Mauritanian writer-director Abderrahmane Sissako’s Life in Al Barr.
Commissioned works by celebrated local and international artists and filmmakers will be among the exciting features people will enjoy at the National Museum of Qatar (NMoQ) when it opens to the public starting March 28.
The works include those by artists Ali Hassan, Bouthayna Al Muftah, Aisha Al Suwaidi, Simone Fattal and Jean-Michel Othoniel and filmmakers, Jananne Al-Ani and Abderrahmane Sissako, to name a few.
H E Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Chairperson of Qatar Museums, said: “The National Museum will be a source of immense pride for Qatar, as well as an extraordinary platform for welcoming the international community and engaging in dialogue with people from around the world.
“As we approach the opening, we are proud to reveal the results of the extensive process of research and planning that has given depth and authenticity to the Museum’s one-of-a-kind exhibitions.
Qatari artist Ali Hassan’s Wisdom of a Nation.
“We are also very pleased to announce the names of many of our creative collaborators: the artists and filmmakers whom we have commissioned to help realize our vision for the Museum. Each has contributed a moving, personal perspective to this multilayered experience.”
H E Sheikha Amna Al Thani, Director of the National Museum of Qatar, said: “From the very beginning, we were determined that the National Museum of Qatar would be much more than a showcase for a collection.
“ It would be a journey—and like any true journey, it would change the travelers themselves, as they engage with our exhibitions through their senses and emotions as well as their intellects. It is now time to reveal the eight-year-long process that has given form and substance to the content of this Museum, and to make public many of the artists and filmmakers who have helped us make this a museum with a heart.”
As a key element of its plan to make the exhibition galleries a living, immersive experience, NMoQ commissioned films from a select group of distinguished international directors. Produced by the Doha Film Institute, the films are projected at immense scale and with hypnotic clarity against the walls of the galleries, with each one uniquely suited to the dynamically curving, irregular shape.
Al Zubarah.
For the gallery about The Archaeology of Qatar, NMoQ commissioned Jananne Al-Ani, born in Iraq and living in the UK, to create a 20-minute-long film about the country’s ancient sites and artifacts.
NMoQ commissioned the Mauritanian writer-director Abderrahmane Sissako (Waiting for Happiness, Timbuktu) to create a breathtaking short film for the gallery about Life in Al Barr (the Desert). Sissako’s second film, projected against a faceted wall with a six-screen backdrop, presents the heyday of Al Zubarah.
Adding another layer of emotion and imagination to the experience, NMoQ has also commissioned a roster of local, regional, and international artists to create new works, installed both inside the building and outside on the expansive grounds.
A sculpture by the Lebanese artist Simone Fattal, Gates of the Sea, is installed on the walkway toward the museum’s entrance.
Qatari artist Hassan bin Mohammed Al Thani’s Motherland.
Welcoming visitors immediately inside the building is a wall installation by Qatari artist Ali Hassan, Wisdom of a Nation, whose geometric design draws on the image of the Qatari flag and an excerpt from a poem by the founder of modern-day Qatar, Sheikh Jassim bin Muhammad Al Thani.
Standing at the entrance to the exhibition galleries is a large-scale sculpture by Qatari artist Hassan bin Mohammed Al Thani, Motherland, evoking the connections between the desert, the sea, and the women of Qatar.
Two commissioned works are installed in the Baraha, or central court, that sits within the ring of gallery spaces and envelopes the Palace of Sheikh Abdullah. The sculpture Flag of Glory by the Iraqi artist Ahmed Al Bahrani embodies the story behind the annual national day celebration, with an image of diverse hands united in holding up the flag of Qatar.
A sculptural group by French artist Roch Vandromme, On Their Way, comprises the figures of four camels, evoking Qatar’s long history of nomadic lifestyle and trade.
Finally, on the 900-meter-long lagoon that is a key feature of the landscaped park surrounding the Museum, visitors will find the largest installation ever conceived by French artist Jean-Michel Othoniel. Titled ALFA, it comprises 114 individual black fountains, shaped to resemble Arabic calligraphy or the tall reeds that calligraphers use to make their pens, which are activated once an hour.
