Cultural Calendar

This millennia-spanning exhibition explores Uzbekistan’s rich cultural history from shortly before the introduction of Islam in central Asia to the present day. The result of a partnership between the Museum of Islamic Art and Uzbekistan’s Art and Culture Development Foundation, it shines a light on Uzbek art and culture past and present. Visitors can expect to learn about methods of architecture and engineering; dynasties such as the Persian Samanids and Turco-Mongol Timurids, which remain pivotal to modern-day Uzbekistan’s heritage and identity; seminal polymaths such as Avicenna, Alberonius and Algorismus, and their impact on the world; and traditional Uzbek crafts, including textiles, ceramics and jewellery.

Now in its fifth edition, the Ektashif programme sends Qatari artists abroad to take inspiration from traditional arts across different cultures. In 2025, seven Qatari artists visited three historic cities – Tashkent, Samarkand and Bukhara – across Uzbekistan that formed the backbone of the Silk Road trade route, exploring galleries and museums and taking part in workshops focused on traditional arts. The Ektashif Uzbekistan exhibition showcases the new work by the artists, shaped by their experience and Uzbekistan’s Islamic heritage.

Atharna 2026 – an annual archaeology pop-up – centres on finds from the Neolithic period as well as jewels and weapons excavated from pre-Islamic burial mounds in Qatar. It features a reconstruction of a historic grave site and an archaeology tent, which visitors can explore with a flashlight.

Marking 20 years since renowned designer Erdem Moralioglu founded his eponymous fashion house, this retrospective traces his vision from his earliest sketches to the fully formed language that now defines it. The thematic show, curated by Olivier Gabet, explores the atelier, its house codes and craftsmanship through garments, ephemera and works from Qatar Museums’ collections. We speak with Moralioglu and showcase pieces from the Erdem archives and new collection here.

The Baghdad Modern Art Group was founded in 1951 by Jewad Selim and Shakir Hassan Al Said with a mission to celebrate Iraq’s Islamic and Mesopotamian cultural heritage. Active through the early 1970s, the trailblazing group produced paintings, sculptures and drawings, becoming a catalyst for cultural exchange across west Asia, north Africa and Europe. This important show traces the group’s legacy while reflecting on the devastating impact of war on Iraq’s cultural memory. Read more about the group and the exhibition from curator Nada Shabout here.

For well over a thousand years, the maritime Silk Road served as a conduit between China and the Arabian Gulf, Africa and Europe. This visiting exhibition from the National Museum of China brings together more than 120 pottery vessels that tell a story of historic global trade and cultural exchange. Discover more about the exhibition in our feature here.

Drawing on Mexico’s rich craft heritage, this show brings together diverse works by Mexican designers under 40 who have been immersed in traditional artisanal practices. Presented as part of Qatar Canada Mexico 2026 Year of Culture, this exhibition focuses on a new generation of makers, including basket weaver Adriana Villanueva, textile artists Hilán Cruz and Liliana Filomeno Ortiz, furniture maker Isaac Castañeda and ceramicist Marcela Calderón, among others. Discover their work and the curatorial vision of Ana Elena Mallet in our feature here.

The Tasweer Residency was created to nurture emerging image-makers and photographers across the region through structured mentorship, critical exchange and community engagement. This show brings together three practitioners from the programme to explore photography as both a record and a reimagining.

Organised by the future Art Mill Museum, this exhibition explores themes of home, hospitality, and architectural exchange. It includes works by pioneering architects alongside contemporary practitioners, and works by Qatari architect Ibrahim Jaidah anchor the exhibition in the evolving architectural identity of Doha.

This new contemporary art quadrennial has been established to support and inspire a new generation of artists and cultural practitioners. The inaugural edition is headlined by flagship exhibition Unruly Waters, which will be held across Al Riwaq and the Museum of Islamic Art and will host more than 50 artists exploring our relationship with water and the ancient maritime Silk Road. Other exhibitions include Our Common Currents at Katara QM Gallery and Seething Sea at Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, both of which also explore the idea of water and its impact. A dynamic programme of public art, residencies and events will take place alongside these exhibitions, including work by Wael Shawky, Minerva Cuevas, Ibrahim Mahama, Lubna Chowdhary, Jitish Kallat, Hala Al Khalifa, Nazgol Ansarinia and Rirkrit Tiravanija. Read more about the curatorial vision behind Unruly Waters here.

This exhibition dives into our long-held and universal fascination with beautiful adornments, bringing together more than 500 pieces from around the world. Drawn from the National Collection of Qatar, the National Museum of Qatar, the Museum of Islamic Art and the future Lusail Museum, many of these items are being shown for the first time. Developed with L’École, School of Jewelry Arts and supported by Van Cleef & Arpels, it also includes an interactive space for children. Discover two key pieces from the exhibition here.

The Inner Flow of Life brings works by Giuseppe Penone, one of Italy’s most prominent contemporary artists, to the National Museum of Qatar’s Baraha and Old Palace. The exhibition spans pavilions, sculptures and outdoor installations from 1969 to today, and is a reflection of Penone’s approach, which uses materials such as wood, iron, bronze, clay and marble to explore the synergy between organic and artistic processes. A newly installed public sculpture, Idee di Pietra (Ideas of Stone), 2004-10, extends the exhibition to the Doha Old Port. Penone and curators Hans Ulrich Obrist and Issa Al Shirawi are interviewed in our feature here.

Fire Station’s inaugural Artists Intensive Study Programme involved 23 emerging artists from 15 countries taking part in a nine-month curriculum led by established artists, curators and theorists. This exhibition features the work created during the programme and is curated by artistic director Wael Shawky.

Design Doha is a global celebration of the remarkable talent of the Middle East, north Africa and south Asia region. Building on the success of the inaugural 2024 edition, this year’s event expands in scope and scale. The biennial will bring together more than 20 exhibitions and is headlined by Arab Design Now 2026, which is curated by Noura Al Sayeh and features 81 designers, 78 new commissions and 15 films, with 27 countries across the region and their diasporas represented. Discover the full programme in our special Design Doha section here.

MIHAD is a new contemporary gallery at the heart of Doha Design District, bringing art, design and culture together through considered programming across exhibitions, events and partnerships. A space to discover, experience, collect and support creative work, its inaugural programme includes group exhibition rooted/elsewhere, a curated presentation of collectible design by Sanae Collective, a Design Doha feature and a rotating pop-up cafe concept, with its first iteration aligned with the Qatar Canada Mexico 2026 Year of Culture.

The Qatar Auto Museum will refresh A Sneak Peek exhibition at the National Museum of Qatar’s Mawater Gallery. This year-long display features a premier lineup headlined by a 1957 Ferrari 250 GT LWB Tour de France and a 1965 Mercer Cobra, both of which will remain on view through February 2027. Joining them is a 1970 Mercedes-Benz 600 SEL, which marks the debut of a rotating spotlight – this third slot will feature a different vehicle every few months to offer visitors a fresh perspective on the collection.

Peter Fischli and David Weiss’s work introduces two massive granite boulders in seemingly precarious balance, one atop the other. At 5.5 metres high, it embodies a deceptively simple gesture that oscillates between the binaries of stability and instability, construction and destruction. It was installed in London’s Kensington Gardens in 2013 as part of the Qatar-UK Year of Culture.

Unfolding in the desert across more than a kilometre of Qatar’s Brouq Nature Reserve, Richard Serra’s stunning East-West/West-East features four steel plates standing at 14 to 16 metres tall. The artist has called this work “the most fulfilling thing I’ve ever done”. We were lucky enough to experience it at sunset. It is one piece on a list of incredible public art installed throughout the country.