Large black text on a light background displaying Q + A, representing Question and Answer.

The power of culture

A woman wearing a beige headscarf and jacket with a yellow and black patch near the collar, featuring two arrows pointing in opposite directions, stands against a plain gray background—her style reflects the contemporary spirit of Art Basel Qatar.
Photo: Brigitte Lacombe

This edition of Q+A comes at a time of significant change in my personal life, with the passing of my father, the modern architect of Qatar, His Highness the Father Emir. Yet it is also a time of momentum, with new projects in art and architecture and the launch of Rubaiya Qatar quadrennial as the legacy of Qatar’s hosting of the World Cup back in 2022.

My father had a vision to transform this country into a knowledge-based society. He had the courage and intuition to believe in the importance of QatarEnergy LNG and, with that investment, was able to transform our economy. But he always believed that human resources were our most important asset. He invested in education, sports and culture as a means of investing in his people and the residents of the country in order to become a regional hub of knowledge.

While death strips everything away from us, love and legacy remain. I owe everything to my father – he taught me the language of life, the discipline needed to work through the good days and bad, and the belief that a realised vision requires intuition. Many of the most successful moments of Qatar’s history were not a result of facts alone, but deep intuition. Many of our most celebrated moments required a constellation of people from all walks of life to make them a reality.

This season we offer exhibitions – from China to Italy to Mexico and more. A new permanent installation by Gerhard Richter will animate MIA Park, a permanent work by Italian artist Giuseppe Penone will be installed in the Old Port of Dohaand, Shezad Dawood’s installation, Isozaki Carousel, reminds us of an unrealised architectural project. The Design Doha Biennial returns, Rubaiya Qatar opens alongside the Doha Film Festival, and the festivities of Fashion Trust Arabia take place. As Qatar Museums continues to celebrate its 20-year anniversary and Evolution Nation campaign, we invite our residents and visitors alike to experience the creative voices, conversations, exhibitions, people and inspiring creative spaces in the pages of this issue.

It takes a quarter of a century to fully realise the results of an investment. It has been my greatest privilege to serve my late father, and now my brother, and to have been able to shape the cultural plan to align with their national vision. Good things take time and impact requires strategic thinking and planning – and most importantly, the future remains ancestral.

I look forward to welcoming you all back to Doha this autumn.

al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani

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Issue 000 Contents

FEATURES
NEWS

Contents

Neighborhood Guides

Contents

Features

The Fifth Pillar

The artist takes over the market

Sweet Fifteen

A place to live, not to leave

Fashion Trust Arabia: The new guard

The Road to MIA

Sneakers Unboxed

The Couture Sculptor

Moving Pictures

Architecture as memory: Lina Ghotmeh in Venice

NEWS

Crossing Borders
A Taste of Qatar at Le Meurice
A Gilded Narrative
Game On
A Universal Language

Harbour Master

  • WHAT'S ON
  • QATAR DIRECTORY