Artist Naho Matsuda Showcases Modern Narratives Created from Urban Data at Qatar National Library

Qatar National Library, in collaboration with the British Council, presented a series of talks and art installations as part of the Qatar British Festival, which reflects on the evolving nature of art and the public realm.

On 20 November, Irini Papadimitriou, Creative Director of FutureEverything, hosted a panel talk, “Edifice // Artifice: Redefining Art in the Public Realm,” as part of the Festival’s “Reading the City” program. Current developments in culture, architecture and creative technology today set the context for the panel to revisit the evolving nature of art and the public realm in fast-developing cities.

The panel included the artist Naho Matsuda; Layla Bacha, Art Specialist at Qatar Foundation; and Abdulrahman Al Ishaq, Head of the Public Art Department at Qatar Museums. The speakers explored different perspectives on public art and its relevance today.

Making its debut in the Middle East and North Africa region, Naho Matsuda’s “Every Thing Every Time,” a public artwork also presented in collaboration with the British Council, opened to the public at the Library on 22 November.

Naho Matsuda, said: “Every day, a vast amount of data is generated by us and about us. It is processed by technologies and technologists alike, but who collects and controls this information? How is it captured and stored, and how is it used to shape our future cities?  I am excited to show my installation in this exciting, new context. I am looking forward to the new narratives of Doha that Every Thing Every Time will be producing and how these stories will be read and shared by the citizens, visitors and workers in cities.”

Matsuda’s artwork draws on data streams generated by the technologies, devices and events that happen each day in the city to create poetry.

Waseem Kotoub, Senior Program Manager, Culture and Sport Program, Gulf, at the British Council, said: “The commission in Qatar was a perfect fit for this year’s program, in which we explore the growing role of Public Realm Art in our cities under the theme of people and places. For Qatar, with so many amazing public artworks, sculptural and architectural, we felt it great to bring a digital work in 2019. We believe that this work will create opportunities for young people to learn more about UK contemporary art and create new links between Qatar and the UK.”

Visitors to the artwork at the Library can see poetry written in real-time and revealed on a mesmerizing mechanical display.

Attending the event, Lubna Ali, said: “The discussion was very informative and I learned a lot on the issue of public art. I enjoyed it very much because it also highlighted the importance of art in encouraging creative conversations in the society.”

Atif Safder, who also attended, said: “The event was very good, and I think they should have more discussions like these because people learn a lot when different ideas are being discussed.”