HE Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad Al Thani, Chair of the Board of Trustees of Qatar Museums, inaugurated the special part of the “Desert Embraces Imagination” exhibition, which was designed by the Icelandic-Danish artist, Olafur Eliasson, outside the ammunition area.
Eliason designed the exhibition, specifically for a desert location outside the Al Thakhira area and for galleries inside the Qatar National Museum in Doha, and will run until August 15th.
The exhibition includes a series of artworks presented by the artist specifically for these new sites, as a continuation of the journey exploring the artist’s interests in lights, colors, engineering studies, awareness of the environment, and relationships between other organisms. This exhibition comes within the framework of the “Qatar Creates” initiative, which is a year-round national cultural movement that sponsors, promotes and celebrates the diversity of cultural activities in Qatar.
Her Excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad Al Thani, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Qatar Museums, said in a statement on the occasion that the “Desert Embraces Imagination” exhibition depicts the impact of art and its ability to solve problems, including the artist’s new works installed in the Qatari desert, which opens a door for dialogue about the environment. One of the most important topics of our time, in the context of our country’s landscape.
She explained that this exhibition is unique in the way of displaying his artwork, which is located inside and outside the National Museum of Qatar at the same time, and provides proof that art is not confined to galleries, but is present around us everywhere that inspires and educates us.
For his part, artist Olafur Eliasson said:” It is a wonderful opportunity for me to present works of art for the sabkha located near the mangrove forest in the Al Thakhira area.. The sun, the wind, and the salt water of the lake – all elements contributed to the production of the artworks that visitors will see here”He expressed his hope that the artworks would prompt visitors to sense the natural surroundings and the mutual relationship between man and nature in the production of artworks, noting at the same time that the other part of his exhibition at the National Museum of Qatar is the ideas and practices embodied in more than 25 years of his career. As an artist, where the two natural and cultural sites enrich each other, and together form / the desert embraces the imagination.
During a tour for media professionals in the exhibition, Ms. Bouthayna Baltaji, Head of the Exhibitions and Heritage Collections Department at the National Museum of Qatar, explained that the desert artwork consisting of twelve temporary pavilions, located 64 km northeast of Doha near the ammunition reserve, inside a sabkha, consists of works of art. Various experiences in the form of exploiting the natural elements of the region such as sunlight, wind and water.
The first three pavilions in the outdoor area explore visual phenomena, making use of rainbows, shadows and mirrors to create magical effects, while pavilions from the fifth to seventh pavilions explore the elements of sabkha to produce works of art that will be displayed later at the National Museum of Qatar.
The last three wings set this environment in harmony with the other works, using materials such as glacial clay from Iceland.
Among the projects embraced by the twelve desert pavilions: the rainbow, consisting of 11 light prisms arranged along the top of a reflective sphere according to the path of the sun in the Al Thakhira area, and these prisms bend and break daylight, and at different times of the year they form a rainbow in a circle completed. and the Observatory of Sea Salt Drawings – two circular panels on canvas – one white, the other black – slowly rotated by motors, dripping water, mixed with black and white pigments successively onto the rotating surfaces. The wind causes the drawing tool to move across the surface of the flipped page, leaving ripple marks on the surface. The drawings, which are pictures of the weather conditions at the site, are then displayed periodically at the Qatar National Museum. Then a solar incense burner, a single glass ball ignites a selection of perfumes with which the State of Qatar and the countries of the region are known – oud, musk, amber, etc. – each burns for exactly one hour, by the action of the sun’s rays, and the incense burner acts as a clock that indicates the times of the day with various scents.
