Qatar Museums has announced the launch of the inaugural season of Lusail Museum Conversations, a new series of public lectures and cultural events. The first season, titled The Late Ottoman World: At the Roots of the Modern Middle East, runs from January to April 2026 at Georgetown University in Qatar.
This five-part lecture series explores the social, political, and artistic landscapes of the nineteenth-century Middle East, examining how authority, reform, artistic expression, and identity shaped the foundations of the modern region. The programme provides a platform for scholarship, dialogue, and cultural exchange, inviting audiences to engage with the cities, stories, and figures of the late Ottoman world.
Lecture Highlights
- January 23: Edhem Eldem explores the paintings of the last Ottoman caliph, Abdülmecid (1868–1944), revealing how his art projected modernity and authority after the 1908 Young Turk Revolution.
- January 27: A lecture on Tunisia’s nineteenth-century rulers demonstrates how political imagery and ceremonial language were reshaped to assert reform and transformation.
- February 16: Mostafa Minawi discusses Arab members of the Ottoman imperial elite living in Istanbul during the empire’s final years, highlighting their role and experiences.
- April 1: Gizem Tongo presents “Painting ‘Like a Man’: Orientalism and Women Artists in the Late Ottoman Empire,” focusing on pioneering painter Mihri and debates around gender and artistic agency.
The season concludes with a film screening of Héritages (2014) on April 14, followed by a discussion with award-winning director Philippe Aractingi, hosted by Alain Fouad George, Director of the Lusail Institute. The film reflects on exile, memory, and cultural transmission across generations in the Levant.
Through engaging talks, expert storytelling, and interactive discussions, Lusail Museum Conversations offers audiences unique insight into the cultural, artistic, and historical dynamics of the late Ottoman Middle East.
