DOHA: A major exhibition ‘Looking at the World Around You: Contemporary Works from Qatar Museums’ is open for the first time at the Santander Art Gallery in Financial City, Boadilla del Monte, Madrid. The expo runs until June 19.
The exhibition has been organised by Fundaci?n Banco Santander, in partnership with QM, under the leadership of its Chairperson H E Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani
Mansoor bin Ebrahim Al Mahmoud, CEO, QM; Abdellah Karroum, Curator of the exhibition and Director, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art; and Rodrigo Echenique, Chairman, Santander Spain, attended the opening ceremony.
The majority of the works on display have been loaned by Mathaf although many pieces are from other QM collections.
The selection of over 160 works represents the history of contemporary Arab art as seen through the eyes of 34 artists, mostly natives of Arab nations, including Qatar, Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon, Algeria, Iraq and Kuwait.
They include Etel Adnan, Shirin Neshat, Mona Hatoum, Wael Shawky and Yousef Ahmad, all of whom have showcased their works in Qatar.
The exhibition includes works by foreign-born creators whose art is related to the Arab world, such as Yan Pei-Ming and Cai Guo-Qiang from China and Belgian master René Magritte.
Visitors to the gallery will have the opportunity to contemplate, for the first time outside Qatar, an ample selection of works from QM collections.
How we look at the world around us is the central idea that guided Karroum in choosing and inter-relating portraits, photographs, sculptures, installations and video installations that comprise the show.
It is an open window onto diverse geographical regions and myriad socio-political realities, from North Africa to Southeast Asia.
Relevant themes such as historical narrative, memory and identity are addressed in works brimming with subtlety, beauty and strength that portray the past and present of the artists who imagined and breathed life into them.
The exhibition explores the connection between art and history through multiple works, from René Magritte’s vision of the Orient in Shéhérazade to the reflections of today’s most dynamic, engaged Arab artists — Hatoum, Amal Kenawy, Manal Al Dowayan and others — on problems and changes affecting the Arab world.
Karroum said: “When Inji Efflatoun painted her self-portrait in prison or her fellow citizens in the countryside in Egypt, she was also portraying a society at a moment of historical changes that shape and reshape individual lives.
“Similarly, Ismail Fattah’s dark portraits reflect burning lives, while Hassan bin Mohammed bin Ali Al Thani’s work speaks of wars and [...] destruction.”
The show is, in his words, “an invitation to look again and see anew; an invitation, in other words, to rethink the alignment of histories and how to make sense of the world today”.
Sheikha Al Mayassa said: “Art can create new opportunities for dialogue and exchange and prompt new understandings of human history”.
The collaboration between Fundaci?n Banco Santander and QM, she said, “speaks to the privileged role art can play in building bridges and opportunities whose significance extends well beyond the museum walls”.
Echenique said: “The Santander Art Galley exemplifies the bank’s interest in building a more prosperous community through culture, creativity and education — hence our commitment to bring the best contemporary art collections in the world to this gallery.
“These collectors have several things in common with our bank: An international scope, a modern spirit and dedication to supporting talent.”
“The Santander Art Gallery is proud to host the first public showing of this major collection outside Qatar, an event which will create a surge of interest in contemporary Arab art in our country.”
Those who come to see this show will have the unique privilege of discovering how these artists see the world — particularly the Arab world — around them.
Participating artists include: Magritte, Fahrelnissa Zeid, Saloua Raouda Choucair, Inji Efflatoun, Etel Adnan, Adam Hanein, Chaibia Talal, Ahmed Morsi, Baya Mahieddine, Farid Belkahia, Ismail Fattah, Marwan Kassab Bashi, Nja Mahdaoui, Dia Azzawi, Abdullah Al Muharraqi, Jassim Zaini, Sami Mohammed, Chant Avedissian, Hassan Sharif, Mona Hatoum, Wafiqa Sultan Saif Al Essa, Yousef Ahmad, Faraj Daham, Cai Guo-Qiang, Ali Hassan, Shirin Neshat, Hassan bin Mohammed Al Thani, Yan Pei-Ming, Ghada Amer, Mounir Fatmi, Wael Shawky, Youssef Nabil, Manal Al Dowayan, Amal Kenawy.
The Peninsula
