Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar

How does contemporary creative practice respond to our deeply interconnected world?

On June 24, VCUarts Qatar will present Relational Ecologies: Perception, Mobility, and Collective Form, a public symposium that brings together artists, designers, curators, and researchers to explore how creative practice helps navigate complex landscapes of tech, migration, and culture.

Presented as part of أغرب إدراك | Aghrab Idrāk: Thresholds of Perception, an official Collateral Event of the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, the symposium examines how knowledge is produced, interpreted, and circulated through collaboration, perception, and translocal exchange.

The symposium will begin with an address by the Biennale Sessions team, La Biennale di Venezia's Education Area, who will speak to the vital role of academic engagement and bringing research into dialogue with cultural practice.

Bruno Bernardi, President of the Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa Honorary Consul of Greece in Venice, will then discuss the importance of nurturing artistic development and support the next generation of practitioners.

These remarks will lead us into our two sessions for the day:

Session 1: Thresholds of Perception — Rethinking How We Know
Time: 10 a.m. – 12:20 p.m.
This session will examine how creative work shapes memory, perception, and shared cultural experiences through relational art, curatorial research, and textile-based inquiry.

Session 2: Translocal Knowledge — Archives, Diasporas, and Circulations
Time: 2:00 – 4:20 p.m.
This session will explore how artists use archives, documentary practices, and storytelling to examine migration, displacement, and cultural memory across diasporic contexts.

📍 Venue: The Home of The Human Safety Net, Piazza San Marco
🔗 Visit our website to learn more about our programing at La Biennale di Venezia:
https://qatar.vcu.edu/our-impact/biennale-arte-2026/relational-ecologies-perception-mobility-and-collective-form/

How can collaborative research structures generate entirely new forms of creative inquiry?

VCUarts Qatar will be addressing this question in Futures of Collectivity: Collaborative Practices in the Making, an invite only Biennale session at the 61st International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia.

Eleven research labs, members of the Institute of Creative Research at VCUarts Qatar, will present their work at the intersection of art, design, technology, material experimentation, and cultural research. The presentations will utilize a fast-paced PechaKucha format to showcase the research lab as a space for experimentation, mentorship, shared authorship, and situated forms of cultural and material inquiry in response to rapidly shifting social, technological, and institutional conditions.

Date & Time: June 23, 2026 | 1 – 3:00 p.m.
Venue: Invite Only | Arsenale, Educational Space, Sala Armi D

By bringing together faculty, students, and alumni with distinct creative practices, this session illustrates how our research labs function as incubators where unexpected intersections yield new forms of collective knowledge.

Ready to unleash your creative potential this summer?

Registration is officially open for the VCUarts Qatar 2026 Summer Art & Design Programs, running from July 12 to August 6. The programs will offer hands-on experience with traditional studio practices and cutting-edge creative tech. Designed to mirror the academic depth of our undergraduate experience, these programs help young creatives build technical skills, critical thinking, and the confidence to pursue higher education.

The Summer Art & Design Program for High School Students (Ages 16–18) offers students the opportunity to learn the fundamental principles of art and design and explore the four core majors at VCUarts Qatar. Then, they will choose one discipline to explore in depth to get a first-hand experience of campus life and studio-based practice. An optional 4th week will also focus entirely on portfolio development.

For younger students (Ages 11-15), we are offering two programs:

Creative Chronicles will help students bring their visions to life by teaching them about visual storytelling and spatial thinking, and culminating in creating an interactive VR presentation.

Beyond the Layer will introduce students to 3D modeling, 3D printing, resin casting and material finishing, allowing them to turn their ideas into physical objects.

🔗 Register on our website at https://qatar.vcu.edu/community-continuing-education/community-education/

What happens to the thousands of photos we store on our phone?

In Between the Veins, Alice Mohammed Aslem (MFA,2026) translates digital images of her son’s childhood into woven forms using palm leaves and natural fibers to transform fleeting digital moments into something tactile and real.

A meditation on memory, material, and what we choose to preserve.

Discover more work from our recent graduates at portfolio.qatar.vcu.edu

Have you ever tried to visualize what emotions look like?

In Sparklers, Tarishah Ramanda Fadilah (PAPR, 2026) renders feelings like anxiety, dread, and numbness as images of persistent sparks—small, flickering moments that build into something harder to ignore.

An exploration of how subtle emotional states can be translated into visual language through image and motion.

Discover more work from our recent graduates at portfolio.qatar.vcu.edu

+Printmaking

What if a physical space could act as a guide for the next generation of designers?

In Afkarna, Reema Al Mohannadi (IDES, 2026) maps the path from student to professional through a network of connected walkways and thresholds. Inspired by the shapes of traditional doors, the project turns simple transitions into active spots for designers to meet, create, and trade ideas.

A look at how architecture can bridge the gap between education and the professional world, turning empty spaces into tools for collaboration.

Discover more work from our recent graduates at portfolio.qatar.vcu.edu

Once, we looked to the stars to understand the world.

In The Astrolabe: Taker of the Stars, Khawla Al-Essa (GDES, 2026) reimagines the astrolabe—an instrument central to astronomical observation, navigation, and timekeeping across the Islamic world—through a printed and hand-stitched interactive artist book.

History, science, and visual communication converge to translate complex knowledge into an experiential format, positioning the astrolabe as both a historical object and a system of learning.

Discover more work from our recent graduates at portfolio.qatar.vcu.edu

Opening June 1 🇮🇹

VCUarts Qatar presents أغرب إدراك | Aghrab Idrāk: Thresholds of Perception, an official Collateral Event of the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia.

Spanning an exhibition and symposium, the program brings together artists, designers, and researchers exploring the generation of knowledge through perception, collaboration, material inquiry, and cultural exchange.

Co-curated by Dr. Hesperia Iliadou and Chase Westfall, the exhibition features works from ten research labs of the Institute for Creative Research at VCUarts Qatar. Through installation, media, sound, and spatial practice, the exhibition examines perception as relational, situated, and shaped through broader social, technological, and environmental conditions.

The symposium, Relational Ecologies: Perception, Mobility, and Collective Form, brings together faculty from VCUarts, VCUarts Qatar, and collaborators from Qatar Museums around questions of collaboration, perception, and cultural exchange within contemporary practice and research. Across multiple sessions, the symposium explores how knowledge is produced, interpreted, and circulated through creative discourse and cultural contexts.

The program includes:

🗓 Inaugural Event — June 22, 6–8 p.m.
📍 Palazzo Cavanis at the Zattere

🗓 Biennale Sessions — June 23, 1–3 p.m.
Futures of Collectivity: Collaborative Practices in the Making
📍 Arsenale Educational Space

🗓 Public Symposium — June 24, 10 a.m.–4:15 p.m.
Relational Ecologies: Perception, Mobility, and Collective Form
📍 The Human Safety Net

🔗 Learn more: https://ow.ly/gA1n50YZn34

La Biennale di Venezia

Tea, sugar, evaporated milk, cardamom, cinnamon—ingredients that come together to form a distinctly Gulf favorite: karak.

But how did this everyday drink become so central to daily life?

In Routes of Karak, Nourhane Tarroun traces the histories carried within the drink, from Indian Ocean trade routes to its place in contemporary life in Qatar.

Through its ingredients and circulation, the project reveals how what feels local is shaped by ongoing histories of movement and exchange.

Discover more work from our recent graduates at portfolio.qatar.vcu.edu