This week, the art world’s eyes are on Doha. From February 5th–7th, the city launches the inaugural and highly anticipated edition of Art Basel Qatar. Under the leadership of artistic director and Egyptian artist Wael Shawky, the fair will span several venues in the Qatari capital and welcome 84 artists and 87 galleries from 31 different countries.
All galleries will mount single-artist presentations united under the theme of “Becoming.” “Each presentation brings a practice that is deeply rooted in the cultural fabric of the Gulf and its extended geographies, while also pushing conversations forward in bold and unexpected ways,” Shawky said in a statement.
Art Basel Qatar arrives after decades of investment in the region. Over the past twenty years, the government has backed Qatar Museums, a cluster of world-class art institutions that include the Jean Nouvel-designed National Museum of Qatar and the I.M. Pei-designed Museum of Islamic Art.
Within the Gulf region, the small yet ambitious nation has also led the way for institutional collecting. One of its most prominent museums, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, which was founded in 2010, boasts over 9,000 works of modern and contemporary Arab art, the largest collection of its kind in the world. H.E. Sheikh Hassan bin Mohammed bin Ali Al Thani gathered the initial group of works for the museum’s collection; the Al Thani royal family has been instrumental in developing Qatar’s cultural momentum.
“The art scene in Doha is buzzing and active,” veteran Qatari art collector AbdulRahman Al Khelaifi recently told Artsy. “I think Art Basel Qatar is a long time coming as the art institutions are more than ready to welcome this international art fair that will enhance the commercial side of studios, galleries, and art centers.”
To this point, another seasoned art collector, Tariq Al-Jaidah, believes that Qatar is institution-heavy and hopes that the art fair will boost the gallery scene and the country’s “quite modest” art market. While the capital is home to a few art galleries and spaces, including the Fire Station arts center—where Shawky serves as artistic director—and Al Riwaq Gallery, there’s certainly room for growth.
Dubai-based gallerist Maliha Tabari, founder of Tabari Artspace and an Art Basel Qatar participant, began visiting Qatar in 2004. She has witnessed its natural rise as a cultural hotspot in the Gulf. “Qatar has been planting seeds slowly, understanding that cultural ecosystems require time and patience to grow properly,” Tabari told Artsy. “Their approach has been methodical and thoughtful—first building the infrastructure through residencies, inviting artists, establishing institutions, creating spaces to house meaningful work.”
Tabari will present archaeology-inspired collage works by the Gaza-born Palestinian artist Hazem Harb at the fair. She welcomes the artist-designed approach to the event, which will offer a sensitive angle to an ultimately commercial venture. “We’re incredibly excited about Qatar bringing Art Basel to the region—seeing it through a curator [Shawky] who is himself a brilliant artist,” she said. “That’s the game changer: appointing an artist as curator. Qatar changed the formula of art fairs. They usually hire international curators, but Shawky comes from an art background, and you’re seeing the fair through the eyes of an artist.”
In the lead-up to the fair, Artsy features a few of Qatar’s most notable collectors, outlining their engagement in art and Doha’s booming scene.
Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani
The highly influential Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani is a member of the Qatari royal family and founder of the Doha Film Institute. She has served as a chairperson of Qatar Museums for the past two decades.
Al Thani, who has degrees in political science and literature from France and the US, has been instrumental in acquiring major artworks by Western masters, including Paul Gauguin, Paul Cézanne, Andy Warhol and Damien Hirst, and amplifying Qatar’s cultural status on the world stage. She also commissioned one of the country’s most famous public art pieces, the sculpture East-West/West-East by late American artist Richard Serra. It was unveiled in 2014 at the Brouq Nature Reserve in the Qatari desert.
Al Thani has, in fact, become one of the most powerful women in the global art world. She has initiated cultural collaborations with international institutions and believes in art as a unifying force. “Art is very powerful because it has no boundaries and you don’t need to belong to any country or religion or social class,” she previously told CNN. “It brings people from all walks of life together to talk about an idea.”
AbdulRahman Al Khelaifi
A train ride from Tanzania to South Africa spurred art patron AbdulRahman Al Khelaifi’s desire to collect art. “This journey opened my eyes to the beauty of Africa’s natural landscape, its culture, and its people, which inspired me to begin a humble collection of art pieces I gathered through my travels in consecutive years,” he told Artsy.
Al Khelaifi has developed an unbreakable relationship with the continent, visiting its art galleries and artist studios to amass a collection of contemporary African art that spans painting, mixed media, textiles, and prints. His collection now contains thousands of works by artists including Rudolf Seibeb, Mashir Kresenshun, Victor Kalinosi Mutale, Victoria Nabulime, Mohamed Wasia Charinda, and Amani Azhari, who hail from Zambia, Tanzania, Namibia, Sudan, and other countries.
“Every piece in the collection has a special place and meaning to me,” said Al Khelaifi. “Each piece holds a story told through its form, the gallery it was exhibited in, the artists’ studios I visited, the conversations held around it, and so many more memories which are very special to me.” To give back to the community in a profound way, Al Khelaifi established ARAK Art Foundation in Doha, which contains more than 4,000 artworks by contemporary African artists. ARAK also supports African writers, curators, and aspiring art enthusiasts through residencies and fellowships.
Tariq Al-Jaidah
Tariq Al-Jaidah is the founder of Katara Art Center, a leading art space in Doha. His passion for the visual realm stems from formative years visiting museums and attending art history classes. He began collecting after his return to Doha from Texas in 1991, where he studied mass communications at Texas Wesleyan University. “An interest in artistry turned into a serious commitment, driven by curiosity, research, and close engagement with regional and local artists,” he told Artsy, mentioning early, meaningful encounters with established Arab artists Ahmad Moualla, Hussein Madi, and Adam Henein.
Al-Jaidah focuses his collection on modern and contemporary Arab art with political and Islamic dimensions. “My collection is a representation of interpersonal relationships; a collection of memories of visiting artist studios around the region,” he added.
Among the included luminaries are modern Iraqi pioneers Dia Azzawi, Suad Al-Attar and Shakir Hassan Al-Said. Palestinian artists Mona Hatoum and Emily Jacir also feature in the collection, as well as acclaimed Saudi artist Manal Al-Dowayan.
About the artistic landscape in the city, Al-Jaidah says, “there is a lot to be proud of. The scene in Doha is institutionally focused. Her Excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad has done an amazing job in establishing a number of pioneering museums in the country.” Al-Jaidah believes that Art Basel’s arrival on Qatari shores is “massively significant.” The upcoming fair offers “another dimension” to the burgeoning scene, he said, an inflection point for a city poised for a critical and commercial breakthrough.
