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Three exhibitions, an inaugural Chef-in-Residence programme with Mexico’s Elena Reygadas and ceramics by Mexican designer Perla Valtierra lead the launch programme
Doha, Qatar, 29 October 2026 — QC+ is pleased to announce the upcoming launch of MIHAD, a new contemporarycommercial art and design gallery in Doha Design District, set to open to the public on 4 November 2026. Guided by the idea of “Living with Art and Design”, MIHAD will champion Qatari, regional and international artists and designers, connect their work with collectors and audiences, and explore the place of art and design in everyday life.
Through artwork and design sales and commissions, MIHAD will connect artists and designers with private and corporate collectors. Its changing programme of exhibitions and design presentations will be accompanied by talks, workshops and activations, offering audiences opportunities to engage with creative talent and explore the ideas behind the works on view.
“MIHAD is a gallery built on a clear belief: great art and design deserve a home with a strong point of view,” said Kirstin Mearns, CEO of QC+. “Our purpose is simple. We exist to champion exceptional talent and the creativity that drives it. That means artists and designers from Qatar, the region and around the world whose work challenges, inspires and endures. Every exhibition, every acquisition, and every partnership will be guided by that commitment. We’ve created a space for people to gather and linger, including a chef’s residency that brings the same spirit of creativity to the table. Our launch exhibitions mark the beginning of that story. We look forward to welcoming collectors, artists and the public, and to building a gallery that Doha can be proud of for many years to come.”
MIHAD’s opening programme will feature three exhibitions: rooted/ elsewhere, Beyond the Letters and Traces of the Desert Light by Sanae Collective. On view from 5 November to 31 December 2026, the exhibitions will explore landscape and belonging, Arabic and Persian typography, and the relationship between light, materials and craftsmanship. Alongside the exhibitions, a Panadería Rosetta residency by acclaimed Mexican chef Elena Reygadas and a presentation of ceramics by Mexican designer Perla Valtierra will bring together culinary traditions and contemporary craftsmanship as part of MIHAD’s wider cultural offering, extending cultural discovery in partnership with the Qatar, Canada and Mexico 2026 Year of Culture for its launch. Years of Culture is Qatar’s cultural diplomacy initiative that brings Qatar in conversation with countries around the world.
The Panadería Rosetta residency will inaugurate MIHAD’s Chef-in-Residence programme, connecting food, art and design through internationally recognised and emerging culinary voices. From 4 to 15 November 2026, Mexican chef Elena Reygadas will bring a selection of the bakery’s signature breads and pastries to MIHAD Café, offering visitors a taste of contemporary Mexican food culture. Named The World’s Best Female Chef in 2023 by The World’s 50 Best Restaurants, Reygadas is the chef-owner of Mexico City’s Michelin-starred Rosetta.
Complementing the residency, ceramics by Mexican designer Perla Valtierra will become part of the MIHAD Café experience. Exploring material, form and function, her work connects handmade objects with everyday life, inviting visitors to encounter contemporary Mexican design through pieces made to be used and enjoyed. The collection presented during the collaboration will also be available to purchase exclusively through MIHAD Café.
rooted/ elsewhere, presented in celebration of the Qatar, Canada and Mexico 2026 Year of Culture, will bring together works by Wadha Alathba, Amna Al Baker, Hamad AlFayhani, Joanna Johnston, Tessar Lo and Karl Mata Hipol. Across photography, textiles and mixed media, the exhibition will consider landscape as a repository of memory, identity and belonging, shaped by both the places we come from and those we come to inhabit. Moving between intimate observations of Qatar’s natural environment, the landscapes of the Canadian Prairies and experiences of migration, the works will explore how places we inhabit, leave and remember, continue to shape our understanding of home.
Presented in collaboration with Design Doha Biennial 2026, Beyond the Letters will explore the hidden dimensions of Arabic and Persian typography through the historical, geographical, spiritual and performative contexts of script. Curated by Ali Asali and Basma Hamdy, with VCUarts Qatar, the exhibition will offer perspectives on contemporary design from Southwest Asia and North Africa, and will foreground traditional practices and heritage often marginalised within Western-centric design discourse. Through audiovisual installations, live performances and material explorations spanning textiles, sculpture, jewellery and experimental publications, it will extend letterforms beyond the printed surface into tactile, spatial and collectible forms.
Completing MIHAD’s launch exhibition programme, Traces of the Desert Light by Sanae Collective will explore light as a material presence and a bearer of memory. The presentation, also in collaboration with Design Doha Biennial 2026 and curated by Tine De Beck, will bring together textiles, sculptural seating, ceramics and wooden forms, reflecting the collective’s appreciation for craftsmanship, traditional techniques and the generations of knowledge embedded in handmade objects. Traces of the Desert Light will include collaborative works by Morevi and Majdulin Nasrallah, and by Shaikha Al Sulaiti and Ángela Ramos Garcés, alongside pieces by Noro Khachatryan, Ayşe Habibe Küçük and Moss Studio. Their works will explore how materials carry cultural memory and how light reveals texture, form and traces of making.
