Qatar Creates Week Launches With A Spectacular Lineup Of Events, Performances And Exhibitions

Qatar Creates Week

As part of an incredible line up of activities planned around the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™, Qatar Creates is set to welcome local and international audiences to Qatar Creates Week, a celebration of art, culture and fashion running between 23-29 October in partnership with Audi and Qatar Airways. 

In a series of captivating cultural experiences, Qatar Creates Week will feature iconic art exhibitions, public art installation unveilings, incredible fashion events and inspiring public panels,  that will kickstart the Qatar Creates programme for during the World Cup and beyond. 

Led by Her Excellency Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Qatar Creates showcases local and global talent to the world. Commenting on the Qatar Creates Week, Her Excellency said: 

“Qatar Creates is designed to create meaningful and authentic cultural experiences by fostering and supporting talent in the creative industries from Qatar and the region. To achieve this mission, we are deeply honoured to work with leading names in arts and fashion to deliver this one-of-a-kind experience, whose lasting impact will undoubtedly ring within our society and community long after the tournament concludes. It is with great pride that we share our country’s incredible art, culture and heritage with the world on this momentous occasion, as Qatar assumes its role as the first Arab country to host the FIFA World Cup.”

Saad Al Hudaifi, Executive Director of Qatar Creates, noted: “Qatar Creates Week is the opening act to an exciting programme of events and activities for audiences of all ages, delivered across Qatar’s famous landmarks in the coming months. We thank our local and international partners for supporting Qatar Creates’ mission in becoming a platform that showcases compelling perspectives and exciting voices in a communal celebration of arts and culture in the leadup to the FIFA World Cup 2022™.” 

As part of the Qatar Creates Week programme, several highly anticipated exhibitions will open in Doha, including ‘Lusail Museum: Tales of a Connected World’, opening to the public at Qatar Museums (QM) Gallery – Al Riwaq on 24 October. It previews the future Lusail Museum, designed by Herzog & de Meuron and currently under development in Lusail. Similarly, the ‘Art Mill Museum 2030 Exhibition’ will open in two locations on 24 October, at the Art Mill Flour Mills and at Al Najada House 15, showcasing the plans and upcoming locations of the Art Mill Museum ahead of its planned opening in 2030.

Joining Qatar’s impressive public art display during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™, large-scale artworks by renowned contemporary artists Eliasson, Simone Fattal and Ernesto Neto will go on public display from 24 October. Commissioned for the desert outside of Al Zubarah and Ain Mohammed heritage sites in Qatar’s northernmost region, the site-specific installations will offer local and international visitors a gateway to the diversity of Qatari culture and heritage.

At the newly re-opened Museum of Islamic Art (MIA), the ‘Baghdad: Eye’s Delight’ exhibit will open on 26 October, celebrating Baghdad as the most important and influential city of the Islamic world. The exhibition will remain accessible to the public until 25 February 2023.

Qatar Creates Week will also see a number of public art unveiling in Doha as the city transforms into an open-air art installation to enchant passers-by, featuring spectacular works by American pop-culture artist, Jeff Koons;  JEDARIART, an art initiative by Qatar Museums; and many others. 

The 4th edition of Fashion Trust Arabia (FTA), launched under the patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser as honorary chair, with co-chairs Her Excellency Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad Al-Thani and international entrepreneur Tania Fares, will honour this year’s Fashion Trust Arabia Prize winners at a red-carpet event at the National Museum of Qatar (NMoQ) on 26 October.

On 27 October, NMoQ will open ‘On the Move: Reframing Nomadic Pastoralism’. Featuring a rich selection of objects, historical images and archival footage from the collections of NMoQ and QM, along with contributions from international museums such as the National Museum of Mongolia, Musée du Quai Branly and Weltmuseum Vienna, the exhibit will explore the lives of nomadic and semi-nomadic pastoralists across three distinct regions: Central Sahara, Qatar and Mongolia. It will remain open until 14 January 2023.

EMERGE, powered by international charity, Fashion For Relief, will host a fashion show and VIP dinner, led by founder of EMERGE, international supermodel, Naomi Campbell.  Open to the public, the fashion show will take place on 28 October at the Ceremonial Court, Education City, to support alternative education and investment in young creatives and business talents from emerging regions with a focus in Africa, the Arab Diaspora and developing communities around the world.

The Qatar Creates Week’s public programme will deliver a series of high-profile discussion panels, open to the public free of charge at MIA, Liwan Design Studios and Lab, Mathaf Arab Museum of Modern Art, NMoQ, and M7, on the interplay of art and society. On 24 October, a panel entitled "Art(ifice), Activism and the Environment", featuring Her Excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa and Icelandic–Danish artist, Olafur Eliasson, will spotlight the role of art in environmental protection. Other key panellists taking the stage during the week include Pierpaolo Piccioli, creative director of Valentino; American artist and sculptor, Elizabeth Turk; Naomi Campbell, and many more.

Rounding off Qatar Creates Week, ‘Forever Valentino’, the Maison’s largest exhibition to date and its first presentation in the Middle East, will open at Gallery 1 and 2, at M7, on 28 October. Audiences can delight in the exhibition until 1 April 2023. 

A one-ticket gateway for residents and visitors to access the full range of events and activities taking place in Qatar from October to December 2022, the Qatar Creates’ One Pass offers discounted access to over 300 unique events and experiences in culture, heritage, art, fashion and gastronomy, launching with the Qatar Creates week.

Participating entities in Qatar Creates’ 2022 programme include the Museum of Islamic Art and MIA Park, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, the National Museum of Qatar, Qatar Museum’s Gallery Al Riwaq, Qatar Museum’s Gallery Katara, 3-2-1 Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum, Dadu, Children's Museum of Qatar and the newly launched ‘Creative Hub’ comprising of the Fire Station – Artists in Residence, M7, Tasweer Qatar Photo Festival and Liwan Design Studios and Labs.

For more the full Qatar Creates Week schedule and tickets, as well as the One Pass, visit www.qacreates.com