Qatar marked a major cultural milestone on Tuesday as Qatar Museums chairperson Her Excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani opened the country’s national pavilion at La Biennale di Venezia, unveiling an immersive exhibition that brings together contemporary art, music, film, and cuisine in the heart of Venice.
Dubbed untitled 2026 (a gathering of remarkable people) by artists and curators Rirkrit Tiravanija, Sophia Al-Maria, Tarek Atoui, Alia Farid, and Fadi Kattan, Qatar’s official contribution to the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia was unveiled at the future site of Qatar’s permanent pavilion in the Giardini della Biennale. The exhibition is organised by Qatar Museums (QM) and presented by Rubaiya Qatar, a nationwide multidisciplinary contemporary art quadrennial set to debut this November.
"Our participation in La Biennale di Venezia started with the vision of our leadership, the Amir, His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani to encourage dialogue and share the talent of Qatar and the region with the world,” said Sheikha Al Mayassa, also the Commissioner of the National Pavilion of Qatar.
“We are meeting in a difficult hour, when displacement, destruction, and destabilisation are daily words across our region and beyond. Culture connects what conflict tries to break apart and honours the humanity in each of us.
“That is why, for this first contribution by Qatar to Venice’s Art Biennale, we invited Rirkrit Tiravanija — a master of communal, interactive experiences — to imagine this exhibition. Under its tent, our community of artists will form, in the oldest and most generous meaning of the word, a tribe: a circle bound by hospitality, by craft, and by the simple conviction that to share a meal, a song, or a story is already to begin to understand one another,” she said.
HE Sheikha Al Mayassa welcomed dignitaries including Luigi Brugnaro, Mayor of the City of Venice and Khalid bin Youssef al-Sada, Qatar's ambassador to Italy; as well as renowned Qatari and international guests such as Mohammed Saad al-Rumaihi, QM CEO; Sheikha Reem al-Thani, deputy CEO of Alriwaq, Public Art and Rubaiya Qatar; Wael Shawky, acclaimed artist and director of The Fire Station; Klaus Biesenbach, director of National Neuegalerie; Maurizio Cattelan, artist; Christophe Cherix, director of the Museum of Modern Art; Nicholas Cullinan, director of British Museum; Frida Escobedo, architect; Lina Ghotmeh, architect; Maja Hoffman, president of Luma Foundation; Glenn Lowry, director Emeritus of the Museum of Modern Art; India Mahdavi, head of Jury for Design Doha Prize 2026; and Wim Pijbes, director of Droom en Daad Foundation.
The Qatar Pavilion is designed by Rirkrit Tiravanija as a place for cultural exchange that supports different forms of participation and artistic intervention. Modelled after Qatari gathering spaces, Tiravanija’s maroon-coloured temporary structure features a “scrambled” mashrabiya pattern, a traditional Islamic architectural element.
‘A gathering of remarkable people’ features an experimental narrative film, Damar TV (2026), by Qatari-American artist Sophia al-Maria, alongside Jerrican (2022–2026), a large-scale sculpture by Kuwaiti-Puerto Rican artist Alia Farid. The exhibition also includes live musical performances curated by Lebanese artist Tarek Atoui and a Middle Eastern culinary programme designed by Palestinian chef Fadi Kattan.
The opening programme featured music inspired by the takht and wasla traditions, performed by musicians and singers from seven countries. Culinary offerings were prepared by Kattan in collaboration with chefs and authors Noof Al-Marri of the Desert Rose Café at the National Museum of Qatar, Noor Murad of Bahrain, and Majed Ali Almatrooshi of the UAE, as well as mixologists Anna Patrowicz and Vesta Kontrimaviciene of Akub London.
The exhibition is co-curated by Tom Eccles and Ruba Katrib. Presented at the future site of Qatar’s permanent pavilion in the Giardini della Biennale, the project marks Qatar’s debut national pavilion at the 2026 edition of La Biennale di Venezia.
Widely regarded as the world’s leading platform for contemporary art and cultural dialogue, the Biennale brings together nations, institutions, curators, collectors, and international media in Venice, a historic crossroads between Europe, the Mediterranean, and the East.
Qatar’s pavilion in Giardini places the country among the Biennale’s most established cultural presences, highlighting its growing role in global artistic and cultural exchange.
