Doha, Qatar, 8 January 2026 — Qatar Museums is pleased to announce the launch of the Lusail Museum Conversations, an ongoing series of public lectures and events. The inaugural season, titled The Late Ottoman World: At the Roots of the Modern Middle East, runs from January to April 2026 and will take place at Georgetown University in Qatar. Across five in-depth talks, the series examines questions of authority, artistic expression, reform, and belonging during the nineteenth century, revealing the foundations of many dynamics that continue to shape the region today. This is the first of a longer cycle of thematic seasons.
Designed as a platform for dialogue, scholarship, and cultural exchange, the programme invites audiences to explore, with leading speakers, the cities, stories, and figures of the nineteenth-century Middle East and beyond.
Through conversations led by internationally recognised historians and cultural figures who are also acclaimed storytellers, audiences will learn unexpected stories about late Ottoman culture and the roots of the modern Middle Eastern, discovering how people negotiated the challenges and appeal of European modernity in a world rooted in its own history.
The inaugural season brings together five lectures and a film screening, each delving into key aspects of the late Ottoman world. From exploring the intersections of art, authority, and reform, to questions of identity and cultural exchange, the talks examine how pivotal figures and events shaped the cultural and artistic landscapes of the nineteenth-century Middle East. Audiences will gain insight into palace culture, diplomacy, the experiences of imperial elites, the contributions of women artists, and the legacies of memory and migration in the region.
Season One Programme:
- Talk 1 | 13 January 2026 | Edhem Eldem
Princes, Patrons, and Painters: The Ottoman Palace and the Challenge of Modernity
In this lecture, Edhem Eldem explores the paintings of the last Ottoman caliph, Abdülmecid (1868-1944), examining how he used his own art to project a self-image of modernity and responsibility following the Young Turk Revolution of 1908. Through the lens of palace culture and visual production, his practice sheds light on the paradoxes of Ottoman modernisation and the often-overlooked role of imperial figures in shaping cultural narratives.
- Talk 2 | 27 January 2026 | Ridha Moumni
At the Empire’s Edge: Art, Authority, and Reform in Nineteenth-Century Tunis
This lecture shows how Tunisia’s rulers reshaped political imagery and ceremonial language in the nineteenth century to assert new dynamics of reform and transformation. Starting with the Tunisian Bey’s historic visit to Paris in 1846, it explores how art, diplomacy, and architecture positioned the country at a crossroads of Ottoman reform, Mediterranean exchange, and an emerging modern statehood.
- Talk 3 | 16 February 2026 | Mostafa Minawi
Arab-Ottoman Imperialists of Istanbul at the Fall of a Multicultural Empire
In this lecture, Mostafa Minawi brings to life the experiences of Arab members of the Ottoman imperial elite living and working in Istanbul at the turn of the twentieth century. Drawing on archival research and his award-winning book Losing Istanbul (2022), Minawi reconsiders narratives of nationalism and ethno-racialisation, showing how loyalists from across the empire navigated identity, power, and belonging during the final years of Ottoman rule.
- Talk 4 | 1 April 2026 | Gizem Tongo
Painting “Like a Man”: Orientalism and Women Artists in the Late Ottoman Empire
This lecture centres on the pioneering late Ottoman painter Mihri, situating her career within broader debates on Orientalism and artistic agency. Through close analysis of women artists’ practices, the talk explores how they confronted and at times transformed the social and institutional hierarchies that shaped their world.
- Talk 5 | 14 April 2026 | Philippe Aractingi
Héritages: Film Screening and Public Conversation
The season concludes with a screening of Héritages (2014), a film which offers reflections on exile, memory, and transmission across generations in the Levant, through personal archives and family history. It will be followed by a conversation with award-winning director Philippe Aractingi, hosted by Alain Fouad George, Director of Lusail Institute.
This year Qatar Museums celebrates Evolution Nation, a campaign honouring Qatar’s cultural journey over the past 50 years, since the founding of the National Museum of Qatar. Curated by Qatar Creates, the national movement positions Qatar as a global hub for art, culture, and creativity. Evolution Nation highlights both the nation’s cultural milestones and its aspirations for the future.
For more information and to secure a seat, please contact nelhajj@qm.org.qa.
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