Future City, a Pop-Up Mathaf project initiated by Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, Qatar in partnership with the Liverpool Biennial and in collaboration with Tate Liverpool, and Liverpool John Moores University, will take place in various locations in Liverpool, as part of Qatar UK 2013 Year of Culture, on Friday 27 and Saturday 28 September 2013.

Future City investigates the connections and asymmetries between cities and considers the optimistic agendas for urban transformation surrounding the partner institutions. It is also an exploration of the ability of contemporary art and cultural knowledge production to imagine urban and social development in a global context.

The programme includes a day-long forum with contributions from distinguished thinkers and practitioners in the fields of art, architecture, urbanism, visual culture and sociology on Friday 27 September at Liverpool John Moores University. A series of expeditions exploring the city of Liverpool will take place the following day, including a boat tour of Stanley Dock, an excursion to the Homebaked bakery in Anfield with Dutch artist Jeanne van Heeswijk, and a field trip led by artist Bouchra Khalili and writer and curator Omar Kholeif. There will also be a Futurist Library produced by London-based designer Bahbak Hashemi-Nezhad at Liverpool John Moores University for the duration of the event.

Speakers in the forum include Deena Chalabi, Guest Curator, Pop-Up Mathaf; Hamid Dabashi, Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature, Columbia University; Joseph Grima, architect and writer; Francesco Manacorda, Artistic Director, Tate Liverpool; Sophia Al Maria, artist; Claire McColgan, Director of Culture, Culture Liverpool; Andrea Phillips, Reader in Fine Art, Goldsmiths; Nasser Rabbat, Professor and Director of the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture, MIT; Irit Rogoff, Professor of Visual Cultures, Goldsmiths; Saskia Sassen, Professor of Sociology, Columbia University; Noura Al Sayeh, architect; Payam Sharifi, artist; and Imre Szeman, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Cultural Studies, University of Alberta.

There will also be related programming in Doha, and a publication following the events.

Directed by Dr Abdellah Karroum since June 2013, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art opened in Qatar in December 2010. With its unique permanent collection of 7,000 works of modern and contemporary art, its pioneering exhibition programme, its research centre and its educational initiatives, Mathaf has rapidly developed an international reputation, playing an important role as a centre for dialogue and scholarship and a resource for artistic production.

This is the second UK Pop-Up Mathaf programme as part of the Qatar UK 2013  Year of Culture – the first being Continuous City: Mapping Arab London, a three-day residency in London and ongoing research in partnership with the Serpentine Gallery’s Edgware Road Project. The Pop-Up Mathaf programme works by generating dialogue and knowledge around questions shared by Mathaf and the partner institution, in this case the Liverpool Biennial.

The Liverpool Biennial is the UK Biennial of Contemporary Art. In 2013 the Liverpool Biennial embarks on its new long-term plan, with events and programmes scheduled year-round to ensure a sustained dialogue with the city and its publics responding to what is necessary and imagining what is possible in the city.

Qatar UK 2013 Year of Culture is a programme of cultural exchanges and events in Qatar and the UK coordinated by the British Council and Qatar Museums Authority which aims to forge new and support existing partnerships between the two countries in the arts, education, sport and science, while promoting an awareness and appreciation of each country’s culture, achievements and heritage.

In collaboration with Tate Liverpool and Liverpool John Moores University

Forum, 27 September 2013
10am–5pm, John Lennon Art and Design Building, Liverpool

Expeditions, 28 September 2013
11am–6pm, various locations in Liverpool

www.biennial.com
www.mathaf.org.qa