Ahead of the inaugural edition of Art Basel Qatar, Wael Shawky welcomes us to Doha. Speaking from the Fire Station – the arts institution he heads up dedicated to supporting production, research, and education - the Egyptian artist and Art Basel Qatar's Artistic Director introduces a city where art expands beyond the museum walls, spilling into public spaces and the desert.

Large-scale works by artists including Richard Serra, Saloua Raouda Choucair, Nairy Baghramian, and Olafur Eliasson are embedded within the urban fabric and surrounding landscape.

Shawky positions this landscape within a broader artistic vision – one grounded in exchange, conceptual rigor, and the idea of becoming. 'This first edition of Art Basel Qatar is a statement,' he says, 'to reduce the gap between artists and the art market, and to keep artists more connected within it.'

In Qatar, art has become a way of engaging with place, history, and transformation. 'The contemporary art scene in Doha is the most optimistic, ambitious art scene I’ve ever seen,' remarks Shawky. 'The energy artists experience in Doha, as an international hub, is what enables them to produce work that speaks to everyone.'