Wajeeha Latheef and family pose for a picture after exploring 'Your Brain to Me, My Brain to You' exhibition at NMOQ on April 26, 2024. Pic: Marivie Alabanza / The Peninsula
Doha, Qatar: Swiss artist Pipilotti Rist’s installation 'Your Brain to Me, My Brain to You' will conclude on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, after an impressive two-year run at the National Museum of Qatar (NMoQ).
Since its launch on March 21, 2022, this immersive exhibition has enjoyed not one, but two extensions, owing to its overwhelming popularity. Thousands of visitors, including attendees of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and the Expo 2023 Doha, got to see the captivating artwork, which is Rist's first in the Middle East.
Pic: Marivie Alabanza / The Peninsula
Open to all ages, a key feature of the installation is the 'pixels' that comprise 12,000 LED lights strung on cables throughout the gallery for visitors to explore. It has earned widespread acclaim for its seamless fusion of technology and the human experience, through the gentle play of lights and melodic sounds, providing a therapeutic experience for the attendees.
One visitor, Wajeeha Latheef, brought her three-month-old baby to the exhibition's final week for the "Instagrammable experience." Speaking to The Peninsula after the tour, she said: "I was born and raised here in Qatar and this is the first time I got to see such mesmerising installation within a museum. After welcoming my first child, I planned this visit for my family and little Nyha because she loves lights and colours. She was smiling throughout our time in the gallery. It's really beautiful—a relaxing and wonderful experience for us all."
Pic: Marivie Alabanza / The Peninsula
Pipilotti Rist in an earlier interview said, "We need to relax our minds and to take the soul seriously.” She described 'Your Brain to Me, My Brain to You' as deeply emotional, stressing the healing aspect of the art installation.
'Your Brain to Me, My Brain to You' installation is located at NMOQ's QBEC Gallery and is open from 7am to 9pm daily, except on Fridays, when it opens from 1:30pm to 7pm. It's free entry for Qatar residents. Book your ticket here, which includes access to the NMoQ galleries and temporary exhibitions such as 'A Sneak Peek at Qatar Auto Museum Project' and 'The Shape of Time: Art and Ancestors of Oceania from The Metropolitan Museum of Art'.
Pic: Marivie Alabanza / The Peninsula
Meanwhile, Rist's second major production in Doha, 'Electric Idyll', is currently on view at Fire Station's Garage Gallery and runs until June 1, 2024. The multisensory art project includes Rist's 1997 piece 'Ever is Over All', which won her the prestigious award for best young artist at the Venice Biennale in 1997.
