‘Relics’ is the first solo exhibition in the Middle East dedicated to British artist Damien Hirst, presenting works from over 25 years of his artistic career. The exhibition will be on from 10 October 2013 to 22 January 2014, at the ALRIWAQ DOHA exhibition space in Qatar.
Launched in conjunction with ‘Relics’ is ‘Pharmacy Juice Bar ’, a collaborative installation between Hirst and fashion house Prada. The pop-up ‘Pharmacy Juice Bar’ is based on Hirst’s ‘Pharmacy Restaurant’ which was set up in London in 1998.
The original restaurant has been reimagined as a tented juice bar that is like a mirage in the uninhabited Doha desert. Two hanging skeletons are testament to Hirst’s self-proclaimed “obsession with death”.
Hirst’s work “bears testimony to his enduring fascination with the daily intrusion of death into life, and the inevitable decay of our bodies despite an increasingly unquestioning faith in pharmaceuticals,” said a representative of the Qatar Museums Authority.
’Pharmacy Juice Bar’ in Doha
’Pharmacy Restaurant’ in London in 1998
[via KNSTRCT, Qatar Museums Authority, and artnet]