<\/p>\n
\n\tMathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha has tapped Lebanese architect Lina Ghothem to lead a major campus expansion. The news arrives as the Qatari institution celebrates its 15th anniversary, and figures into an ambitious phase of cultural development underway in the Arabian Gulf nation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThe Arab Museum of Modern Art is an unrivalled institution,\u201d Ghothem said in a statement. \u201cThis expansion will offer a remarkable platform for presenting art and ideas, particularly by artists from our part of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tGhothem\u2019s plan will deepen Mathaf\u2019s research and education capabilities, and generally aim to foster richer social interactions between visitors, according to a statement from the institution. The ground floor lobby and library, for example, will be redesigned as an open space inspired by majlis<\/em> (traditional, often exquisitely decorated, meeting rooms or parlors for receiving guests). The Mathaf library is a significant cultural space already, as it holds publications from across the region; the upgraded space will feature those titles along with ones from the Qatar Museums. Following the expansion, which includes an expanded cafe and book and gift shop, it will be conceptually repositioned as the heart of the museum campus.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThe atrium, meanwhile, will gain a new visual landmark: a monumental portrait by Yan Pei-Ming, to be displayed along with previously announced commissions dedicated to Qatar\u2019s leaders. Later phases of the expansion will see the museum\u2019s existing plaza and\u00a0parking area transformed into studios for artists and designers, including shared facilities for ceramics, spaces for glass and material experimentation practices, and a sound studio created in collaboration with artist-composer Tarek Atoui.<\/p>\n \n\tMathaf\u2019s director, Zeina Arida, described the project as \u201ca new chapter\u201d in the museum\u2019s history. \u201cBy expanding Mathaf\u2019s programs and spaces to include residency studios, maker spaces and workshops, we are transforming the museum into a place where artists can also create,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \n\tThe Mathaf commission is the latest in Ghothem\u2019s portfolio for museums and exhibition spaces. She is currently at work on the Qatar Pavilion, a permanent structure in the Giardini for the Venice Biennale; the AlUla Contemporary Art Museum in Saudi Arabia; the Western Range galleries of the British Museum in London; and a renovation of the Museum am Rothenbaum (MARKK) in Hamburg, Germany. She has previously designed the Estonian National Museum, which opened in 2016. <\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha has tapped Lebanese architect Lina Ghothem to lead a major campus expansion. The news arrives as the Qatari institution celebrates its 15th anniversary, and figures into an ambitious phase of cultural development underway in the Arabian Gulf nation.\u00a0 \u201cThe Arab Museum of Modern Art is an unrivalled […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37895,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-art"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-10-25 19:10:04","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}