Qatar Museums (QM), under the guidance of its chairperson HE Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, has opened the first Fire Station: Artist in Residence exhibition in Doha.
The exhibition got under way on Friday in Garage Gallery, located at the Fire Station, and would continue until the end of November.
As the current Artist in Residence programme draws to a close, the exhibition celebrates the accomplishments of the current group of 18 artists in residence, 10 of whom are Qatari, QM has said in a statement.
The exhibition showcases selected works from each of the artists during their nine successful months in residency. It features a range of different mediums, including art, photography, design and architecture, and incorporates a variety of processes, research, prototypes and finished outcomes.
The exhibition provides artists with a platform where they can showcase their works and skills to the media, community, fans of art and culture and collectors.
On show as part of the exhibition are artworks by Qatari artists in residence Aisha al-Sowaidi, Hana Saleh al-Saadi and Roda Ibrahim al-Nasr.
Al-Sowadi’s work, titled ‘Remembrance of a Majlis’, signifies memory and remembrance. The piece represents a traditional majlis setting and conveys how memories are shifted and altered from what people see in that current moment, to what they remember in the future.
Al-Saadi works primarily in sculpture to interrogate the way an object can communicate certain ideas through its existence alone. During the residency, al-Saadi experimented with concrete in its fluid state and as a solid form in the iconic shape of the cinder block, and will present these works in the exhibition.
Al-Nasr works across painting, photography, sculpture and installation, often taking one medium and appropriating it into another. The artist presents three new paintings and a set of sculptures that observe and exaggerate our changing attitudes towards cultural history and tangible, global identities.
Khalifa al-Obaidli, director of the Fire Station, said: “I am immensely proud to witness the incredible achievements of every single talented artist, presented beautifully in this end-of-residency exhibition.”
The Fire Station: Artist in Residence programme started in September 2015. During the artists’ nine months in residency, they collaborated with fellow creatives and developed their own techniques. They also benefited from weekly mentoring sessions and worked alongside internationally acclaimed artists such as Cai Guo-Qiang and Luc Tuymans.
The Fire Station will welcome the next batch in September and 150 applications have been received from creative individuals across the country, eager to become one of the next 18 artists to take part, the statement notes. “We look forward to the next round of artists who will join us in September,” added al-Obaidli.
Occidental Petroleum of Qatar Ltd (Oxy Qatar) is the principal sponsor of QM’s Fire Station Artist in Residence programme.
Stephen Kelly, president and general manager of Oxy Qatar, said: “Occidental Qatar is delighted to continue its long-established partnership with Qatar Museums. We are proud to support the establishment of this unique multi-faceted project.”
HE Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani with other dignitaries and guests at the exhibition.
