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Spending billions of dollars sounds strange compared to a country that became fully independent in 1971, especially if its history is not fully understood. Geographically it consists of an arid and rocky peninsula about the size of Abruzzo.Qatar owes its wealth and unlimited economic resources to natural gas deposits, of which it is one of the world’s major exporters. A primacy that is balanced by an almost complete dependence in terms of food resources, as well as water supplies, mainly obtained from sea desalination. Its modern history is linked to the Al Thani family, which has ruled the country since the 19th century in the form of a constitutional monarchy.
Qatar
An absolute reality, if we look at the facts, given that the nation, one of the richest in the world in terms of GDP per capita, is also unique in terms of contradictions. 51% of women work (a very high average for the Middle East), but the great “modernization” professed by the current ruler Tamin bin Hamad al Thani this goes hand in hand with Sharia law as the primary source of legislation, homosexuality being considered a crime, rampant pollution, and labor market policies that are far from fair to the vast majority of Asian immigrants who come to the country every year. Added to this is the support of some groups associated with Islamic extremism: one of the main reasons for the instability of relations with neighboring Saudi Arabia, despite the fact that both countries profess the ultra-conservative Wahhabi Islamic doctrine.
Doha
Qatar and the art of sustainable development
In this colorful situation, art takes on a leading role, especially in terms of the image that the nation wants to convey about itself abroad. Culture as one of the pillars of the country’s modernization according to the road map called Qatar National Vision 2030 and which provides for a total investment of $200 billion to build a “sustainable economy”.
Human capital development, socio-economic development and environmental sustainability are the four areas under consideration. Thus, returning to creativity, in 2005, Qatar Museums was born: a government institution whose task is to control the management of museums, festivals and all the cultural opportunities of the country. Its director is the Emir’s sister Sheikh Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, who in a recent interview said it was time for “the Qataris themselves to tell their own story.” A narrative that has yet to be written and that intertwines with the European, but is not distorted by it.
Building a Creative Nation: new art and architecture projects in Qatar
As can be seen from the very architectural structures of the cultural buildings open to the public: the design is entrusted to architects of the caliber of Jean Nouvel (National Museum of Qatar), the recreation areas are coordinated by chefs such as Alain Ducasse (Museum of Islamic Art), all mixed with elements of local tradition. Password: create conditions for models that can inspire the entire Arabian Peninsula, and not exclusively import Western cultural formats, as is done in the United Arab Emirates with the Louvre Abu Dhabi or the Guggenheim. In Qatar, you go to a museum not only to see works of art, but museums are works of art in themselves. Here are the other five institutions that will complete the state’s cultural landscape in Venice:Museum of the Art Mill, Lusail MuseumL’Art Qatar Automobile MuseumDadu (Qatar Children’s Museum) And Qatar Preparatory School.
Lusail Museum
Research is dedicated to their development respectively ELEMENTAL, Herzog and de Meuron, Office of Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), AStudio and Philippe Starck. A nine-figure investment for an equally ambitious goal: to make Lusail Museum the largest existing center in the world dedicated to Oriental art, and to consecrate the Art Mill Museum as a representative pole of international contemporary art. As can be seen from the detailed visualizations and documentation presented in Venice, each building will integrate perfectly with its environment and, above all, will resemble the structure of the Middle East. An example would be Qatar National Museum inspired by the shape of the collection of crystals, called the “desert rose”.
Museum of the Art Mill
Qatar: Art Market and International Perspectives
In support of these enterprises Museums in Qatar has already taken steps to open a “purchasing campaign”: such display sizes definitely cannot remain empty. According to Bloomberg, the government’s annual budget for art purchases is $1 billion. Over the past eight years, masterpieces such as Quand te maries-tu? Paul Gauguin (purchased for $300 million), Card players Paul Cezanne ($250 million), as well as masterpieces by Mark Rothko, Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst, Roy Lichtenstein, Francis Bacon and Jeff Koons. Officially added to the collection of the royal family, according to the statement, they will be put on public display as soon as the construction of the Art Mill Museum is completed. Purchases are made by participating in large international auctions, also because the domestic market is still devoid of art fairs, unlike the Emirates (Art Dubai).
With the exception of Qatar International Arts Festival (QIAF) where individual artists can exhibit their creations by participating in workshops and the like. Operations that go hand in hand with the presentation of the nation to international agencies such as UNESCO: the fortified coastal city of Al Zubara became the country’s first World Heritage Site in 2020.
Government plans, billions of dollars in payments, international tenders: a use of resources that amazes most people, especially if they are Italians who have grown up with more than a thousand-year-old cultures flourishing on every corner. However, this is how Qatar’s cultural investment demonstrates to us how valuable an art card is, that it can be played internationally, and is worth any amount. In the face of those who in the past have stated that “it is not cultural to eat.”
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