Qatar Museums (QM) has announced the first 20 artists who have been selected to take part in the Artist in Residence programme, hosted in the newly-renovated Doha Fire Station building.
Launched in March 2015, the programme is set to kick off in mid-September and marks an important milestone in QM’s goal to provide support to the next generation of cultural producers. It also aims to help inspire an indigenous culture of creativity and innovation in Qatar.
Under the guidance of QM chairperson HE Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, the residency programme will be open to local Qatari artists and residents of Qatar first. Then, regional artists can apply at a later stage.
The selected 20 artists who will take part in the programme are Noor Abuissa, Nasser al-Attiyah, Sebastian Betancur-Montoya, Tarek Darwish, Waqas Farid, Maryam al-Homaid, Shaha al-Khulaifi, Othman Khunji, Kelly Lowe, Charles Mahaffee, Wassem al-Marzouki, Lulu al-Musfir, Roudha Ibrahim al-Nassr, Sara al-Obaidly, Fatma al-Remaihi, Hana al-Saadi, Christto Sanz, Emelina Soares, Aisha Nasser al-Sowaidi, Andrew Weir and Samreen Zahra.
In a press statement, QM said the creative exchange programme runs in nine-month cycles with a different group of artists taking part in each cycle.
A group of six elite jury members had convened twice to agree on the final 20 artists from a talented pool of more than 150 applications.
The judging panel included Sheikh Abdullah al-Thani, Mahmoud Obaidi, Fatima al-Rumaihi, Jean-Paul Engelen, Wissam al-Mana and Rhys Himsworth. The group of 20 artists, which includes 11 Qataris, consists of artists from a range of different disciplines, including art, photography, design, architecture and others.
HE Sheikha Al Mayassa and Fire Station director Hala al-Khalifa hosted a get-together for the inaugural group of residents to welcome and congratulate them.
Residents had the chance to meet and greet one another, as well as share with HE Sheikha Al Mayassa their vision and plans for their respective residencies.
“Each application that we received was unique and truly impressive. Every artist used their talent and creativity to show their commitment to this initiative,” al-Khalifa said.
She hopes the nine-month residency will enable artists to be recognised on an international scale “to become the creative sparks of our future”.
The residency programme will involve mentoring and tutoring from respected local artists. It will give the residents the opportunity to be in close contact with some of the international names that QM continually attracts to Qatar such as Richard Serra, Louise Bourgeois, Takashi Murakami and Damian Hirst.
In addition, artists will have access to world-class curators, art historians and professors. In due course, the Fire Station grounds will also feature public attractions such as a park, an informal library, an arts and crafts shop, a cinema, a plaza and a restaurant, all aimed at creating an engaging environment and cultural venue for everyone living in Qatar.
The Fire Station will also host open studio visits for art dealers in the region. It will collaborate with QM’s free arts and cultural membership programme – the Culture Pass - and offer a variety of activities and benefits for its members to enjoy.
Housed in the original garage of the Fire Station building, the Garage Gallery will host the residency end-of-year exhibition in June 2016 and will be open to artists, students and professors from universities across Qatar and the region for bookings.
The Fire Station has extended the 555 exhibition to run until October. It was launched in homage to The Art Centre: the very first artist in residence initiative that took place in Doha in the early 1990s and which ran for a decade.
Curated by HE Sheikh Hassan al-Thani, the exhibition aims to showcase a pivotal era in the development of arts not only in Qatar, but in the region as a whole.