Upending art and culture in Qatar

Here is an interesting article about Sheikha Mayassa Al Thani's effort to basically overthrow all conventions of art and culture in socially conservative Qatar.

The stark and striking MIA
(Bloomberg News)

I won't repeat too much of what's already in the article, but to summarize, she is the 29-year-old daughter of the Qatari emir and is considered one of the most influential people in the art world. The sheikha was granted immense leeway by her father to develop the country into the cultural hub of the Middle East. This includes purchasing art from across the world and bringing in exhibits from artists globally renowned. They are to be displayed at the Museum of Islamic Art (or MIA, but not MIA--equally intriguing in their own rights but vastly different from one another ... ) though obviously not all the pieces are anywhere close to being Islamic or Arabic--Murakami, Cezanne, Bacon, or Warhol, anyone?

I.M. Pei's pyramid, at the Louvre
(www.wikipedia.org)

As with all great architecture, the building itself is a piece of art. The museum was designed by I.M. Pei of the Musee de Louvre pyramid fame (or infamy) in a modernist/Arabic style. Perhaps emblematic of the transition we are seeing in Qatar on so many levels and that Sheikha Mayassa herself is pushing.

For me, the article raises two integral points that I think will dictate the direction of life and culture in Qatar in the future. No doubt the sheikha is a moderate in a country that is--for all intents and purposes--still deeply conservative both religiously and socially (but on some levels more moderate than some of its Middle Eastern neighbors). She spent her undergraduate and graduate schooling at Duke and Columbia, respectively, and I truly believe that studying abroad in the US (though not necessarily because it was in the US specifically) influenced her views on culture, both Arabic and Western and how they are not mutually exclusive. As Rick Steves wrote in his editorial on the primacy of traveling and studying abroad: "Learning in a different culture and place allows us to see our own challenges in sharp contrast, and with more clarity, as we observe smart people in other lands dealing with similar issues."

How then can this drive toward more cultural openness that the sheikha and the royal family is apparently pushing be balanced with the conservative tenants of the country and religious leaders? Granted, it's an emirate and what the emir says goes. But that does not mean he does not need to take concerns seriously. Perhaps all that is needed is time and effort applied. Qatar (and other nations like Dubai) are already looking toward a fossil fuel-depleted future, and I think even the most conservative imam understands the realities of what that means. The broad, general goal of transitioning the country away from fossil fuels is already happening and the MIA (and all that it represents and tries to do) is a cog in that moving machine, as is hosting of the World Cup of football in 2022.

Changing a country from the inside out is all about the slow steady footsteps in the shifting sands.