Inside Doha’s Gulf futurism moment

Welcome to Al-Monitor Doha.

Doha pulses with curiosity this week, inviting visitors to explore both the threads of culture and the contours of the desert. From exhibitions that weave together histories, futures and the human imagination, to adrenaline-charged challenges across sand and circuit, the city offers experiences that range from reflective to exhilarating. Whether wandering a gallery, tracing patterns in cloth or racing through iconic landscapes, Doha reminds us that discovery awaits in every corner — sometimes in quiet contemplation, sometimes in full-throttle motion.

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Reve

P.S. Have feedback or tips on Doha's culture scene? Send them my way at contactus@al-monitor.com.

1. Leading the week: ‘What’s between, between?’

A visitor photographs an abstract artwork during the What’s between, between? exhibition at Media Majlis Museum in Qatar, on Jan. 25, 2026. (Photo courtesy of Media Majlis Museum)

There is a moment when looking forward requires looking around. Northwestern Qatar’s Media Majlis Museum opens “What's between, between?” running through May 14, and the exhibition refuses to settle for simple narratives about the Gulf’s future. Curated by Jack Thomas Taylor and Amal Zeyad Ali, the show examines Gulf Futurism, a term coined by Qatari artist Sophia Al-Maria, exploring the region as a contested field shaped by rapid transformation and lived experience.

More than 20 artists from across the Gulf contribute perspectives that feel both peripheral and critical, including Amna AlBaker and Fatima Mohammed from Qatar, Manal AlDowayan from Saudi Arabia and Larissa Sansour from Palestine. The exhibition uses salt as an analytical framework, referencing histories of trade, labor and extraction while pointing to contemporary conditions of rapid change. It is structured around Earth’s atmospheric layers, from the troposphere linked to global trade to the thermosphere associated with satellite infrastructure and space ambitions.

What makes this compelling is how it positions the Gulf not as a destination racing toward some predetermined future, but as a space where multiple timelines intersect. It asks whose futures are being imagined and who gets to participate in shaping them. These aren’t abstract questions. They’re being answered right now, in cities transforming faster than most can process, in technologies reshaping connection, in decisions about what gets preserved and what gets replaced. Coinciding with Art Basel Qatar and Web Summit Qatar, this is the kind of exhibition that challenges rather than confirms what you already think.

Date: until May 14

Location: Media Majlis Museum, Northwestern University in Qatar

Find more information here.

2. Word on the street: ‘Ade'nnsãda!; Where Night Never Falls’

“Ade'nnsãda!; Where Night Never Falls” exhibition artwork (Photo courtesy of Qatar Museums)

There is something transformative about watching fabric become conversation. “Ade'nnsãda!; Where Night Never Falls” opens at Liwan Design Studios and Labs, bringing together works by 13 contemporary artists from five African countries whose practices turn weaving, cloth and tapestry into vehicles for examining identity, borders and Pan-African solidarity.

The title itself draws from three Kente weaving traditions: Adwinasa, which signifies exhausting all creative talent to make a masterpiece; Nsasawa, cloth made by stitching together individual strips that were initially unrelated but become unified; and Damedame, a checkered design symbolizing intelligence and strategy. Together, they form a phrase in Twi that translates loosely as “night never falls.”

Featured artists include Christine Nyatho, Halimatu Iddrisu, Al Hassan Issah, Bernard Akoi-Jackson and Dorothy Akpene Amenuke. Whether working literally with cloth, fibers and fabrics, or referencing indigenous weaving practices through other materials, these artists activate narratives from the very fabric of society. Some borrow techniques from collage, appliqué or batik while contesting artificial national borders. Others employ material experimentation to explore perceptions of contemporary African art in dialogue with Southeast Asia and the Gulf.

The exhibition positions Doha as a vibrant space constantly opening to international collaborators, offering audiences a chance to engage with a creative scene from lands where night never falls.

Date: until Feb. 28

Location: Liwan Design Studios and Labs

Find more information here.

3. Doha diary

A cyclist during a ride organized by Al Adaid Desert Challenge on Feb. 7, 2025. (Photo courtesy of qatarcyclists)

• Al Adaid Desert Challenge 2026

Qatar Cyclists, in collaboration with the Ministry of Sports and Youth, presents the eighth edition of Al Adaid Desert Challenge. The event features mountain biking, duathlon and trail running races, all conducted on accurately measured courses and limited to 600 participants. Set in Sealine’s demanding desert terrain, the challenge offers athletes an opportunity to test their endurance against sand, heat and distance in one of Qatar’s most distinctive natural environments.

Date: Feb. 6

Location: Sealine, Qatar

Find more information here.

• Qatar International Rally 

The Qatar International Rally returns for Round 2 of the Middle East Rally Championship. High-speed action meets fresh challenges as drivers tackle technical courses designed to test skill, precision and nerve. Whether you’re following regional motorsport or drawn to the spectacle of rally racing, this is where adrenaline finds its outlet.

Date: until Feb. 7

Location: Lusail International Circuit

Find more information here.

• Kazakhstan Cultural Week

Held as part of the Cultural Weeks series organized by the Ministry of Culture, Kazakhstan Cultural Week runs at Darb Al Saai on Feb. 4-7. The event fosters cultural exchange and showcases diversity through a variety of artistic, educational and cultural activities. It brings distant traditions into close view, giving audiences the opportunity to engage with Kazakh culture through performance, craft and conversation.

Date: Feb. 4-7

Location: Darb Al Saai

Find more information here.

• Mutref Al-Mutref concert at Brouq

Gulf rhythms take center stage as Mutref Al-Mutref performs live at Brouq in Zekreet on Feb. 6. The concert brings traditional sounds to one of Qatar’s most striking desert landscapes, where the environment becomes part of the experience. The evening promises a harmony of music and place, each enriching the other.

Date: Feb. 6

Location: Brouq, Zekreet

Find more information here.