The Spanish Metaverse that fills the museums of Qatar with light and history, among critics of colonialism

The walls are giant virtual canvases through which the seabed and dunes pass through, with which the visitor can interact.

It is the step before the Metaverse.

The interior of the National Museum of Qatar does not resemble a Spanish museum at all, but it is the work of Spaniards.

's team

has had a good scare on the field that raises questions about their World Cup aspirations, but another team scores goals that make them the champion of art in the city-state of D

oha.

«Qatar has always wanted to differentiate itself from other Gulf states such as Dubai, which opted for leisure, and, in addition to sports, opted for art and culture to show the world a vision of a country in which great works take to the streets. and invite reflection.

Doha exudes that essence," he explains.

, head of marketing for the audiovisual engineering company BGL, from Grupo Secuoya.

"They have invested a lot in galleries like Al Markhiya, in the cultural city of Katara or in its museums," he continues.

The main ones are the National Museum and the Islamic one.

FIRST PROJECT IN 2013

BGL has been dedicated to museums for more than 20 years.

"In 2013, Acciona hired us for a project in Qatar, the Msheireb Museum, which is still open," continues Crespo.

The installation takes advantage of four old facilities from before the hydrocarbon era dedicated to highly varied exhibitions.

The most surprising, to slavery.

The Spanish company continued some time later with the interior design in temporary exhibitions of the Islamic Museum;

the development of the Olympic and Sports Museum;

the Lusail Museum, next to the stadium of the final;

the temporary exhibition of the 25 years of Al Jazeera;

those of the National Museum or the private one in the palace of Emir Amiri Diwan.

«It is normal that the National Museum does not look like a European one, because Qatar has only a few years of history and audiovisual technology is more necessary, which is our specialty.

However, Qatar is a very technologically advanced country.

The investment in audiovisual technology is much higher than that made in Spain”, adds the BLG manager.

Regarding the creative freedom with which they work, Crespo qualifies that "we have had freedom to work, but the content is theirs and we provide them with technical solutions."

THE TRAGEDY OF THE SAHARA

The content is of modernity, tradition and claim.

One of the galleries of the National Museum, an imposing work by the architect

with the shapes of the desert rose, it includes explanatory panels with the outrages that, they say, the colonizers committed.

That is, the Europeans.

Between 'jaimas', he explains how the partition of the Sahara carried out by the French was a "tragic legacy" that ended the nomadic culture.

He alludes to "medical colonization" to decry how the "Sovietization" of Mongolia eliminated Buddhist medicine.

The same happens with the attacks on the environment in the first exploitations of hydrocarbons, when "the Qataris work in a situation of exploitation for British and Indian engineers."

They are critical of the system.

recruitment in the Gulf countries, but they also refer to the situation of Latin American migrants in the United States or to prostitution.

They tell the visitor that the violation of human rights for which they are the focus of the West, regarding the World Cup, occurs in many places.

Arab pride is not perceived only in the stands.

The Islamic Museum is his place of worship, with copies of the Koran from all places and times, pieces from Al-Andalus or original capitals from the Mosque of Córdoba.

Muslims do not worship images, but Qatar is very clear about the image it wants to project with this art diplomacy led by the second wife of the father emir,

, and mother of the current one.

The image of a modern country that does not renounce its moral order no matter how immoral it may seem to others.

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