Qatar Museums Authority is celebrating its partnership with Google on the pathbreaking Google Art Project, which enables people to discover and view more than 30,000 artworks online in extraordinary detail including the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) and mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art. The event will take place on April 24, 2012 in the Museum of Islamic Art Auditorium at 6:00 pm. This event will feature a conversation between our museum directors and Google Art Project leaders, allowing attendees to get a behind-the-scenes peek at the making of the project in Qatar, and why it's so important to open our culture's doors to the world. The Museum of Islamic Art and mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art are the only museum in the Middle East to keep their doors open 24/7 with the Google Art Project. Art lovers are able to explore a wide range of artworks at a brushstroke level, take a virtual tour of a museum, and even build their own collections to share from paintings, sculptures, street art, and photographs with just a few mouse clicks.
The partnership between QMA and Google is part of a major global expansion of the project, which now counts 151 partners in 40 countries. More than 30,000 high resolution objects are available, up from the original 1,000 in only nine museums. Streetview technology images now cover 46 museums, with more on the way. All members of the public are welcome to attend by only RSVP to http://googleartqatar.eventbrite.com
About Qatar Museums Authority
Established in 2005 by His Highness the Emir, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani to combine the resources of all museums in the State of Qatar, Qatar Museums Authority (QMA) is a governmental organization whose remit is to develop museums and cultural institutions and provide an effective system for collecting, protecting, preserving and interpreting historic sites, monuments and artifacts. Under the leadership of its Chairperson H.E. Sheikha Al Mayassa, QMA is transforming the State of Qatar into a cultural hub of the Middle East. The Museum of Islamic Art, inaugurated in 2008, is the Authority’s flagship project. The organization won further global acclaim with the December 2010 opening of Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art. QMA’s goal of becoming a “global leader in the world of museums, art and heritage” will be advanced in the coming years with ambitious, world-class projects, including the Jean Nouvel-designed National Museum of Qatar. For further information, please visit www.qma.org.qa.
About the Museum of Islamic Art
Representing the full scope of Islamic art, the Museum of Islamic Art collection features manuscripts, ceramics, metal, glass, ivory, textiles, wood and precious stones. Collected from three continents—including countries across the Middle East and reaching as far as Spain and China—the Museum’s artworks represent the diversity of the Islamic world and date from the 7th through the 20th centuries. The Museum rises from the sea on Doha’s Corniche and was designed by noted architect I.M. Pei, who was inspired by elements of classic Islamic architecture. The Museum of Islamic Art is the flagship project of the Qatar Museums Authority, which under the leadership of its Chairperson, H.E. Sheikha Al Mayassa, is transforming the State of Qatar into a cultural capital of the Middle East.
About MATHAF
The first institution of its kind in the region, Mathaf offers an Arab perspective on modern and contemporary art and supports creativity, promotes dialogue and inspires new ideas. The 5,500-square-meter (59,000-square-foot) Museum, located in a former school building in Doha’s Education City, has a collection that offers a rare comprehensive overview of modern Arab art, representing the major trends and sites of production spanning the 1840s through the present. Mathaf presents exhibitions that situate the Arab world in relation to a larger art context and also offers programs that engage the local and international community, encourage research and scholarship and contribute to the cultural landscape of the Gulf region, the Middle East, the Arab Diaspora and beyond.
No comments:
Post a Comment