Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar

What if a physical space could act as a guide for the next generation of designers?

In Afkarna, Reema Al Mohannadi (IDES, 2026) maps the path from student to professional through a network of connected walkways and thresholds. Inspired by the shapes of traditional doors, the project turns simple transitions into active spots for designers to meet, create, and trade ideas.

A look at how architecture can bridge the gap between education and the professional world, turning empty spaces into tools for collaboration.

Discover more work from our recent graduates at portfolio.qatar.vcu.edu

Once, we looked to the stars to understand the world.

In The Astrolabe: Taker of the Stars, Khawla Al-Essa (GDES, 2026) reimagines the astrolabe—an instrument central to astronomical observation, navigation, and timekeeping across the Islamic world—through a printed and hand-stitched interactive artist book.

History, science, and visual communication converge to translate complex knowledge into an experiential format, positioning the astrolabe as both a historical object and a system of learning.

Discover more work from our recent graduates at portfolio.qatar.vcu.edu

Opening June 1 🇮🇹

VCUarts Qatar presents أغرب إدراك | Aghrab Idrāk: Thresholds of Perception, an official Collateral Event of the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia.

Spanning an exhibition and symposium, the program brings together artists, designers, and researchers exploring the generation of knowledge through perception, collaboration, material inquiry, and cultural exchange.

Co-curated by Dr. Hesperia Iliadou and Chase Westfall, the exhibition features works from ten research labs of the Institute for Creative Research at VCUarts Qatar. Through installation, media, sound, and spatial practice, the exhibition examines perception as relational, situated, and shaped through broader social, technological, and environmental conditions.

The symposium, Relational Ecologies: Perception, Mobility, and Collective Form, brings together faculty from VCUarts, VCUarts Qatar, and collaborators from Qatar Museums around questions of collaboration, perception, and cultural exchange within contemporary practice and research. Across multiple sessions, the symposium explores how knowledge is produced, interpreted, and circulated through creative discourse and cultural contexts.

The program includes:

🗓 Inaugural Event — June 22, 6–8 p.m.
📍 Palazzo Cavanis at the Zattere

🗓 Biennale Sessions — June 23, 1–3 p.m.
Futures of Collectivity: Collaborative Practices in the Making
📍 Arsenale Educational Space

🗓 Public Symposium — June 24, 10 a.m.–4:15 p.m.
Relational Ecologies: Perception, Mobility, and Collective Form
📍 The Human Safety Net

🔗 Learn more: https://ow.ly/gA1n50YZn34

La Biennale di Venezia

Tea, sugar, evaporated milk, cardamom, cinnamon—ingredients that come together to form a distinctly Gulf favorite: karak.

But how did this everyday drink become so central to daily life?

In Routes of Karak, Nourhane Tarroun traces the histories carried within the drink, from Indian Ocean trade routes to its place in contemporary life in Qatar.

Through its ingredients and circulation, the project reveals how what feels local is shaped by ongoing histories of movement and exchange.

Discover more work from our recent graduates at portfolio.qatar.vcu.edu

VCUarts Qatar is proud to present أغرب إدراك | Aghrab Idrāk: Thresholds of Perception, an official Collateral Event of the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia (May 9–November 22, 2026), on view from June 1, 2026 at Palazzo Cavanis at the Zattere in Venice.

Bringing together projects from ten research labs within the Institute for Creative Research, the exhibition invites visitors to explore perception as a relational and situated way of knowing. Through environments shaped by light, sound, movement, and material presence, visitors move through a sequence of spatial thresholds where meaning emerges through experience, proximity, and dialogue.

The works offer a unique reflection of the Gulf region’s histories of exchange, mobility, and layered cultural memory, while highlighting the collective, research-driven practices that shape creative inquiry at VCUarts Qatar.

An inaugural event will take place on June 22 from 6–8 p.m.

The program will also include the symposium, Relational Ecologies: Perception, Mobility, and Collective Form, taking place June 23–24, 2026, a gathering of creative minds that extends the exhibition’s themes through conversations on how artistic research generates knowledge through connection and exchange.

🔗 Learn more: https://ow.ly/hSw450YVU2Q

This year’s commencement highlights, curated.