Desert of the North
A recent Qatar Museums public art commission brings tension to The Ned Doha
Moroccan artist Amine El Gotaibi is a prominent figure in contemporary African art. Based in Marrakech, his practice combines materials and techniques inspired by the traditional crafts and practices around him – from metal workers in the souq to sheep farmers in the nearby Atlas Mountains.
He typically produces large-scale installations that explore relations between nature and society, fertility and sterility, light and power. He has exhibited widely and, in 2023, he took part in the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair in London, where his monumental work Illuminate the Light was installed in the courtyard of Somerset House. The same year, he was invited to participate in the inaugural edition of the Design Doha Biennale. Held in spring 2024, he created a site-specific piece for the soaring central atrium of The Ned, a hotel and private members’ club in the former Ministry of the Interior building on Doha Corniche, masterfully refurbished by British architect David Chipperfield. The piece, titled Desert of the North, 2024, is a voluminous mass of wool suspended by thin strands of copper; tension is generated from the fact that the wool appears monumental and heavy, while the metal appears insubstantial and light. “I need my artworks to be shared with the masses,” says El Gotaibi. “There is only one way to do this, which is for the works to be shown in a public space or in nature.” In Doha, he achieves both.
After viewing Desert of the North, art fans can pay a visit to MIA Park where the artist’s Al-Dohaiyat installation, produced as part of the Qatar-Morocco 2024 Year of Culture, is embedded on a grassy hilltop overlooking Doha Bay.
