Past Exhibitions

Focusing on Mathaf Collection as a starting point that expands on research and local collaborations, this exhibition looks at reference points of generations of artists, intellectuals and cultural activists who played a major role in activating the cultural scene in Doha for more than half a century. 

Yto Barrada’s work engages with self-education, architecture, palaeontology, botany, and modernist histories, in order to explore forms of knowledge production.

The National Museum of Qatar is proud to present a dazzling collection of over 120 objects realised in gemstones and precious metals by the famed artist-jeweller Jean Schlumberger (1907-1987).

Fire Station is proud to present the fourth installment of its Artist in Residence Programme "Infinite Dimensions".

The exhibition reflects on the process of urbanism rather than its outcome. For the first time Doha’s evolution is displayed as a retrospective through seventy years of archival photography, models, plans, films, historic and oral narratives.

In 1915 Kazimir Malevich unveiled a series of paintings that would forever change the world of art.

Over the last seven years and more, Syria has undergone one of the worst human tragedies in living memory.

Qatar Museums is proud to present the first exhibition in the Middle East by KAWS (Brian Donnelly, born 1974, USA). The solo show explores his career and vast oeuvre and features painting and sculpture made over the past 20 years.

A ground-breaking exhibition curated by Mathaf Director Abdellah Karroum will present artists from the Arab World, Turkey, Iran and the diaspora.

Over a nine month residency program eighteen artists were engaged in rich monthly debates with curators and researchers that helped to shape a diverse assemblage of artistic approaches from inception all the way to their final form as artworks.

An exhibition of Qatar Museums, hosted by the World Diamond Museum at the State Historical Museum, Moscow

Driven by German Design opens in October at Al Riwaq Gallery – a vast exhibition space in the heart of Qatar’s museum district. Curated by renowned museum director Prof. Dr. Martin Roth before his passing, it features numerous design objects loaned from some of Germany’s most significant cultural institutions such as the Vitra Design Museum, Neue Sammlung,

Islamic arms and armour from the private collection of Fadel Al Mansoori.

Award winning photographer Jessica Fulford-Dobson will present her series of striking portraits, Skate Girls of Kabul, which will tell the extraordinary story of Afghan girls who took up skateboarding, thanks to Skateistan, an Afghan charity that provides skate parks as a hook to get children from disadvantaged families back into the educational system.

Basim Magdy works in painting, drawing, text, photography and film. His ephemeral narratives blur fictional and real stories of lived and imagined experiences. These trace the cyclical processes of desire and disappointment in humanity’s attempts at reshaping societies systems and structures.

JR is amongst a handful of world-renowned artists that combines art and engaged actions through large-scale outdoor installations, films, photographs and videos, using the streetscape as his canvas and his inspiration, which he claims as the largest art gallery in the world.

Mahmoud Obaidi recreates what has been stolen or destroyed to try to piece the city back together again.

The exhibition presents the history and legend, mythology and meaning of pearls and pearl jewellery from Qatar and around the world, and contains more than 100 pieces from around the world including the Gulf, Europe and Asia.

An exhibition dedicated posthumously to world boxing legend Muhammad Ali (1942-2016).

Asli Çavuşoğlu’s Red/Red (2015) explores the physicality of a colour to tell a story of coexistence and communality. Delicate flowers, plants, small animals, textiles, and abstract shapes are painted on handmade paper in two red inks: Armenian red, extracted from the endangered Armenian cochineal insect, and Turkish red, now used in the national flag.

An exhibition from 15 contemporary Chinese artists curated by internationally acclaimed New York based Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang.

Focus: Works from Mathaf Collection is a series of solo exhibitions featuring artists from the Museum’s Permanent Collection.

Rich with symbolism and pageantry, hunting was, and in some places continues to be, an essential activity in the lifestyle of princes, sultans and pashas throughout the Islamic world.

For Them features charcoal portraits of 15 influential Arab painters and sculptors created especially for this revealing exhibition. It presents a personal interpretation of the Arab world’s past great artists.

This exhibition features the centrality of the female form to the artwork of the Qajar period in Iran (1785-1925). Through a variety of historical objects from MIA's collection, in juxtaposition with photographs and contemporary artworks inspired by the Qajar period, we explore the meaning of the image of women at the onset of modernity.

Selected works from the Mathaf Collection produced from the twentieth century, presenting over 100 artists give multiple entry points into the collection, through artistic research, historical moments, and aesthetic experimentations on the idea of an Arab modernity. This project positions and gives value to the heritage of Arab modernities within an international context.

An exhibition focusing on the real and mythical animals that appear in the legends, tales, and fables of the Islamic world, these marvellous creatures introduce timeless stories such as the well-known classics.

Highlighting Qatari artist Yousef Ahmad’s most striking artworks, from 1970s to today, this exhibition showcased three phases in Ahmad’s artistic career, from early oil paintings to mixed media calligraphic pieces, to his latest contemporary pieces derived from the medium he creates.

This exhibition delved into the life and times of Tipu Sultan, the South Indian ruler, statesman, and patron. Drawn entirely from the MIA collection, and featuring many objects which had never been displayed in Qatar, the centerpiece is a group of 24 paintings showing Tipu’s victory at the Battle of Pollilur in 1780.

Focusing on rare and beautiful ceramics from Spain, the objects on display exemplify the blending of Muslim and Christian artistic motifs. Through the display of Andalusi ceramics, we highlight our philosophy of collecting and conserving key objects in the history of Islamic art to show why and how a museum collection is developed.

This exhibition showcased the works of Lebanese-American visual artist, poet, playwright and essayist, Etel Adnan, curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist.

A touring exhibition by 6 Qatari artists, inspired by Richard Serra's work. The exhibition included photographs by Mohammed Al Dosari, Haya Al Thani, Abdulaziz Al Ajail and Amira Fareed, and sculptures by Khalifa Al Kuwari and Abdulaziz Youcef. Previously on display at Porto Arabia, The Pearl, until 29th June, before moving to W Hotel Doha.

Focusing on the anguish of famous female figures, this show reflected the drama of divided identity.

We hosted Damien’s first solo retrospective exhibition in the Middle East, documenting his twenty-five year career. He forces people to look closely at death and confront it directly, inside a gallery setting.

This project celebrated the strength and pride of female athletes from the Arab world, featuring large-scale photos by Brigitte Lacombe and videos by Marianne Lacombe.

This traced the evolution of the Modern Olympics through the development of photography and motion pictures from the 1870's to the present. It was organised by 3-2-1 Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum and QM Media Collection.

Through bursts of colour and a myriad of characters, the work touched on a range of themes, often channelling the ecstasy and anxiety of consumerism.

This exhibition presented art-making as the act of giving conscious form to unconscious impulses.