Life
Art Basel Qatar launches this week in Doha, marking a significant debut for the global art fair in the Middle East. The event opens to the public from Thursday, February 5 through Saturday, February 7, with preview days on that happened across February 3 and 4, yesterday and today. This first edition presents a complete reimagining of the traditional art fair format.
Under the curatorial direction of the Egyptian-born artist Wael Shawky, the fair adopts an open-format exhibition. It moves away from standard gallery booths to focus on a central curatorial theme: ‘Becoming’. This theme explores humanity’s constant transformation and the systems that shape belief, life, and creativity. The exhibition unfolds across two main venues, M7 and the Doha Design District, and extends into public sites within Msheireb Downtown Doha.
The fair features 84 presentations by 87 galleries from 31 countries, including 16 galleries new to Art Basel. More than half of the artists presented are from the Middle East and surrounding regions. Notable names include Etel Adnan, Ali Banisadr, Simone Fattal, Ali Cherri, Meriem Bennani, and Iman Issa.
A major highlight is the Special Projects program. This series comprises ten large-scale, site-specific works installed across key public spaces in Msheireb. These sculptures, architectural installations, film works, and performances form the most extensive group of public commissions ever realized for an Art Basel fair. The participating artists are Abraham Cruzvillegas, Nour Jaouda, Hasan Khan, Nalini Malani, Bruce Nauman, Khalil Rabah, Rayyane Tabet, Sumayya Vally, and the duo Sweat Variant (Okwui Okpokwasili and Peter Born). Additionally, a newly commissioned work by Jenny Holzer, titled ‘SONG (2026)’, will be projected onto the façade of the Museum of Islamic Art each evening from 5:30 pm to 5 am throughout the fair.
The Conversations program, titled Art Basel Conversations × Qatar Creates Talks, brings together leading international voices. Held from February 3 to 5, the talks feature esteemed speakers such as Her Excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, art historian Glenn Lowry, and architect Sumayya Vally. The discussions will explore how artists, institutions, and patrons influence today’s cultural landscape.
For visitors looking for a curated souvenir, the Art Basel Shop offers exclusive items. It includes the AB by Artist Collection, a collaboration with Qatari artist Sophia Al-Maria. Inspired by her new body of work ‘HiLux’, the collection features truck decal-inspired graphics on tote bags and keychains that visualize a timeline of the Gulf.
The fair coincides with a vibrant cultural program across Qatar’s museums. Major concurrent exhibitions include the 15th-anniversary show ‘Resolutions’ at Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, dual exhibitions celebrating architect I.M. Pei at the Museum of Islamic Art and Al Riwaq, and the groundbreaking ‘Making Doha’ at the National Museum of Qatar, co-curated by Rem Koolhaas and Samir Bantal. These are complemented by existing public artworks like Richard Serra’s ‘East-West/West-East’ and Olafur Eliasson’s ‘Shadows Travelling on the Sea of the Day’.
Tickets for Art Basel Qatar 2026 are available exclusively through the online ticket shop.
– For more on luxury lifestyle, news, fashion and beauty follow Emirates Woman on Facebook and Instagram
Images: Supplied & Feature Image: Supplied
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: emirateswoman.com
