In a former warehouse tucked along Street 15 in Doha’s Industrial Area, 13 artists are betting that culture moves faster than cranes. As small and medium industries relocate to newly developed free zones and rents dip across Sanaiyya, Gubgub Studios has seized a rare window of affordability, transforming raw square meters into Qatar’s first artist-run, grassroots studio collective and staking a claim in the Gulf’s evolving creative map.**media[420897]**The vast space still bears traces of its industrial past: high trusses, concrete floors, and wide loading doors. But inside, scaffolding now stands beside stretched canvases, and the scent of sawdust blends with the scent of fresh paint. What might once have been a storage space for machinery has become a living arts hub, complete with shared studios, a basic wood shop and print facilities, photography and printing equipment, a small library, and a modular area for exhibitions, screenings and talks.**media[420898]**Led by 13 locally based artists, Gubgub Studios describes itself as the Gulf’s first independent, grassroots, artist-run platform. Yet for co-founder Sebastian Betancur Montoya, independence is not the point. “Yes, we are a grassroots artist-run platform, but rather than independence, we are interested in interdependency. Collaboration, collectivity, and crosspollination are at the core of our ethos, we are keen on growing together alongside other institutions and initiatives. “In this same line of thought, we don’t see GubGub Studios existing outside the institutionality; we instead consider ourselves another building block in the larger Arts and Culture infrastructure of the country and the region,” Montoya told Gulf Times.**media[420899]**That positioning, neither oppositional nor dependent, reflects the collective’s broader ambition: to expand the ecosystem rather than compete within it, he said. While Qatar’s cultural sector has grown rapidly over the past decade, much of its infrastructure remains institutionally driven. Gubgub proposes a complementary model, rooted in peer exchange, shared resources and artist-led programming. The timing, according to co-founder Habeeb Abou Futtaim, has been years in the making. “Regarding the timing, the moment had been right for a while. Some of the conversations that led to GubGub Studios go back 10 years, in the midst of the momentum created by the first cohort of the Fire Station residence; these conversations ramified and oftentimes circled back, just to reaffirm to us the local art community’s need for long-term studio spaces,” he said.**media[420900]**What followed was less a straight path than a prolonged search. “For the last few years, some of the current members looked into old villas, commercial storefronts, and abandoned buildings; while also writing grant applications, drafting business plans, learning about the commercial normative in Qatar, and fantasising about figuring out a viable art space model for our context,” Abou Futtaim said. The breakthrough came when they learned of newly available warehouses around Street 15. As industries shifted outward, real estate prices became feasible. “We then jumped into phone calls, invited others, grabbed a coffee, and came up with a plan,” he said. “The news about Art Basel coming to town felt reaffirming and gave us a timeline to work towards. GubGub Studios is the result of synergies, trial and error, longing for community, and our steadfast belief in art as a tool to imagine and build better futures.” The Industrial Area itself has become integral to that imagination. Surrounded by fabricators, material suppliers and workshops, artists at Gubgub operate within walking distance of tools and expertise rarely accessible in more polished districts. “The generous physical space and the availability of all sorts of industrial processes and materials a stone's throw away, allow us to work on larger scales, experiment with unfamiliar mediums, and develop complex projects, such as painting on a 10-metre canvas, hanging sculptures from the trusses, or pitching a dozen of camping tents indoors,” said co-founder Yousuf Bahzad. Scale, however, is only part of the story. “What has really made a mark in our approach to artmaking is the organic conversation and interactions derived from the diversity of practices, knowledge, and lived experiences coming together under a shared space,” he added. Bahzad said those exchanges extend beyond the 13 founding artists. “It’s also the contractors who come to do work and become regular tea and coffee companion, the curious friends showing up to take photos and play music, the neighbors who lend us scaffolding and gift us furniture, the nuts vendor, the generous patrons, scholars and art community, the guys at the nearby grocery stores and food stalls for whom we are no longer strangers, and even the visiting stray cats and dogs that have become a tad too comfortable with art.” If the Industrial Area provides raw material, continuity provides structure. Affordable, stable studio space remains rare across the region, where artists often navigate short-term residencies or temporary arrangements. At Gubgub, members have 24/7 access, shared amenities and the possibility of long-term tenancy. For co-founder Hana Al-Saadi, that stability reshapes both mindset and ambition, saying: “It’s mainly a challenge to the way we envision our practices. It allows us to develop different bodies of work in parallel but also forces us to think in long-term projects, which is steering us to become more intentional about the goals we are working towards in terms of exhibiting, positioning our work in the market, or finding other platforms to further our research.” Beyond the physical benefits, she noted a collective aspect: “Aside from the physical space, GubGub Studios feels bigger than our individual work and has garnered a good deal of attention in the art world, which is opening doors for us collectively as a project and for the artists professionally. It is still early to understand how this is influencing us as artists, but we are open and excited to put in the work to discover what’s to come.” According to the group, balancing experimentation with professional development remains central to that process. The collective acknowledges that artistic growth is rarely linear. Some members may pursue rigorous, sustained inquiry into a single medium; others may move through periods of fluid exploration. The cooperative structure is designed to accommodate both, providing space to take risks without immediate market pressure. Financially, Montoya said the model rests on shared responsibility. “We are fortunate that the current individual share to cover the space expenses is fairly moderate; also, we operate under a cooperative model and have devised mechanisms to support us as members in case of an unforeseen financial circumstance. This affords us the freedom to operate without having the market dictate the artistic outcomes,” At the same time, the collective is planning for sustainability. “As a self-funded platform, our future plans aim towards achieving at least partial self-sufficiency through different channels we are exploring, such as international funding, commercial activities, venue rental, private sponsorship, and exchange partnerships,” he added. Programming will play a key role in that strategy. Co-founder Rola Khayyat said the studio intends to expand its offerings beyond shared workspace. “At GubGub Studios we are also working towards expanding our programmes to offer residences and exchanges for international artists, chefs, and curators, as well as developing publications, exhibitions, workshops, talks, and film screenings,” she said. “These, aside of giving back and activating the community, are also opportunities for us to expand professionally by acquiring new skills, creating social impact, and building professional networks.” The ambition is not simply to occupy a warehouse, but to seed a durable network, one that links artists to fabricators in the neighbourhood, to international collaborators, and to a broader public curious about what emerges from behind industrial doors.
