Written by Ken Lai
Looking back at the major sports events of the past, the host countries will promote urban planning, so as to welcome the event, so that global visitors can recognize their own culture and promote local tourism.
In recent years, countries in the Middle East have been actively expanding the contemporary art industry, and the 2022 World Cup will be held in Qatar in November, and the local government announced that it will make the country a "public art museum", and 40 large-scale sculptures will be exhibited to welcome this quadrennial event.
Visitors will be able to enjoy the works of Jeff Koons, Yayoi Kusama, KAWS and other famous artists in the crowded alley, as well as the ingenuity of Middle Eastern artists everywhere.
KAWS works located at Hamad International Airport in Qatar
The exhibit in Qatar includes many giant sculptures that have been erected for many years, as well as artists who have created iconic new works for this quadrennial event.
For example, as soon as you step into Hamad International Airport in Doha, you will see the American pop artist KAWS's "Small Lie". The 9.7-metre-high Composite sculpture, which he built in 2018 in collaboration with the Qatar Museum, has now become an airport landmark and is loved by many travelers to take photos with it.
In 2019, KAWS's painting The KAWS ALBUM sold for HK$115 million in Hong Kong, breaking the Asian auction record for Western artworks. However, for the majority of fans, Companion is undoubtedly a kind and familiar creation, and many hipster homes are furnished with at least one or two doll figures.
In addition, at the Sheraton Doha Hotel, stands a 4.2-meter-high blue rooster by Katharina Fritsch. The German female artist is famous for her sculptures, her works have been highlighted in various weight fairs and art galleries, and this year she won the Golden Lion Award for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Biennale, and monochrome animal sculpture is one of its iconic series.
Katharina Fritsch Giant Blue Rooster was established in 2013 at the Sheraton Doha Hotel in Qatar
Jeff Koons, the "king of contemporary pop art", is best known for his "balloon" series of sculptures imitating animals in metal, and has twice become the world's most expensive artist with the orange balloon dog and the silver balloon rabbit. He also played with animal sculptures this time, creating a 21-meter-high mirror polished sculpture based on the theme of Dugong (a close relative of the manatee) living in Qatari waters.
As for Yayoi Kusama, Japan's "Queen of Polka Dots", a series of sculptures and installations will be exhibited at the local Museum of Islamic Art. In December last year, her two-beige black "Pumpkin" was auctioned in Hong Kong, setting a new personal sculpture sales record for HK$55.45 million, I wonder if there will be a "Qatari version of pumpkin" this time?
Jeff Koons is best known for his series of sculptures of "balloons" in metal imitations of animals, pictured in orange "balloon dogs" auctioned in New York in 2013.
Kusama's two-meter "Pumpkin" broke her sculpture sales record last year
Located on the Arabian Peninsula, Qatar covers an area of about 1,200 square kilometers and is expected to have 1.5 million visitors to the World Cup in November. The Qatar Museum, which operates the art project, said that more than 100 works of art will be unveiled during the event, allowing visitors to participate in a large-scale "outdoor art museum experience project" while watching the event.
In addition to overseas masters, the authorities naturally invited Middle Eastern artists to participate, allowing visitors to gain a deeper understanding of contemporary Arabic art, including Adel Abidin, Ahmed Al Bahrani, Salman Al-Malek, Monira al Qadiri, Simone Fattal and Faraj Daham, among others.
Local Qatari representatives include Shua'a Ali and Shouq Al Mana, whose art installation Eqal, completed this year, has been seen as one of Doha's new landmarks.
Qatari artist Shouq Al Mana works Eqal (2022)