Qatar Museums today announced plans for a major exhibition to coincide with the 60th International Art Exhibition at the Venice Biennale, bringing the visions of dozens of filmmakers and video artists from the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia to the art world’s most prestigious stage. The exhibition, titled Your Ghosts Are Mine: Expanded Cinemas, Amplified Voices, on view at ACP–Palazzo Franchetti from 19 April to 24 November, will present a journey in moving images through contemporary experiences of community life and memory, transnational crossings and exile.
Your Ghosts Are Mine: Expanded Cinemas, Amplified Voices is produced by Qatar Museums and co-organised by Doha Film Institute, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art and the future Art Mill Museum in collaboration with ACP Art Capital Partners. The exhibition is curated by Matthieu Orléan with the collaboration of Majid Al-Remaihi and Virgile Alexandre, with exhibition design by architects and spatial designers Cookies (Federico Martelli and Clément Périssé). The advisory committee includes Fatma Hassan Alremaihi, Zeina Arida and Catherine Grenier. Project management is by Minas Stratigos and Khalifa Al Thani is the Exhibition Manager.
The exhibition will offer an all-encompassing journey through ten galleries, each dedicated to themes such as deserts (cradles of civilisation and places of rebirth), ruins (relics of culture), women’s voices, borders (demarcations between allowed and forbidden places) and exile, as experienced through selected films supported, co-financed or initiated by the Doha Film Institute and video works from the collections of Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art and the future Art Mill Museum. The films and video works span genres including fiction, documentary, animation and memoir, often blending invented narrative with fact, modernity with tradition and spirituality with postcolonial sensibilities. Included will be excerpts from works by over 40 filmmakers from Algeria (Hassen Ferhani, Tariq Teguia), Egypt (Morad Mostafa, Sameh Alaa), Ethiopia (Jessica Beshir), Iran (Shirin Neshat, Shoja Azari, Ali Asgari), Lebanon (Khalil Joreige & Joana Hadjithomas, Ali Cherri), Lesotho (Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese), Morocco (Faouzi Bensaïdi, Randa Maroufi, Asmae El Moudir), Palestine (Elia Suleiman, Raed Andoni, Larissa Sansour, Abdallah Al-Khatib), Qatar (Hamida Issa, Amal Al-Muftah, Majid Al Remaihi, A.J. Al-Thani, Rawda Al Thani), Sudan (Suzannah Mirghani), Mauritania (Abderrhamane Sissako), Syria (Yasser Kassab, Mohamad Malas, Fares Fayyad), Senegal (Ramata-Toulaye Sy), Yemen (Shaima Al Tamimi) and more than a dozen other countries, as well as video works by artists Wael Shawky, Lida Abdul, Hassan Khan and Sofia Al Maria.
Her Excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Chairperson of Qatar Museums and of the Doha Film Institute, said, “Opening at the same time as the Venice Art Biennale and continuing throughout the presentation of the Venice Film Festival, Your Ghosts Are Minewill open the eyes of multitudes of international viewers to the ideas, the feelings, and above all the artistic visions of today’s filmmakers from the Arab world and neighboring regions. By presenting this exhibition, Qatar Museums advances its key mission of encouraging understanding across borders through cultural exchange, while the Doha Film Institute fulfils its mandate to nurture and promote the rising talents of our region.”
Fatma Hassan Alremaihi, Chief Executive Officer of Doha Film Institute (DFI), added: “For nearly 15 years, the Institute has worked to correct the misrepresentation of Arab culture, stories and aesthetics by nurturing important new voices in cinema. We are proud to have supported over 800 diverse projects from 74 countries, underlining Qatar’s commitment to empower a new generation of storytellers and bring balance to the global film landscape. DFI’s creative ecosystem to foster talents from the Arab world and beyond has enabled them to connect with new audiences, and we look forward to visitors discovering the unique perspectives assembled by a team of experts including Qatari filmmakers Majid Al Remaihi and Khalifa Al-Thani.”
“As co-organizers of Your Ghosts Are Mine, we are proud to collaborate on this innovative exhibition,” said Zeina Arida, director of Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, and Catherine Grenier, director of concept of the future Art Mill Museum. “The work of our two museums is very much aligned, in its own way, with the ambitious attempt of Your Ghosts Are Mineto reorganise the categories we use to understand the 21st century, whether the lines being crossed are geopolitical borders, the boundaries between fiction and documentary or the outmoded distinction between film and video. We believe that museums have a special role to play in fully integrating cinema at large into the history of art.”
“Cinema is not only the mirror of the political changes: it participates in them, anticipates them, accompanies them, supports them, transforms them in a daring aesthetical approach,” said Matthieu Orléan. “These films don’t belong to the mass media and cultural industry. They follow their own paths, never forgetting that they are and will be perceived as pieces of history.”
“The exhibition architecture created by Cookies engages with each of the curatorial themes, offering visitors a diverse and immersive experience,” said Federico Martelli and Clément Périssé. “For each room in the exhibition, Cookies designed unique sculptural structures that respond to the technical needs of displaying cinema in an exhibition context. This approach ensures that the exhibition engages with the architecture of the palazzo, facilitating moments of immersion where spectators can fully engage with the carefully curated selection of films from the Doha Film Institute catalog.”
On view through 24 November, the exhibition is one of several Qatar Museums initiatives coinciding with the Venice Biennale. Mathaf is lending several works from major Arab modern artists to be exhibited in Foreigners Everywhere, the main exhibition of the 60th International Art Exhibition curated by Adriano Pedrosa. Qatar Museums is also a supporter of the Nigeria Pavilion at the Biennale and the founding sponsor of the Art for Tomorrow conference, which takes place in Venice from 5 to 7 June 2024. Your Ghosts Are Mine: Expanded Cinemas, Amplified Voiceswill remain on view during the Venice International Film Festival, opening 28 August.
# # #
About Qatar Museums
Qatar Museums (QM), the nation's preeminent institution for art and culture, provides authentic and inspiring cultural experiences through a growing network of museums, heritage sites, festivals, public art installations, and programmes. QM preserves, restores, and expands the nation's cultural offerings and historical sites, sharing art and culture from Qatar, the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia (MENASA) region with the world and enriching the lives of citizens, residents, and visitors.
Under the patronage of His Highness the Amir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and led by its Chairperson, Her Excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, QM has made Qatar a vibrant centre for the arts, culture, and education in the Middle East and beyond. QM is integral to the goal of developing an innovative, diverse, and progressive nation, bringing people together to ignite new thinking, spark critical cultural conversations, educate and encourage environmental stewardship and sustainable practices, and amplify the voices of Qatar's people. Since its founding in 2005, QM has overseen the Museum of Islamic Art and MIA Park, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, the National Museum of Qatar, QM Gallery Al Riwaq, QM Gallery Katara and the 3-2-1 Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum. Future museums include Dadu, Children's Museum of Qatar, Qatar Auto Museum, Art Mill Museum and the Lusail Museum.
Through its newly created Creative Hub, QM also initiates and supports projects—such as the Fire Station Artist in Residence, the Tasweer Qatar Photo Festival and the creative hub for innovation, fashion and design M7—that nurture artistic talent and create opportunities to build a strong and sustainable cultural infrastructure.
Animating everything that Qatar Museums does is an authentic connection to Qatar and its heritage, a steadfast commitment to inclusivity and accessibility, and a belief in creating value through invention.
About Doha Film Institute
Doha Film Institute is an independent, not-for-profit cultural organisation. It supports the growth of the local film community through cultivating film appreciation, enhancing industry knowledge and contributing to the development of sustainable creative industries in Qatar and the region. The Institute’s platforms include funding and production of local, regional and international films; skills-sharing and mentorship programmes; film screenings; the Ajyal Film Festival; and Qumra, a one-of-a-kind professional incubator crucial to the success of first- and second-time filmmakers from the Arab world and beyond. With culture, community, learning and entertainment at its foundation, the Institute is committed to supporting Qatar’s 2030 vision for the development of a knowledge-based economy.
About Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art
Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art serves as the Arab world's leading modern and contemporary art museum. The Museum offers a welcoming, vibrant environment that invites evolving discussions about modern art in the region and beyond. Home to a permanent collection that offers a distinctively unique comprehensive overview of modern and contemporary art from North Africa and the Middle East, Mathaf ("museum" in Arabic) also performs a vital role as a centre for dialogue and scholarship and a resource for fostering creativity. Mathaf was opened in 2010 by Qatar Museums in partnership with Qatar Foundation (QF) and is located in Education City. The Museum was founded by H.E. Sheikh Hassan bin Mohammed bin Ali Al Thani, who began collecting in the 1980s with the acquisition of works by Qatari artists. Sheikh Hassan later broadened his focus to include works by 20th-century artists throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and the Arab Diaspora and objects that inspired many Arab modern artists, such as pre-Islamic works from ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt. An initial group of works assembled by Sheikh Hassan was donated to the public institution. Over the past decade, Mathaf has hugely contributed to research and debate around modern art contemporary art, made available to scholars and audiences through the Mathaf Encyclopedia of Modern Art and the Arab World. The Museum made itself a meeting point for scholars from across the region around education programmes, conferences, and publications. It serves as a dynamic platform for artists by facilitating the creation and exploration of contemporary works.
About the Art Mill Museum
Completing a cultural district that already comprises the Museum of Islamic Art, MIA Park and the National Museum of Qatar, the Art Mill Museum is designed by ELEMENTAL, led by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Alejandro Aravena. A signature public garden is designed by VOGT Landscape Architects, led by Günther Vogt. A creative village for arts, crafts and design will provide recreational, learning and production resources for the general public and for the creative communities of Qatar and beyond. The future Art Mill Museum will house an exceptional and international art collection assembled over the past 40 years, with multidisciplinary works of great diversity dating from 1830 to the present. In a main building of 80,000 square meters (including 23,000 square meters of gallery spaces), the Art Mill Museum will offer visual art icons as well as architecture and design, films and film props, fashion, crafts, and much more. A pioneering institution in the non-Western world, it will represent the modern and contemporary arts of all regions of the globe on an equal basis, engaging local and international audiences alike through multiple narratives of art history. The museum concept has been developed by art historian and museum director Catherine Grenier and the prefiguration team.
About ACP – Palazzo Franchetti
ACP Art Capital Partners is a cultural organization that benefits from the expertise of talented professionals with experiences in different areas: from fine art management to art history, from curatorship to architecture, from design to music, from logistics to communication, from public relations to event planning. Furthermore, it is embedded in prestigious contexts, relying on a wide network of important international organizations, foundations, museums, public and private collections and art galleries. Constantly growing, ACP Art Capital Partners is able to organize any kind of cultural project. Thanks to its peculiar organizations structure, ACP Art Capital Partners guarantees the respect of high ethical standards, as well as a strong independence and fast operating and decisional abilities. A Venetian icon, Palazzo Franchetti is located at the foot of the Accademia Bridge, on the side of the San Marco district. According to sighsmap.com and many other photo sharing platforms, the show of the Grand Canal taken from the Accademia Bridge with Palazzo Franchetti on the left, and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection and the domes of the Chiesa della Salute on the right, is one of the ten most photographed places in the world.
Media Contact:
Pac Pobric, Polskin Arts, pac.pobric@finnpartners.com, +1 917 903 4434
Alli Steinberg, Polskin Arts, alli.steinberg@finnpartners.com, +1 212 583 2754