Le Pouce (Thumb) by César Baldaccini in Doha.
Source: Iwan Baan/Qatar MuseumsWhat to See and Do in Doha, the New Art Boomtown in the Gulf
Qatar’s capital is aiming to become a culture hub—and boost its global image—with a host of museums, big-name exhibitions and rich collections of contemporary and Islamic works.
It’s Thursday evening, the start of the Qatari weekend, and a flour mill off Doha’s waterfront promenade, known as the Corniche, hums with activity. Sacks of flour silhouetted behind a gauzy curtain are a nod to the 861,000-square-foot structure’s history, but the crowd mingling nearby offers a glimpse of its future. In 2030, Pritzker Prize-winning Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena will reimagine this complex as the Art Mill Museum. Across galleries below rows of soaring silos, the space will house a collection of global, modern and contemporary art that the country has been quietly collecting over the past 40 years.
The event is a dinner party to celebrate two shows elsewhere in the city. A retrospective of the works of minimalist artists Donald Judd and Dan Flavin at the Al Riwaq Gallery, a temporary exhibition space next to the Museum of Islamic Art, has just concluded. And a show focusing on immersive video artist Pipilotti Rist is about to open at the Fire Station gallery, a repurposed Qatar Civil Defense building.