Qatar Creates, the year-round national cultural movement that curates, promotes and celebrates the diversity of cultural activities in Qatar, announced its upcoming Spring and Summer public programme for showcasing art, culture and creativity. These activities will kick off between 10 to 18 March.
Doha Film Institute (DFI) will join Qatar Creates to create a more dynamic and engaging programme.
Highlights of the week include the start of the 9th edition of DFI’s annual industry incubator event, Qumra 2023, the opening of the second biennial Tasweer Photo Festival Qatar, the debut of several art exhibitions including the first solo exhibition of Olafur Eliasson’s work in the Gulf region.
Building on Qatar’s extensive cultural offerings, the robust series of events will showcase the best of Qatar’s creative industries as well as international contributions.
According to HE Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Chairperson of Qatar Museums and DFI, the exciting programme planned for March highlights all that Qatar Creates offers – showcasing Qatari cinema through DFI events, highlighting the perspectives of outstanding local and regional photographers at Tasweer, raising fascinating and urgent issues through Olafur Eliasson’s remarkable installations and projects, and much more.
She also invites everyone to explore and enjoy, in the spirit of discovery and dialogue of Qatar Creates.
Qatar Creates March 2023
2023 Tasweer Photo Festival Qatar (15 March – 20 May)
The 2023 Tasweer Photo Festival Qatar is the second biennial programme that amplifies diverse practices and dialogues of photographers and photographic communities in Qatar and the WANA region (Western Asia and North Africa).
Established by Qatar Museums, Tasweer is being developed as a focal point for the personal and professional creative growth of photographers and image-makers in the region, building on Qatar Museums’ commitment to nurturing artistic talent, developing Qatar’s arts economy and supporting the creative industry.
On 15 March at M7, Tasweer will open two remarkable exhibitions – the Doha Fashion Fridays, a unique collaborative project founded by Khalid Albaih and Aparna Jayakumar that celebrates the cultural diversity of the migrant population in Qatar through fashion and photography; another exhibition, A Chance To Breathe, will present photographs by Azimul Hasson, Dil Kayas and Omal Khair as they document their daily life and the Rohingya community at Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, the largest refugee camp in the world.
Tasweer will also reactivate two site-specific exhibitions, My Mother Lulwa’s House by Qatari artist Mashael Al Hejazi at the Majlis Barahat Al Jufairi, and And Thereafter, an immersive installation by Hadeer Omar in collaboration with Sonic Jeel and Katia Kolovea at Al Koot Fort.
I Am The Traveler And Also The Road
Opening on 17 March is I Am The Traveler And Also The Road, an exhibition featuring the unique photographic approaches of the twelve recipients in 2021 and 2022 of Tasweer’s Sheikh Saoud Al Thani Project Award grants. These diverse projects feature photographers living in the WANA region.
Beirut and the Golden Sixties: A Manifesto of Fragility
Also opening at Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art on 17 March is Beirut and the Golden Sixties: A Manifesto of Fragility, a multi-disciplinary exhibition co-curated by Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath. The exhibition revisits a turbulent chapter in the development of modernism in Beirut, spanning the 1958 Lebanon Crisis to the 1975 Lebanese Civil War. The exhibition is a tribute to the Beirut art scene of the 1960s, which witnessed an explosion of creativity and artistic experimentation and became a destination for many intellectuals and for artists from across the Arab world.
The exhibited artworks – featuring 230 artworks and 300 archival documents – drawn from nearly 40 collections worldwide – come from more than 30 institutional and private collections from Lebanon, Europe, the UK and the USA. The exhibition adds eight works from Mathaf’s collection and a number of archival documents that bring an additional understanding of the artists’ practices.
Curious Desert
Opening on 19 March is Curious Desert, Olafur Eliasson’s first solo exhibition in the Gulf region. It brings together a dozen new site-specific installations located near the Al Thakhira Mangrove in Northern Qatar and an extensive gallery presentation at the National Museum of Qatar (NMoQ). The outdoor installation consists of twelve temporary pavilions that Eliasson considers to form an artistic laboratory in the desert. At the NMoQ, the gallery portion of the exhibition features artworks from different periods of Eliasson’s career as shown in a wide range of media.
Marchitecture
As part of Marchitecture, Qatar’s annual March celebration of architecture and urban design, Qatar Creates will give residents and visitors the chance to explore the country’s iconic architecture through a series of tours and workshops. This unique offering provides an opportunity to learn how Qatar’s rich history and culture have influenced the country’s urban landscape.
Qumra 2023
Supporting the script-to-screen journey of emerging filmmakers attached to film projects from across the world, Qumra 2023 will be held in an innovative hybrid format with an in-person event to be held from 10 to 15 March, and virtual sessions from 19 to 21 March.
Prolific filmmakers will deliver Master Classes to upcoming filmmakers from the region and around the world, providing them with unique creative development and mentorship opportunities. Qumra also provides participants with thorough mentoring programmes led by global film industry experts, as well as key business meetings with leading film industry professionals.
Doha capsule collection launch
Qatar Creates has partnered with Clown Skateboard x Paris Saint-Germain on the release of an exclusive capsule collection that combines skateboarding, apparel and digital art. Inspired by the distinctive cultures of Paris, Los Angeles, New York, and Doha, an abstract design has been created for each city in the range. The Doha capsule range is inspired by the art of calligraffiti artist Fatima Al-Sharshani and uses a unique pattern that reflects Qatar’s creative culture.
The launch event will take place on 15 March at Doha Fire Station and will feature live entertainment and a pop-up store showcasing the final collections from each city.
For more details about the full Qatar Creates schedule, including ticket information, visit qacreates.com.
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