Festival in motion - 55 site-specific performances at Qatar’s architectural landmarks, starts Dec 5

Festival in Motion, presented by Qatar Creates, will offer a major international dance and music programme with more than 55 site-specific performances at some of Qatar’s most significant architectural landmarks, from 5–20 December 2022, coinciding with the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. 

Festival in Motion, announced today, was conceived by Her Excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Chairperson of Qatar Museums, and co-curated by two internationally acclaimed artists: French choreographer and filmmaker Benjamin Millepied, Artistic Director and Co-founder of the influential L.A. Dance Project, choreographer of the film Black Swan, and former Director of the Paris Opera Ballet, and renowned American composer Nico Muhly whose music has been performed at the Metropolitan Opera, English National Opera, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall, and others. 

More than a dozen exceptional artists will be showcased in the 13-day programme. Audiences can witness the performances free of cost in exceptional locations across Qatar, including museums (the National Museum of Qatar and the Museum of Islamic Art), public art installations (Richard Serra's monumental desert installation East West/West East at the Brouq Nature Reserve in Zekreet and Tony Smith's Smoke at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Centre, Olafur Eliasson’s Shadows travelling on the sea of the day in Al Zubarah) and heritage sites (Historic Barzan Towers).

Qatar Museums Chairperson, H E Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani said: “We have made it our strategy to take our art to the neighbourhoods and cities of Qatar. From the airport to every part of the country, the landscape is open for people to experience arts and culture, complementing our landmark museums and collections. For the World Cup we have invited Benjamin Millepied and Nico Muhly to curate modern dance performances representing dancers from all around the world.  The Festival in Motion, the first of its kind, will combine the discipline of dance with architecture, art and music.  We hope that these performances will inspire people to think of the unlimited possibilities of creativity.”