Zeina Arida is the director at Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, in Doha, Qatar.
Mathaf is home to over 9,000 works of contemporary and modern art by Arab artists and is the largest specialised collection of its kind in the world.
Arida was appointed director at Mathaf in 2021 and was previously Director of the Sursock Museum in Beirut, Lebanon, the city’s leading museum of modern and contemporary art. Once one of the city’s grandest townhouses, the Sursock Palace and Museum was left to the city of Beirut in 1952 and underwent a significant refurbishment and extension project which was completed in 2015. However, it suffered significant damage in the explosion of August 2020.
Arida spoke to blooloop shortly after the explosion and commented: “It was new. Five years is nothing. All the equipment was new. We have worked with all the major non-profits in the art and culture sector in Lebanon; we have done a lot of collaborations in programming.
“So it is not only about the museum’s premises; it’s about an important tool for the cultural sector. It is a public space that can cater to a very wide audience; Sursock Museum is free of charge. This is what makes it even more urgent to rebuild and reopen.”
Arida’s career in the Lebanese museum and cultural sector spans over twenty years. From 1997 to 2014, she was the director of the Arab Image Foundation (AIF). While there, she set up and managed various artistic and photographic preservation projects in the Middle East. She also served as a board member of the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC) from 2006 to 2012 and was a member of the Prince Claus Fund Network Partner Committee from 2007 to 2013. She is currently a member of the Board of Directors of MUCEM, Marseille; a member of the Advisory Board of Darat Al Funun, Amman; and a member of the Scientific Committee of Beit Beirut.
A former advisor to the Roberto Cimetta Fund, Arida also sits on the Scientific Committee of Beit Beirut, a museum project dedicated to the memory and history of Beirut. She has been Director of The Sursock Museum since 2014.