about her exhibition at CIMAM 2014 Annual conference at Mathaf.
To celebrate the opening of the exhibition, a special, one-off Henna night will be held on Friday from 5pm to 9pm at the Souq Waqif Arts Centre. Visitors and passersby will be treated for free to a number of henna designs to choose from, drawn by professional Henna artists and inspired by Shirin’s art.
On Tuesday, ‘Yousef Ahmad: Story of ingenuity’ opens at Qatar Museums Gallery in Katara.
As a pioneer of Qatar’s modern art movement, Yousef Ahmad’s artistic journey has spanned over three decades, and his work has been influenced by his surroundings and emotional ties with Qatar’s culture and traditions.
The exhibition highlights the Qatari artists’ body of work through a precise selection of his most striking artworks from his early works in 1970s until today. It showcases three phases in Ahmad’s artistic career, from the early oil paintings that include the historic depiction of Al Zubarah Fort, to his mixed media calligraphic pieces to his new conceptual artworks. The Yousef Ahmad exhibition runs until February 14 at the QM Gallery, Katara Building 10.
In addition to these exhibitions, Mathaf has opened its new permanent collection ‘Mathaf Collection, Summary, Part 1’ on the whole of the first floor of the museum.
The Peninsula
