Qatar Museums has announced the programme for the inaugural Rubaiya Qatar Quadrennial, bringing together more than 120 artists from over 45 countries across Doha from 21 November 2026 to 30 April 2027.
Led by Her Excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, chairperson of Qatar Museums, the initiative is presented by the institution and developed and organised under ALRIWAQ Arts + Architecture, which will serve as the quadrennial’s principal venue and institutional base. The programme will present exhibitions, commissions and public art to venues across Doha, addressing global ecology, water’s place in human history and the maritime connections that have shaped Qatar and the Gulf.
Sheikha Reem Al Thani, Deputy CEO of ALRIWAQ Arts + Architecture, Public Art and Rubaiya Qatar noted: “Rubaiya Qatar reflects our commitment to creating platforms that support artistic research, experimentation and production over the long term. As the institutional home of the quadrennial, ALRIWAQ Arts + Architecture brings together artists, curators, researchers and communities from Qatar and around the world to generate new knowledge, foster creative exchange and shape meaningful cultural dialogue.”
Sheikha Alanood Al Thani, director of Rubaiya Qatar, also emphasised the importance of the Quadrennial: “Cultural institutions in the SWANA region are no longer merely participating in the global discourse about contemporary art. They are setting its tone and shaping its future. The inauguration of Rubaiya Qatar marks a defining moment in this change, with Doha as the stage on which contemporary art from our region and beyond is presented to the world. Foregrounding non-Western perspectives, fostering ambitious new commissions and embedding deep ecological and historical research into its curatorial core, Rubaiya Qatar offers a fresh paradigm for international exhibitions of contemporary art.”
The inaugural edition takes shape around Unruly Waters, a headline exhibition curated by Tom Eccles, Ruba Katrib, Shabbir Hussain Mustafa and Mark Rappolt. Featuring more than 30 new commissions, including Bani Abidi, Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Yousef Ahmad, Sophia Al-Maria, Farah Al Qasimi, Majid Al-Remaihi, Simone Fattal, Dala Nasser, Lydia Ourahmane, Wael Shawky and Ahlam Shibli, whose practices contribute to the quadrennial’s wider engagement with ecology, water and maritime histories. The works span multiple media and historical periods, from tenth-century ceramics to contemporary digital installations.
The wider exhibition programme will include Our Common Currents, curated by Lina Patmali, which explores shared relationships with water through artistic and ecological perspectives, and Seething Sea, curated by Wadha Al-Aqeedi with assistant curator Loulwah Kutbi, which traces the sea’s influence on artistic practices across the Arab region and beyond. Public art commissions will also extend across sites throughout the country.
Taking place across cultural institutions and public spaces in Qatar, the quadrennial includes presentations at the Museum of Islamic Art, Katara QM Gallery and Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art.
Beyond the exhibitions, Rubaiya Qatar will host five months of public programming, with more than 130 artists, curators, thinkers, educators and cultural practitioners contributing to talks, lectures, workshops, screenings, performances and tours.
Participating artists:
Unruly Waters
Bani Abidi
Lawrence Abu Hamdan
Yousef Ahmad
Khalid Albaih
Kamal Aljafari
Sophia Al-Maria
Farah Al Qasimi
Majid Al-Remaihi
Shaima Al-Tamimi
Meriem Bennani
Mohamed Bourouissa
Liu Chuang
Ade Darmawan
Alia Farid
Simone Fattal
Cao Fei
Nicholas Galanin
Shilpa Gupta
Hit Man Gurung
Mayar Hamdan
Sohrab Hura
Saodat Ismailova
Naiza Khan
Saba Khan
Ayoung Kim
Charles Lim
Imaad Majeed
Diego Marcon
Naeem Mohaiemen
Yuko Mohri
Manny Montelibano
Jean Katambayi Mukendi
Oscar Murillo
Hira Nabi
Dala Nasser
New Red Order
Ho Tzu Nyen
Lydia Ourahmane
Pratchaya Phinthong
Tan Pin Pin
Khalil Rabah
Sheelasha Rajbhandari
Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook
Selma Selman
Priya Sen
Wael Shawky
Ahlam Shibli
Marina Tabassum
Newsha Tavakolian
Nathalie Vairac
Adrian van Wyk
Munem Wasif
He Xiangyu
Ayman Zedani
Our Common Currents
Taloi Havini
Latent Community
Miguel Fernández de Castro
Artcom Platform
Nadia Belerique
Basim Magdy
Aziz Motawa
Joseph Ntensibe
KABINDA
Olafur Eliasson
Barbara Chase-Riboud
Lala Rukh
Seething Sea
Abbas Al-Mahroos
Abdul Karim Al-Bosta
Abdul Qader Al-Rais
Abdulhalim Radwi
Abdulkarim Al-Orrayed
Abdullah Al-Muharraqi
Abdulrasoul Salman
Abeer Al-Kuwari
Ahmed Abdul Ridha Saleh
Ali Dasmal Al-Kuwari
Ali Sharif
Ali Yahya
Alymamah Rashed
Amna Al-Baker
Bahman Dadkhah
Balqees Fakhro
Basmah Felemban
Charles Hossein-Zenderoudi
Dalal Al-Obaidi
Dia Azzawi
Essa Al-Ghanem
Essa Al-Malki
Faisal Samra
Fuad Al-Futaih
Gholamhossein Nami
Hamid Al-Attar
Hassan Sharif
Hisham Zubari
Hossein Kashian
Iran Darroudi
Issa Saqer
Jasem AlSanea
Jassim Zaini
Khaled Al-Rahhal
Khalifa Al-Qattan
Mahmoud Sabri
Mahood Ahmad
Majid Hilal Al-Naimi
Manal AlDowayan
Massoud Arabshahi
Mohammed Fadhil
Mohammed Ghani Hikmet
Mohammed Jassim Al-Jaidah
Monira Al Qadiri
Moosa Omar Al-Zadjali
Nasser Ovissi
Pouran Jinchi
Rafa Nasiri
Salem Mathkour
Suad Al-Attar
Tamader Al-Sultan
Wafika Sultan Al-Essa
Public art installations
Rirkrit Tiravanija
Jitish Kallat
Ibrahim Mahama
Lubna Chowdhary
Minerva Cuevas
Shaikha Hala Al Khalifa
Nazgol Ansarinia
Rubaiya Qatar Quadrennial 2026 runs from 21 November until 30 April 2027
