DOHA.- Qatar Museums today announced a wide-ranging series of cultural initiatives in fall 2022 that confirm the nation’s position as a preeminent arts and culture destination in the region and internationally. The programme will begin in September, with exhibitions remaining on view into 2023. The announcement follows the recent transformation of Qatar Creates from a limited period of events into a year-round national cultural movement that curates, promotes, and celebrates the diversity of cultural activities in Qatar.

Anchoring the cultural programme is the opening in October of a completely reimagined and reinstalled Museum of Islamic Art (MIA), designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect I M Pei, a celebrated landmark in the heart of Doha. The MIA will present its collection in completely new thematic interpretations to engage with audiences both local and international. It will also include a new family trail.

Accompanying the reopening of the MIA is a wide-ranging programme of exhibitions across eight museums and galleries in Doha. These include:

• Baghdad: Eye’s Delight at the Museum of Islamic Art showcasing one of the greatest cities in the Islamic world;

• contemporary multimedia creations by artists Sophia Al-Maria and Taysir Batniji at Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art;

• an exhibition on the rich cultural heritage of nomads in the Central Sahara, Arab Middle East, and Central Eurasia/Mongolia at the National Museum of Qatar;

• a show celebrating the history of football and the sport’s greatest competitions at the recently opened 3-2-1 Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum;

• Maison Valentino exhibition that pays homage to its founder at M7

• exhibitions on the Art Mill Museum of international modern and contemporary art, designed by Alejandro Aravena and ELEMENTAL, and on the Lusail Museum, designed by Herzog & de Meuron, giving visitors their first glimpse of what they can expect from these two new art institutions now being developed by Qatar Museums.

As Qatar prepares for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, Qatar Museums is also transforming the nation’s landscape into a vast outdoor art museum with the installation by fall 2022 of more than 40 new and commissioned public artworks throughout Doha and the nation, in a variety of public spaces including parks and shopping areas, educational and athletic facilities, Hamad International Airport and Q-Rail stations, as well as select stadiums that will host the World Cup Games.

Many of the QM exhibitions for autumn 2022 are part of the Qatar-MENASA 2022 Year of Culture programme. In the World Cup year, QM has greatly expanded this annual initiative of bilateral exchange to celebrate the cultures of two dozen nations of the MENASA region.