Sheikha Alanood Al Thani, Director Rubaiya Qatar, Doha
Gayane Umerova, Head, Department of Creative Economy and Tourism of the Administration of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan; Chairperson, Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation, Tashkent
Lina Lazaar, Founder Jaou Tunis; Vice President Kamel Lazaar Foundation; Co-Director Biennale de l’Image en Mouvement (BIM’26), Tunis, founder of Ibraaz, London
Moderator: Amir Berbić, Dean, VCUarts Qatar, Doha
Across Qatar, Uzbekistan, and Tunisia, new cultural platforms are reshaping the landscape of exhibition-making. Moving beyond traditional models, initiatives such as Rubaiya Qatar, the Bukhara Biennial, and Jaou Tunis operate as agile, commission-driven, site-responsive, and socially engaged laboratories. The discussion explored how these platforms open new possibilities for artistic experimentation, foster cross-disciplinary collaboration, and create public encounters that expand the definition of cultural institutions. Do these emerging models suggest that some of the most inventive directions in contemporary art today are taking shape in the Global South?
Sheikha Alanood Al Thani is the director of Rubaiya Qatar, a visual arts quadrennial launching in November 2026. Rubaiya Qatar aims to enhance Qatar’s cultural landscape and international presence by connecting existing and emerging cultural programs under a single thematic framework every 4 years, while empowering new generations of artists and thinkers through exhibitions, public art, residencies, partnerships, and public programming. As director, she leads Rubaiya Qatar’s development and programming.
Gayane Umerova has transformed Uzbekistan’s arts landscape through cultural leadership. She leads the Department of Creative Economy and Tourism of the Administration of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan and chairs the Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation, spearheading landmark projects including the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Tashkent, the new National Museum by Tadao Ando, and the Aral Culture Summit. She created and launched the Bukhara Biennial and serves as commissioner for Uzbekistan at the Venice Biennale.
Lina Lazaar is the vice president of the Kamel Lazaar Foundation, a Geneva- and Tunis-based institution supporting visual culture, education, and cultural ecosystems across the MENA region. She has led initiatives including the Jaou Tunis biennial and the B7L9 Art Centre. She is the founder of Ibraaz, a London-based cultural institution and publishing platform. She serves on the advisory boards of the Renaissance Society and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia.
Amir Berbić is a designer and educator whose work addresses questions of place, identity, and displacement. As a graphic designer, he has worked primarily in publishing and in design for cultural and arts institutions. He joined VCUarts Qatar in 2019 as the dean, following academic appointments at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the American University of Sharjah. His work has been shown internationally and is included in the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Art Basel Conversations x Qatar Creates Talks
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