The public art initiatives aim to foster community connectivity by creating interactive social spaces, while supporting regional creatives by showcasing their talents to a wider Qatari audience.
Qatar Museums (QM) and Liwan Design Studios and Labs – a subsidiary of QM, have announced two public art initiative drives for the region’s creatives to submit proposals of artwork to adorn Qatar’s public spaces.
On Saturday, QM began accepting applications for its annual ‘Public Art Annual Intervention.’ This is an open call to mid-career artists residing in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.
As per the selection criteria, candidates must also submit proposals for public art pieces that can be fabricated within the region.
“This is your opportunity to transform public spaces in Qatar with your unique placemaking art,” the announcement read.
QM explained in a separate information piece that placemaking art emerged in the 1960s to prioritise humans, rather than the buildings they dwell in or the cars they drive.
However, placemaking is now a tool to enhance the world’s cityscapes and bring communities together as focal points of social interaction, celebrations of culture, identity as well as activating public spaces.
Placemaking art can range from sculptures, light installations, as well as site-specific artwork that is designed to never be replicated elsewhere.
QM’s selection criteria added that all proposals must engage with the community and/or be site-specific.
Temporary public art drive
Liwan also announced its latest public art drive on Saturday.
The design studios’ ‘Temporary Public Art Initiative‘ aims to support Qatar’s students and alumni who have graduated within the past two years by showcasing their creations to the local community.
Liwan invites submissions from either individuals or groups. It will consider sculptures, installations, mosaic tiles and mixed media. Artists may also enlist the support of mentors.
Successful candidates will work alongside a curator and their finalised work will be showcased within the Liwan Studios grounds.
Liwan is nestled in downtown Msheireb and houses a wealth of Qatari history.
Before being regenerated into a cultural creative hub in 2022 and earlier converted into the Msheireb Art Centre from 2006 to 2016, the original site was Qatar’s first school for girls.
Initially called “Banat El Doha” and later renamed as “Umm Almo’mneen Primary School”, the school was founded in the late 1950s by Amna Mahmoud Al Jaida, the nation’s first female teacher.
‘Shelters’
Last year, as part of the successful ‘Public Art Annual Intervention’ initiative, two cricket shelters designed by Marco Bruno and Michael Perrone were installed.
Their project, which was aptly titled ‘Shelters,’ utilised scaffolding that consisted of metal pipes that were covered with synthetic mesh, and equipped with wood benches and basic safety gear.
The installations are also not fixed and can be transported and reused in different locations.
Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad Al Thani, chairperson of QM, said at the same that the installation that it was “lovely seeing the public art scene around Qatar portraying the fusion of arts and sports”.
“Marco Bruno and Michael Perrone invite Qatar’s cricket community to relax and connect by providing shade and resting areas, as cricket is a popular sport among the South Asian community,” she wrote on Instagram. “I look forward to seeing more creative designs and art that enrich the lives of our communities.”
