Artist Olafur Eliasson and Chairperson of Qatar Museums H E Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani during a discussion at Berlin Art Week 2026. Pic: Official Instagram account of H E Sheikha Al Mayyasa.
Doha, Qatar: Qatar’s long-term investment in arts and culture is beginning to shape a broader artistic ecosystem, with new galleries, creative initiatives, and a growing pool of artists choosing to make the country their home, Chairperson of Qatar Museums HE Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani said during a conversation with Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson at Berlin Art Week 2026.
Sheikha Al Mayassa highlighted the cultural impact of Qatar’s investment across communities and sectors, noting that the transformation has taken place over decades.
"All of it is happening. If you come, there's a talent pool that didn't exist. There's a lot of artists moving to Qatar, making it their home. It's safe. It's family-oriented. The quality of life is high. You have good schools, good health system, accessible, good airport. We have a lot of new businesses and entrepreneurs that have been established in fashion and design and art, new galleries. But it's a long-term strategy," she said.
She pointed to the development of Qatar’s cultural landscape as a long-term process.
“Berlin today has 200 museums, I read. We're not even the size of Berlin, and we don't try to compare, but what's happening is there is an awareness, and there is a lot of private collectors today, and a lot of private museums. And so, this is why, you know, to feel impact, you need at least a quarter of a century. And that was why our strategy was a 25-year plan," she said.
"For those who've been to Qatar over the years, even as recent as last year, you'll always notice change," she added.
Throughout the discussion, Sheikha Al Mayassa stressed the role of art and culture in creating dialogue, strengthening connections between people and places, and encouraging awareness and positive change in a rapidly changing world.
"When I say our investment has been about human development, it's human beings at the core of it," she said.
Asked what draws her to art, Sheikha Al Mayassa said she is attracted to new ideas and remains curious about people, places and projects.
"I think that to have active positive change we need to remain at the edge of things and remain very innovative, and I think to be innovative, you need to be open, you need to be open to other people's ideas, you need to be open to dialogue and exchange and travel to places and see things before you make judgement."
She said artists, throughout history, have reflected the issues and experiences of their time.
"I think art is the same, artists are always reflecting a moment in time. From ancient to today art, they are people who feel, they are deeply connected to human issues and that is reflected in their work."
"What touches me is when we are addressing serious matters where we can talk about them but present them in creative and innovative ways, playful as well," she added.
The discussion also highlighted the collaboration between Qatar Museums and Eliasson, including the 2022 exhibition 'The Curious Desert' and his permanent site-specific public artwork 'Shadows Travelling on the Sea of the Day' in Al Zubarah.
Eliasson reflected on the relationship between the artwork, the desert environment and the experience of time, noting that the landscape’s small plants, insects and other details influenced his approach.
"I wanted it to look a little bit like Fata Morgana or Oasis or something in the desert. The passing of time, the experience of time in this heat, in this land, on this amazing ground, which I find so full of small plants and small insects and small things. Time is what the piece essentially is about," he said.
The conversation also touched on the question of censorship and how artists and artworks that challenge aspects of Qatari society are approached.
"I don't see curating exhibitions that is, you know, suitable for the audience a form of censorship. I translate it as a form of respect," Sheikha Al Mayassa said.
"For me the most important thing is to respect the other, where you're from and who you are. So I will never show things that I know doesn't belong to our cultural sensibilities because I'm not here to provoke."
She said artists have been collaborative in adapting exhibitions for audiences in Qatar.
"When we've worked with artists who have shown, who have works in their body of works that are not, you know, not suitable, I should say, they have been very collaborative. They have understood what we're doing. They have understood that to show their works of art, we'd have to curate it in a way that is approachable to our audiences."
Sheikha Al Mayassa also highlighted Qatar’s upcoming cultural programme, noting that 15 exhibitions and cultural initiatives are opening in the country this fall.
The programme includes Heritage in Motion from Uzbekistan, Giuseppe Penone’s The Inner Flow of Life, which explores ecology in Qatar, What Lingers in the Artist Mind: Experiments and Legacies of the Baghdad Modern Art Group, the Design Doha Biennial, the Rubaiya Qatar contemporary art quadrennial and the Fashion Trust, among others.
She also said the diversity of Qatar’s cultural programme is intended to allow audiences to find their own points of connection with art.
"The variety allows for people to connect with what matters to them. Everybody has their own taste. Everybody has their own preference for what art is, and for us, it's important to show the inventory and variety for people to be inspired."
