Dec 24 2012

Field Trip: Doha, Qatar

by Sara Raza

As ArtAsiaPacific’s Western Asia editor, I was invited to Doha on the occasion of the opening of Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art’s next major exhibition, “Tea with Nefertiti: The Making of the Artwork by the Artist, the Museum and the Public,” curated by the duo Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath. Also on view at Mathaf was “Forever Now: Five Anecdotes from the Permanent Collection,” curated by Dr. Nada Shabout, a scholar and curator who has been a long time advisor to the museum and is director of the associated Research Center on Arab Modernity, which will launch in 2013 and support the museum’s academic fellowships, scholars and journals.

This was my third visit to Doha on behalf of AAP (see issues 72 and 77); the city’s rapid evolution into a major cultural center for the Gulf has been conspicuous over the last few years. In addition to Mathaf, other recent projects include the Museum of Islamic Art, opened in 2008, the soon-to-be-completed International Media Museum, and the more artist- and community-focused Katara: The Valley of Cultures.

1. Doha skyline in front of the Museum of Islamic Art Park.

2. Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath in front of Candida Höfer’s “Neues Museum Berlin IX” (2009) at “Tea with Nefertiti,” Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art.

3. Bassem Yousri’s mixed-media installation “It’s Not as Easy as It May Have Seemed To Be” (2012) was scattered throughout “Tea with Nefertiti” at Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art.

4. An installation of Ai Weiwei’s “Coca-Cola Vase” (1997), Grayson Perry’s “Wise Alan” (2007) and a tenth-century Fatimid lusterware bowl makes for rather strange bedfellows at Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art.

5. Sam Bardaouil in the midst of Ghada Amer’s mixed-media installation “Le Salon Courbe” (2007), Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art.

6. Little Warsaw’s “The Body of Nefertiti” (2003), a video installation film still from Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art. Courtesy Little Warsaw, Erna Hecey Gallery and MUDAM, Musée d’Art Moderne, Luxembourg.

7. Sam Bardaouil in front of Ala Younis’ “Nefertiti” (2008) at Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art.

8. Richard Serra’s 76-meter tall “7” (2011) in the Museum of Islamic Art Park, Doha.

9. An internal view of Richard Serra’s “7” (2011) in the Museum of Islamic Art Park, Doha.

10. Detail of Richard Serra’s “7” (2011) in the Museum of Islamic Art Park, Doha.

11. External view of the Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, designed by IM Pei.

12. The Art Park Cafe at the Museum of Islamic Art, Doha.

13. Doha, Qatar.

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