Unearthing Inspiration | Maysaa Almumin x Simone Muscolino | 25 Years of VCUarts Qatar
This episode, titled "Unearthing Inspiration", explores 25 years of VCUarts Qatar through Tasmeem Doha from the angles of associate professors Simone Moscholino and Maysaa Almumin. We talk about what metrics of success look like for Tasmeem Doha and the challenges it's able to take up. Maysaa and Simone shed light on the fundamental role of the Art Foundation on the city, and share how Tasmeem Doha has impacted their own work and creative processes.
Tasmeem Doha is a biennial international conference that focuses on unique and contemporary themes in art and design. For 2024, the theme of the event is “Under Construction”, which is both a metaphor for creative research as well as a celebration and investigation of transformation. It is also a state that Doha has found itself in for decades: a transformation that has presented an outsized impact on the residents of the city.
We’re looking back over 25 years of VCUarts Qatar through Tasmeem Doha – one of the region’s leading and most influential design initiatives – and chatting with six VCUarts Qatar faculty members and key players who have helped make it what it is today.
Under Construction will also explore the past, present and future of VCUarts Qatar’s flagship event Tasmeem Doha. As part of the 25th anniversary of VCUart Qatar's campus in Doha, the event will bring together voices from the past, present and future of various disciplines involved in this cycle of rethinking and remaking.
Simone Muscolino is an associate professor and the director of the Art Foundation program at VCUarts Qatar. He is a multidisciplinary designer engaged in a research practice concerned in audiovisual culture, and time-based media. Muscolino art-directed the video production of several design and architecture firms and worked for both the movie industry and advertisement agencies. He co-founded and partnered Interaction Design Lab, a Milan based company working in the crossover between technology and design.
Maysaa Almumin is an architect and independent filmmaker. She graduated from the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London and has extensive experience in architectural practice in both London and Kuwait, where she was a partner in Small Architecture Ltd, London; and the Director of THEM Designers in Kuwait. She is a member the Architects Independent design collective. Before joining VCUarts Qatar she worked at the Department of Architecture at Kuwait University. She held a faculty position in the department of Interior Design at VCUarts Qatar, then joined the University’s Art Foundation program, where she teaches Space Research.
THIS SERIES IS PART OF THE AFIKRA PODCAST NETWORK
Tasmeem Doha is a biennial international conference that focuses on unique and contemporary themes in art and design. For 2024, the theme of the event is “Under Construction”, which is both a metaphor for creative research as well as a celebration and investigation of transformation. It is also a state that Doha has found itself in for decades: a transformation that has presented an outsized impact on the residents of the city. Under Construction will also explore the past, present and future of VCUarts Qatar’s flagship event Tasmeem Doha. As part of the 25th anniversary of VCUart Qatar's campus in Doha, the event will bring together voices from the past, present and future of various disciplines involved in this cycle of rethinking and remaking.
