Hamad International Airport (HIA) and Qatar Museums (QM) joined hands once again for another exclusive Culture Pass tour of HIA’s growing collection of world-class art, this time featuring HIA’s latest addition ‘Cosmos’ by internationally-acclaimed French Artist Jean-Michel Othoniel. QM’s Culture Pass tours are guided art tours by QM curators exclusively for Culture Pass members.
During the tour, QM experts guided attendees through the airport to view the impressive collection of local and international art pieces and share valuable insight into the art pieces and their artists. The tour highlighted HIA’s newest installation, ‘Cosmos’, launched earlier this month. Othoniel’s inspiration for Cosmos is an artefact from the collection of the Museum of Islamic Art, the oldest surviving Islamic astrolabe in the world. Othoniel created a large and intricate globe installation that symbolises the path of travellers around the world, using gold to gild the steel structure and emulate warmth and sunlight. When viewed from the side or below, the artwork appears as a bright and beautifully-detailed calligraphy drawn in space. ‘Cosmos’ has found a home in HIA’s North Node, near concources D and E.
HIA’s art collection continues to grow as Cosmos joins other iconic pieces within the terminal, including the unforgettable bright yellow Lamp Bear by Urs Fischer, Small Lie by KAWS, a series of Oryx sculptures by Dutch artist Tom Claassen, and dynamic installations like Playground by American artist Tom Otterness. Other artists with pieces inside the airport include Adel Abdessemed, Dia Azzawi, Ahmed Al Bahrani, Maurizio Cattelan, Don Gummer, Keith Haring, Damien Hirst, Jenny Holzer, Marc Quinn, Anselm Reyle, Rudolf Stingel and Bill Viola.
QM works extensively with local and international talents to secure artwork for key spaces throughout HIA as part of its mission to create accessible art and cultural experiences for Qatar’s residents and visitors.
The QM Culture Pass programme offers nearly 20,000 members unique access to diverse cultural activities across Qatar. Members receive a vast range of benefits from QM and its partners, including access to workshops that develop creative skills and explore exhibition-related themes.
To sign up for the Culture Pass Programme visit qm.org.qa. Send an email to [email protected] to sign up for the HIA public art tour.
