Spring Exhibitions at Qatar Museums

This Spring, Qatar Museums is proud to present five exhibitions, each with a story to tell.

Join in and hear the stories #QMSpring2015

For a full listing of all their exhibitions, past and present, go here.

MARVELLOUS CREATURES: ANIMAL FABLES IN ISLAMIC ART (March 4 - July 11)

Marvellous Creatures focuses on the real and mythical animals that appear in the legends, tales and fables of the Islamic world, featuring timeless stories such as Shahnameh, Kalila wa Dimna and One Thousand and One Nights.

The variety of objects presented in this exhibition – manuscripts, textiles, ceramics, jewellery, glass, and metalwork – ranging from the 10th to the 19th centuries, demonstrate the enduring appeal of these characters and stories across diverse cultures.

A number of interactive experiences are running alongside the exhibition, for adults, schools and families.

EXHIBITION 555 (March 15 - July 14)

The inaugural show at the reinvented and renovated Fire Station: Artists in Residence, Exhibition 555 pays homage to the very first artist residency that took place in the 1990s in Qatar under the patronage of H.E. Sheikh Hassan.

Today, the residency has been rebooted and given new life in a more permanent form, opening on March 15th, and through this exhibition, the new Fire Station launches its presence in Qatar by acknowledging where it all began nearly 15 years ago.

The exhibition will include installations, photographs and videos of what Doha's inaugural art residences were like, introducing visitors to a part of Qatar's recent history that has never been shared so extensively before.

WAEL SHAWKY: CRUSADES AND OTHER STORIES (March 17 - August 16)

Wael Shawky is acclaimed as one of the most powerful and urgent voices to emerge from the Middle East in the last decade. His films, installations and performances explore history, culture and the effect of globalisation on contemporary societies, through fact and fiction.

This major solo exhibition presents two newly completed film trilogies, each inspired by stories and scripts of literature; Cabaret Crusades (2010-2014) draws on Amin Maalouf's novel The Crusades through Arab Eyes (1983) while Al Araba Al Madfuna (2012-2015) collages the stories of Mohamed Mustagab with the artists experience living in Upper Egypt.

QAJAR WOMEN: IMAGES OF WOMEN IN 19TH CENTURY IRAN (March 25 - January 30, 2016)

Qajar Women demonstrates the centrality of women in the artistic expression of 19th century Iran and how it continues to inspire contemporary artists.

Showcasing women at the court and in private, alongside images of female musicians and aristocratic women, this exhibition explores rarely-told narratives of the Qajar artistic tradition.

ISMAEL AZZAM: FOR THEM (April 26 - August 31)

The exhibition will showcase Ismail Azzam's distinctive portraits of painters and sculptors who have made a significant contribution to Arab Art, with the entire body of work created exclusively for this show.

Ismail is of Iraqi origin, and moved to Doha in 1996 to work as a painter for the Arab Museum of Modern Art, the National Council of Culture, and most recently the Qatar Museums as Curator at the Orientalist Museum collection.

Are you planning to visit any of the exhbitions? Share your experience on Twitter using #QMSpring2015.