Four visual artists from the UK (Slade School of Fine Art graduates within 5 years of graduating or final year students completing in 2012/13) went to Qatar for a four-week residency in Nov 2013, to work alongside four local emerging Qatari artists (also within five years of graduating) using studio space at the Msheireb Arts Centre (MAC), with a resulting exhibition of new work at Katara Arts Centre, Qatar. The project is organised by Slade Alumnus, Ben Barbour, and Slade Lecturer, Andrew Stahl.

Four recent graduates of the Slade School of Fine Art: Robert Crosse, Jennifer Martin, Hannah Shin and Zoe Shoenherr travelled to Qatar for four weeks to work alongside four emerging Qatari artists using studio space at the MAC.

Work was uploaded and discussion through social media, prior to and during the residency (e.g. Storify, Tumblr, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook), to engage a much wider audience. A public panel/ series of talks was developed to involve a wider public audience, which was held at the Msheireb Enrichment Centre (MEC) / Katara Arts Centre.

The aims of the project were:

• To foster collaboration and discussion between the two groups of artists from the UK and Qatar, by creating an opportunity for the artists to share their artistic practices and exchange ideas through dialogue, discussion and through making and exhibiting work.

• To develop cultural exchange and collaboration in Qatar at a grass roots level.

• To develop long-term cultural relations between the Slade school of Fine Art, UCL (UK), and UCL Qatar.  Long term aim would be to host a return version at the Slade.

The four-week residency was a great success and resulted in an exhibition of new work at the Katara Arts Centre, , curated by selected students enrolled in the Museum & Gallery Practice MA at UCL Qatar, open until 20th December 2013.

http://www.qataruk2013.com/media/blog

http://www.facebook.com/QatarUK2013

Read Andrew Stahl's report about the project on: www.ucl.ac.uk/news/staff.