DOHA: Qatar Museums (QM) will hold seven exhibitions in Qatar and China throughout the year.
Over the coming months, QM will open a number of exhibitions in Qatar, including a world-class exhibition by Iraqi artist Dia Al Azzawi, which will be open to the public in two venues at the same time including Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, and the QM Gallery Al Riwaq.
The exhibition, showcasing over 350 works across 50 years and a range of media, aims at mapping an itinerary of modernism and profiles the practice of the Iraqi artist. Curated by Catherine David, the exhibition will open on October 16 at Mathaf and October 17 at Al Riwaq.
From May 22 until September 11, Turkish artist Asl?Çavu?o?lu will display her installation Red/Red at the Mathaf Project Space. The installation comprises 17 pieces, including handmade notebooks of drawings and paintings made with red pigments from Armenia and Turkey. Çavu?o?lu will deliver a public talk on May 22, during which she will discuss the disappearance of Armenian red as a material, and also how she views her work as a proposal for a model of co-existence for the inhabitants of the region to protect and develop the natural ecosystem that produces the pigment.
After nine successful months, the current Artist in Residency programme at the Fire Station will draw to a close on June 2 with the annual end of residency exhibition at the Garage Gallery.
Opening on October 18 at the QM Gallery in Katara, QM will present Fragments, an exhibition by contemporary Iraqi-Canadian artist Mahmoud Obaidi. In his work Obaidi recreates what has been stolen or destroyed to try to piece the city back together again. The exhibition shows how Obaidi is grappling with the destruction of an 8,000-year-old civilisation, which has been laid waste in less than a fraction of that time.
In September, the Qatar China 2016 Year of Culture presents the exhibition Treasures of China. Terracotta soldiers from the First Emperor’s Terracotta Army will be on show at the Museum of Islamic Art where visitors will get the chance to meet the warriors who guarded a hidden empire. The exhibition will display 101 pieces dating from the Neolithic period to the Qing Dynasty, spanning over 5,000 years of China’s history. Potteries, bronzes, jades, porcelains, gold, silver, enamel and many other Chinese treasures will be on show, selected from 11 museums and heritage institutions from across China. Aimed at reflecting the integration between cultures of East and West, the exhibition will offer visitors an opportunity to appreciate the profundity and richness of Chinese culture and traditions from a number of perspectives.
Additionally, following its huge success in Japan, the UK, Brazil and Turkey, QM will again launch Pearls: Jewels from the Sea, which this time will travel to China, to be on show at the National Museum of China from September 27.
A unique joint exhibition documenting an exchange programme between photographers from Doha and the Zhejiang Province Department of Culture in China will present different aspects of the cultures and societies of both countries. The photography exhibition, which is designed to showcase the best works from Qatari and Chinese photographers, aims to capture real people in their natural environments. The exhibition will open at the QM Gallery in Katara in October, and then in Zhejiang province, China in November.
The Peninsula
