DOHA: Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha will host a public forum on Saturday at 2pm in the context of Qatari contemporary artist Hana Al Saadi’s collaboration with Mathaf Project Space under the title ‘Proposal for a Public Sculpture’.
The event, led by invited artists, architects, and academics, and moderated by Mathaf Curator Laura Barlow, convenes to expand debates around two strands of Al Saadi’s research: Tendencies of self-expression and social rituals, as well as the role and responsibilities of public art.
The forum comprises two sessions. The first session, Rituals of Performance led by Hana Al Saadi, Maysaa Almumin, George Awde, and Sophie Richter-Devroe, is a conversation on the performance of ‘self’ in artistic practice and daily life.
In the second discussion, Public Art, Public Space, Fatma Al Sehlawi, Sebastian Betancur Montoya, Tom Eccles, and Mohammad Suleiman consider the potential for a public art work to perform a sense of civic duty, and the ways in which public art is used to coerce connections with social spaces and the built environment.
Together these conversations share perspectives on the changing expectations of the individual and collective in society, and the role of art in shaping these. The sessions, which will be in English and are free to the public, are the latest initiatives presented by Qatar Museums (QM) with the aim to nurture a thriving arts and culture community in Qatar.
Commenting on the event, Abdellah Karroum, Director of Mathaf, said: “As a centre for dialogue, research, and a resource for fostering creativity, Mathaf is pleased to host another thought-provoking public forum that nurtures constructive debates and presents multi-layered perspectives about an ever-changing society.”
Presented by QM under the leadership of Chairperson, H E Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Proposal for a Public Sculpture opens the Project Space to Al Saadi as she explores experimental processes of research, production, and conceptual thinking to develop a proposal for a public sculpture in Doha.
The show is on-going until the May 13. In addition to the public talk, a number of educational events and initiatives will be taking place as part of this installation’s exhibitions.
