Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art

Tomorrow (30 December) marks the official opening in Doha of Qatar's much-anticipated museum of modern art, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art.

The museum - a former school redesigned by French architect Jean-François Bodin - houses the vast collection (around 6,000 works) ammassed by Sheik Hassan bin Mohammad bin Ali Al Thani since the mid 1980s and is the first in the region dedicated solely to modern art by Arab artists. Its 59,000-square-foot space also houses facilities such as education wing and a research library as well as the gallery.

Mathaf launches with two exhibitions: Sajjil: A Century of Modern Art and Told/Untold/Retold. Sajjil - the word means 'art of collecting' - will celebrate 20th Century Arabian art and showcase over 200 artworks from museum's own collection. Told/Untold/Retold will survey commissioned artwork from 23 contemporary artists of Arab descent - the first and largest exhibition of contemporary art of this kind in the history of the region.

The Museum is the latest arts venture for Qatar, which opened a Museum of Islamic Art designed by architect I. M. Pei in 2008, and has hosted a satellite version of the Tribeca Film Festival for the last two years.

Follow the link to artinfo for a Q&A session about the museum with Sheik Hassan bin Mohammad bin Ali Al Thani.