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Cheung Hok-hang

Qatar, a gas-powered Gulf state, has long punched well above its weight.
The Islamic country is a major diplomatic player on the world stage, mediating conflicts ranging from Gaza ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas to peace negotiations between the Republic of the Congo and Rwanda.
The Gulf nation’s state-funded broadcaster, Al Jazeera, has wielded huge international influence through its reporting, while its recent hosting of mega-sporting events – headlined by the 2022 Fifa World Cup – has cemented its place in the global consciousness.
Now, Doha – its capital city – has added a new ambition to its strategic road map: becoming the leading art hub of the Middle East.
On February 3, the Swiss art fair giant Art Basel unveiled the inaugural edition of its flagship art fair in Doha for preview – and officially on February 5 – making the Qatari capital the first Middle Eastern city to host the elite international event. The fair, which ended on February 7, hosted more than 85 galleries, including some of the biggest dealers in the world, and drew some 17,000 visitors.












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Over the past decade, states across the Gulf have built mega museums and started new biennales and cultural collaborations as instruments of soft power and to diversify their economies away from oil and gas.
In Doha, Qatar Museums is an umbrella body that oversees all of the country’s public museums, including the Jean Nouvel-designed National Museum of Qatar and the I.M. Pei-designed Museum of Islamic Art, which stand alongside other landmarks in the region, such as the Louvre Abu Dhabi and the long-awaited Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, which is expected to open later this year. Held concurrently with Art Basel Qatar is the third edition of the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale in Saudi Arabia.
That momentum has drawn art market heavyweights to place their bets on the region.
Perrotin relaunched its space in Dubai’s financial district in 2025, while Sotheby’s staged its second Middle East auction in Saudi Arabia just days before Art Basel Qatar. Frieze, Art Basel’s main rival, has announced a partnership with Art Abu Dhabi, launching its eighth fair globally this November.
In an interview with the South China Morning Post, Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, the chair of Qatar Museums, says the arrival of Art Basel marks the culmination of decades of cultural investment.

“It was my brother, His Highness Sheikh Tamim [bin Hamad al-Thani, the Emir of Qatar], who wanted to bring the art fair, because he wanted to support the talents and further connect them to the industry,” she says.
For the emir, a prominent art fair was the missing piece of a larger puzzle, she adds. “It completes an ecosystem where, for the last 50 years, we have been deeply focused on building cultural infrastructure. So, when Art Basel looked for a strategic partner in the Middle East, Qatar was a natural partner.”
For years, Qatar’s royal family has ranked among the world’s most powerful art collectors. In 2011, they reportedly acquired artist Paul Cézanne’s The Card Players (1895) for a then-record US$250 million.
“The art market is something that followed; we’ve been building relationships with the region for more than 15 years,” says Mathieu Paris, global sales director at international gallery White Cube. “Obviously, it’s not a secret that the royal families are extremely involved in the development of this ecosystem, but what’s truly impressive is the scale of new institutions, museums and educational initiatives that have emerged over that time.”
Under the artistic direction of Egyptian artist Wael Shawky, Art Basel Qatar adopted a booth-less format and drew broadly positive feedback from both participating galleries and collectors alike.

“I love the concept of the fair – the fact that the booths are basically the same size. It feels very democratic and, at the same time, very focused,” says Fabio Rossi, director of the Hong Kong-based gallery Rossi & Rossi. The gallery presented paintings and architectural installations by the late Iranian-born American artist Siah Armajani.
Sales were more measured than at its sibling fairs in Hong Kong or Basel – the reported top sale was led by White Cube, which placed eight Georg Baselitz bronze hand sculptures at €800,000 (US$950,000) each.
Works moved more steadily in the six-figure range. David Kordansky Gallery sold all three paintings in its presentation, priced between US$375,000 and US$450,000. Two were acquired by prominent collections in the region, according to senior director Mike Homer.
Galleries that hosted works resonating with regional themes received particularly positive responses. Dubai-based Tabari Artspace presented a body of work by Palestinian artist Hazem Harb, whose practice engages with the Palestinian archive. Priced between US$16,000 and US$80,000, all but one of the works on view were sold.
There were whispers in the aisles of Art Basel Qatar that participating galleries were offered sales guarantees and informal promises that Qatar Museums would acquire a certain volume of work. Andrea Zappia, who chairs Art Basel’s parent company MCH Group, is quick to dismantle the narrative of artificial support.
“Some might expect local entities to buy, and if the gallery brings the right artworks, they can and will buy, but they don’t have to,” Zappia says. “There are no formal agreements or subsidies of the kind being suggested.”

Zappia declines to comment on the specific terms of Art Basel’s partnership with the Qatari authorities, but stresses that the collaboration is structured as a long-term strategic relationship.
“Art Basel attracts a highly interesting audience – people who are well educated, creative and influential. They are opinion-makers,” he says. “That’s why cities are interested in partnering with Art Basel. Cities are basically brains.”
International spotlight has also acted as a catalyst for Doha’s burgeoning independent scene.
Coinciding with the fair, Gubgub Studios, Qatar’s first independent, artist-run space, was launched by Habeeb M. Abu-Futtaim alongside 12 other practitioners.
“Doha doesn’t really have an art ecosystem in the grass-roots sense,” Abu-Futtaim says. “There’s an incredible amount of infrastructure and programming, but it’s almost entirely state-led, including this Art Basel, which is amazing and gives us many opportunities. But it’s also very institutionalised.”












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That began to change recently. As factories moved into new industrial zones, rent in Doha’s old industrial area dropped significantly. At the same time, regulatory changes allowed artists to register non-profit spaces.
Abu-Futtaim says this development will help artists reclaim narrative control from what he describes as “the cultural colonisation” of Western institutions.
“For the longest time, in terms of art and culture, we were considered part of the periphery,” he says. But now, the centre is moving east.
That ambition mirrors a broader direction that Qatar itself appears to be taking. During Art Basel Qatar, the country used the global spotlight to articulate its own narrative through a series of major exhibitions staged across the city.
At Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, for instance, a group exhibition titled “we refuse_d” was presented recently. The curators say it was responding to the censorship of artists in Western countries “due to their stance on conflicts, war and political uprisings”.












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However, this role as a champion of free expression might have its limits. When questioned about Qatar’s own record on censorship – specifically regarding LGBTQ rights and the suppression of the “One Love” armbands during the World Cup – Sheikha Al Mayassa offers a nuanced, if firm, defence of the Qatari model.
She asserts that the state does not vet artists based on their private lives. “When we choose artists, we don’t go into their personal life or what their orientation is,” she says. “For us, that isn’t the question.
“What we do decide is if the art is appropriate for our audience. For example, we have shown exhibitions by Jeff Koons and Takashi Murakami, but works that were not appropriate for our culture, we simply didn’t show.”
When pressed on whether artists in Doha are free to direct their critical gaze towards Qatar’s own power structures, or even the royal family, Sheikha Al Mayassa is unequivocal. “They are free to do so,” she says.

With Art Basel Hong Kong kicking off in March, just weeks after Art Basel Qatar, would the new Doha edition dilute collector interest and “cannibalise” the audience for its Asian sibling?
Zappia says no, and frames the two events not as rivals, but as anchors of a new global axis.
“Our goal is to increase the total number of buyers, and the way we do that is by opening new geographies where there is untapped potential,” Zappia says. “What Hong Kong does exceptionally well is provide a platform for regional creativity and Asian artists to shine. We are doing the same here for the MENASA [Middle East, North Africa and South Asia] region.”
Sheikha Al Mayassa, who is leading a delegation to visit China, with stops in cities like Hong Kong, echoes this sentiment.
“I think Hong Kong and Qatar are quite complementary – the formats are entirely different,” she says. “I met many people coming from China, specifically Shanghai. They told me they regularly attend Art Basel Hong Kong but came here for this new experience.”


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Is Doha the Middle East’s next art hub? City aims high with Art Basel Qatar, new museums

Palestinian artist Hazem Harb’s artwork on show at Art Basel Qatar, presented by Tabari Artspace, in February 2026. The debut of Art Basel Qatar signals Doha’s ambition to become the Middle East’s leading art hub. Photo: Art Basel

Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani (centre) arrives at the inauguration ceremony of the National Museum of Qatar, designed by French architect Jean Nouvel, in the Gulf emirate’s capital Doha in 2019. Photo: AFP

Wael Shawky is the artistic director of Art Basel Qatar’s inaugural edition. Photo: Jinane Ennasri

Elephant Necklace Circle (2016), a multi-part sculpture by American artist Lynda Benglis, is presented by Pace Gallery at Art Basel Qatar in February 2026. Photo: Art Basel

Art Basel Qatar, which was held from February 5 to 7, 2026, hosted more than 85 galleries and drew over 17,000 visitors. Photo: Art Basel

Singaporean artist Ming Wong reimagines a saint and LGBTQ icon at London gallery

A still from Dance of the sun on the water | Saltatio solis in aqua (2025), by Ming Wong. The Singapore-born artist made the film during his residency at the National Gallery, London. Photo: Ming Wong

Ming Wong stands in front of The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian (1475) by the brothers Antonio and Piero del Pollaiuolo. Photo: Ming Wong

A still from Wong’s Dance of the sun on the water | Saltatio solis in aqua (2025). Photo: Ming Wong

Major Hong Kong literary work The Drunkard reimagined for the stage by German director

The Drunkard will be performed at the Hong Kong Culture Centre in February and March. Photo: Hong Kong Arts Festival.

The Drunkard, which features six young actors from The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, will be performed at the Hong Kong Culture Centre as part of the the 54th Hong Kong Arts Festival. Photo: Hong Kong Arts Festival

Liu Yichang, pictured here in the 1990s, wrote The Drunkard as a stream-of-consciousness novel. Photo: SCMP

German director Sebastian Kaiser. Photo: Hong Kong Arts Festival

A new generation of actors will channel their lived experiences in contemporary Hong Kong into the characters of The Drunkard. Photo: Hong Kong Arts Festival.

A still from In the Mood for Love by director Wong Kar-wai, who was a fan of Shanghai-born writer Liu Yichang. Photo: courtesy of Block 2 Pictures

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Husband and wife William Soo and Stephanie Kwok, who relocated to Qatar in 2017. Photo: Emily Hung

Ruby Kong, who moved to Qatar in January, is enjoying her new job, which offers her greater flexibility and less stress than her previous role in Hong Kong. Photo: Emily Hung

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Revitalisation efforts have breathed new life into northern Hong Kong’s 300-year-old Hakka village community of Lai Chi Wo, which was once home to more than 1,000 residents.

Tsang Wai-yip, the village chief of Hong Kong Hakka village Lai Chi Wo, holds a traditional Hakka pork bowl as part of the “Lai Chi Wo Chronicles: Village Culture & Archives Exhibition”. It is one of two current projects in Hong Kong aiming to shed light on the culture of the Hakka people. Photo: SEE Network

Lai Chi Wo is a 300-year-old Hakka village in the northeastern corner of Hong Kong. Now it is one of the villages hosting exhibitions to teach visitors about Hakka culture.

Patsy Cheng is the curator of the “Lai Chi Wo Chronicles: Village Culture & Archives Exhibition”. Photo: SEE Network

Two culinary workshops were held as part of the exhibition, in which villagers taught visitors how to make traditional Hakka dishes. Photo: SEE Network

Nian gao is a traditional Hakka dessert that symbolises auspiciousness and yearly advancement. Photo: SEE Network

Koon Man Space is housed in a former village school in Chuen Lung, in Hong Kong’s Tsuen Wan district. Photo: HKIPF Koon Man Space

Sunny Wong’s photographs document the folk wisdom of Chuen Lung as villagers upcycle everyday items. Photo: HKIPF Koon Man Space

Artist Yim Sui-fong’s Gwo Lung Tong installation takes inspiration from villager Tsang Kim-man’s childhood memories of picking up and playing with things from nature. Photo: HKIPF Koon Man Space

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All eyes are on the growing cultural scene in the Middle East, thanks in no small part to the inaugural Art Basel Qatar, held in Doha


All eyes are on the growing cultural scene in the Middle East, thanks in no small part to the inaugural Art Basel Qatar, held in Doha.


Is Doha the Middle East’s next art hub? City aims high with Art Basel Qatar, new museums

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}All eyes are on the growing cultural scene in the Middle East, thanks in no small part to the inaugural Art Basel Qatar, held in Doha

All eyes are on the growing cultural scene in the Middle East, thanks in no small part to the inaugural Art Basel Qatar, held in Doha