Q. 카타르 미술현장에서 일하게 된 계기는 무엇인가요?

A. 아랍 현대미술의 역사를 새롭게 구축하는 거대한 흐름의 현장에 일하고 싶었던 것 같아요. 제안을 받았던 2011년 당시 마타프 아랍현대미술관(mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art)은 신생미술관이었고 기존의 발전된 모델들을 도입함과 동시에 새로운 아이디어들을 유동적으로 수용하는 시스템이었기에 제가 창의적으로 일할 수 있는 최적의 조건을 갖추고 있었죠.

Q. 현재 옮긴 부서가 카타르미술관위원회의 문화전략팀인데 여기서 구체적으로 하는 역할은 무엇인가요? 

A. 제가 담당하는 ‘Years of Culture’는 매해 주빈국을 정해 문화예술을 교류하는 프로젝트인데 2012년 첫 해 일본을 시작으로 영국, 브라질을 거쳐서 올해는 터키와 교류를 앞두고 있습니다. 인터네셔널 현대미술 미술전시부터, 레지던시, 국제 교류 프로그램, 그리고 퍼블릭 프로그램에 이르기까지 다양한 프로그램을 짜고 실행시키는 일인데 특히 올해는 카타르의 현대미술작가들에게 주력할 예정입니다. 

Q. 다양한 문화권과 프로젝트를 진행하면 하루하루가 새로울 것 같네요.

A. 문화의 외교적 측면에서 다양한 문화는 또 다른 모습인 것 같아요. 문화는 사람들의 삶의 모습을 반영하고 이를 교류하므로 사람과 사람을 이해하고 알아가는 다리를 형성해가죠. 카타르의 문화예술을 전하고 그들의 그것을 반영해오는 과정들이 흥미로와요.

Q. 아랍에선 낯선 일본과 중국 현대미술 프로젝트도 진행하셨지요?

A. 네. 동아시아 지역에 대한 문화예술은 저뿐만이 아니라 중동지역에선 아직 많이 낯설죠. 2011년 카타르미술관에서 개최한 중국의 차이 구어치앙(Cai Guo-Qiang)의 개인전 ‘Saraa’과 중동지역 최초로 개최되었던 무라카미 다카시(Takashi Murakami)의 대규모 개인전 ‘Ego’를 통해서 동아시아에 대한 동시대 문화의 한 국면을 접하게 되었고 완전히 매료가 되었어요. 차이 구어치앙의 전시는 제가 카타르에서 처음 맡은 프로젝트였어서 더욱 기억에 남는 것 같아요. 중국의 이슬람문화권인 천주(泉州, Quanzhou)지역에 대한 작업이었는데, 아랍의 문화와 중국의 이슬람역사에서 보여지는 도상학에 대한 연구를 바탕으로 한 작업이었죠. 480개의 도자기 패널의 드리워진 거대화약 퍼포먼스 작업 <Fragile>과 천주에서 가져온 바위로 가득매운 <Homecoming>은 작업의 밀도와 스케일 면에서 압도적이었지요. 이번 홍콩바젤에서 만나게 될 아시아의 작가들이 기대됩니다.

말락 하산(Malak Hassan)

레바논 출신의 기획자이며 영국 런던시티대학에서 문화정책/경영학과석사를 수여하였다. 마타프아랍현대미술관의 공공프로젝트 큐레이터를 거쳐, 현재 ‘카타르뮤지엄위원회’의 ‘전략적 문화교류팀’에서 프로젝트 스페셜리스트로 일하고 있다.

인터뷰 영문버전 ▼

Q. What made you move to Qatar to work in the arts sector? 

A. I suppose I wanted to be in the Arab region, to be a part of the big initiative in the advent of the world’s first Arab museum of modern art, ‘mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art’. As a new museum, mathaf adapted a well-established creative framework, allowing me to develop creative strategies across projects and programs, which I managed. 

Q. What is your main focus in your position at the Office of Strategic Cultural Relations at ‘Qatar Museums’.

A. My role is diverse. I am responsible for exhibitions and programs within the Qatar Years of Culture from planning to realizing actual projects.  Having started with Japan in 2012, the Years of Culture have had cultural exchanges with the United Kingdom in 2013 and Brazil in 2014. In this year, Qatar Turkey 2015, we are about to embark a number of interesting projects such as international exhibitions, artist’s residencies, public programs, exchanges and more. I am also focusing on showcasing contemporary art from Qatar, for this year.

Q. Working on diverse cultural exchanges must have stimulated your life day by day? 

A. Yes, indeed. Working within cultural exchange and diplomacy definitely shapes your personality in an amazing way. Arts and Culture tell stories about people in different countries. During such cultural exchanges we show others the stories we have and we bring others’ stories to us, hence building bridges, understanding and awareness. Such experiences shape your personality in a nice way and add a lot to you as a person.  

Q. You have worked on projects that involve contemporary art from Japan and China, which were relatively new to the audiences in the Arab region. Please tell us more about it. 

A. East Asia is not something new for Qatar anymore, for many years we have had many cultural exchanges, especially with China and Japan. For instance, when I joined Mathaf the first exhibition I was involved with was the Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang’s exhibition Saraab (2011);this exhibition explored both historic and contemporary iconography of the Arab culture and the Islamic history of Quanzhou. I specifically worked around ‘Fragile’: a performative gunpowder installation on 480 panels of porcelain commissioned by ‘mathaf’ and I also worked on ‘Homecoming’ which was a magnificent installation of rocks brought from Quanzhou to Doha. Working around such inspirational pieces was certainly a very enriching experience. As per Japan, Qatar Museums organised Murakami Takashi’s major exhibition ‘Ego’ for the first edition of the Years of Culture in 2012. These experiences really gave me the opportunity to be exposed to the East Asian culture, by which I am really impressed. I am hoping to visit Art Basel Hong Kong this year and explore the vivid art scenes in Asia further.