Said Dokins jumping in Qatar

SAID DOKINS REVEALED HIS NEW MURAL THE MAGIC SQUARE IN DOHA

The Magic Square by Said Dokins is part of the international festival POW! WOW!

Qatar Museums has commissioned a series of urban interventions by local and international artists, and among them is the Mexican Said Dokins, who has just completed his new piece entitled The Magic Square.

Festival Doha at Al Sadd Metro Station. Mural by Said Dokins
POW WOW Festival Doha at Al Sadd Metro Station 2021
Said Dokin's Mural in Doha, Qatar
POW WOW Festival Doha at Al Sadd Metro Station 2021

It was all possible thanks to the Department of Public Art of Qatar under the curatorship of Sarah Foryame, in collaboration with Worldwide Walls (POW WOW!), an international festival founded by Jasper Wong in 2010 in Hawaii. For the first time, in the Mena area, POW WOW! presents a series of interventions with local artists from the Persian Gulf region as well as international artists.

mural in Doha Qatar
POW WOW Festival Doha at Al Sadd Metro Station 2021

The intention of this is to contribute to the revaluation of public space through art

Thus, Said Dokins created a large-scale mural where he researches increasingly abstract forms of writing, using contemporary media and materials for its execution, while continuing to base his work on practices such as graffiti and calligraphy techniques.

The intention of the piece is to contribute to the revaluation of public space through art and show an openness towards urban art never seen before in the country.

This is how The Magic Square depicts a debate on the sacred, time and memory, as well as the exploration of geometric shapes that make his personal writing system an evocative game between the linguistic sign and the calligraphic mark.

mural in Doha Qatar by Said Dokins
Credit: Ali Al Anssari, courtesy of Qatar Museums ©2021

On the other hand, in this piece, Dokins does not leave out the relationship with the context; that is, we see a constant participation of the public, which contributes to the construction of the text. In this case it was not the exception, dozens of people participated in the elaboration of the text of the work, a kind of exquisite corpse made of the words of each participant.

Said Dokins in Doha Qatar
POW WOW Festival Doha at Al Sadd Metro Station 2021 | Credit: Ali Al Anssari, courtesy of Qatar Museums ©2021

Other artists participating in this edition of POW WOW were Mubarak Al Malik (Qatar), Huda Basahal (Qatar), Alanoud Al Ghamdi (Qatar), Myneandyours (Iraq), Bufifty (Kuwait), RexChouk (Saudi Arabia), Said Dokins (Mexico), Nardstar (South Africa), Said Kinos (Netherlands), Douglas de Castro (Brazil), and Max Sansing and Kim Sielbeck (USA).

Finally, you may also be interested in seeing Said’s Eclipse mural in Vienna, Austria.

Translated by Paula Villanueva