The National Museum of Qatar is finally opening in just a few days (March 28) but trust us to bring you bigger and more exciting news than that.
There’s a star-studded line up of celebrities, designers, creators, academics, architects and much more coming to Doha that week to deliver a series of talks.
Organised by Qatar Museums under the hashtag #QatarCreates and just to get you to understand how big this event is, we’re casually dropping a few speaker names.
Celebrity fashion designer Monique Lhullier, renowned film maker Mira Nair, legendary architects Rem Koolhas, Jean Nouvel and Ben van Berkel, Qatari composer Dana Al Fardan, celebrity make up artist Samer Khouzami, iconic celebrity designer Diane Von Furstenberg and many more.
If you’re an art aficionado, this is bigger for you. Some of the biggest names in the art world are making an appearance such as Mark Rappolt, editor-in-chief of ArtReview, Michael Govan, director of Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) in Los Angeles, Adam Weinberg, director of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, Monica Narula, a member of the Raqs Media Collective and Vasili Tsereteli, executive director of the Moscow Museum of Modern Art.
The series of panel discussions will take place from March 25 to 29 and the public will have access to a roster of leading cultural figures from Qatar, its region and around the world.
The programme begins on March 25 with pair of panel discussions and below is the itinerary.
Monday March 25
Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar will host a panel discussion from 4pm until 5.30pm on how art schools have changed in the past decades and what the future of art education might look like.
The panel, From the Art School to the Art World: Preparing a New Generation of Artists, Designers and Art Professionals for the Future, will be moderated by QM’s director of education Dr Jelena Trkulja.
Public Art and Cultural Heritage will take place from 5pm to 6.30pm at the Fire Station and will be moderated by Tom Eccles, executive director for the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College. The conversation will explore the ways in which works of public art may be inspired by the cultural and natural heritage of a country.
Tuesday March 26
On March 26 at 11am, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art will host a panel discussion on Museums of Modern Art – Current Trends, East and West, focusing on aspects of curatorial practice, programming, and socio-political engagement.
An interactive talk will take place at the MIA auditorium from 11am to 12.30pm on how celebrities dress for the red carpet and reveal the considerations that inform their choices. Moderated by actress Nadine Njeim and featuring world-renowned fashion designer Monique Lhuillier, stylist Brad Goreski and Lebanese makeup artist Samer Khouzami, the panels will outline the process of finding the most compelling look for the red carpet, matching the celebrity with the right brand and how the association with a celebrity reflects a given brand.
The Women’s Gaze in Art and Life, the next talk, will take place from 2.30pm until 4pm in the auditorium of the Museum of Islamic Art.
Wednesday March 27
Philip Jodidio, author of more than 100 books on art and architecture, will moderate a panel discussion on Architecture as the Face of a Nation on March 27 from 1pm to 2.30pm at the Qatar National Library. The panel will feature Jean Nouvel, architect of the NMoQ, Rem Koolhaas, architect of the Qatar National Library, Ben van Berkel, architect of the Qatar Integrated Railway Project, Qatari architect Ibrahim Jaidah and Jacques Herzog of Herzog & de Meuron, whose firm has been selected to design the new Orientalist Museum in Doha.
Thursday March 28
The first talk on the official public opening day of the new NMoQ will take place at the museum itself from 9.30am to 11am. Titled Designing the Desert Rose, the programme will feature architect Jean Nouvel in conversation with architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff.
From 11am to 12.30pm, the NMoQ will host a discussion on Great Museums of the World.
Tom Eccles, executive director of the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College, will moderate a panel talk at NMoQ on The Art of Engagement from 4pm to 5.30pm.
The last panel of the day, titled National Museum of Qatar Art Films – Museum as Cinema-Space will be moderated by Fatma Al Remaihi, chief executive officer of the Doha Film Institute, and will take place at the NMoQ from 6pm to 9pm.
Friday March 29
Her Excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani will host a conversation with iconic designer Diane von Furstenberg on from 2pm to 3pm at the Qatar National Library.
The series will conclude with a presentation on Arab Art Today moderated by Reem Al Thani, QM’s director of exhibitions, held from 5pm to 6.30pm at Mathaf.
Full the full list of talks, moderators and speakers for #QatarCreates, visit nmoq.org.qa.
