Media Center

Bahrain National Theater hosted , on 1 November 2017, the opening ceremony of  the “HOUE” installation by French-Iraqi artist Mehdi Moutashar, in the presence of H.E Shaikh Rashid bin Khalifa Al-Khalifa, Interior Ministry Undersecretary for Nationality, Passports and Residence Affairs,  Honorary President for Bahrain Arts Society, H.E Shaikha Mai Bint Mohammad Al-Khalifa, President of Bahrain’s Authority for Culture & Antiquities, as well as a number of artists and lovers of culture in Bahrain.
The exhibition is organized in cooperation with  Al Bareh Art Gallery, and the French Embassy and will run until 30 December 2017. The HOUE installation exhibition, inspired by inspired by painting, sculpture and architecture, will be exhibited at the Theatre’s foyer, allowing the visitors to directly interact with it.
In parallel, artist Mahdi Moutasher is showcasing another art exhibition, Measuring Space,  at al-Bareh art gallery, Adliya on 2 November 2017 at 7:00 pm. The artist solo exhibition work is influenced by two aesthetics, the western geometric abstraction, and the Islamic decorative motives that forsakes literal representations for its own geometric abstraction and complex calligraphy. The second part of the exhibition is a series of wall pieces made using elastic wire, which the artist uses as a new way of drawing which he uses to question the vibrations and continuity of the straight line. The third and final part of the exhibit is a series of models, representing the significance that Moutashar places on creating models as part of the work process of creating art, allowing the viewer a glimpse into how the idea for an artwork originates and the art creation process that yields the final work. It is an invitation to the veritable ‘laboratory represented by the studio.’
Mehdi Moutashar was born in Hilla, Iraq in 1943.  He moved to Paris in 1967, and since 1974, has lived and worked in Arles. He was a professor at Ecole National Superieure des Arts Decorantifs in Paris, from 1974 to 2008. Moutashar's work has been exhibited globally, in such countries as Bahrain, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany Iraq, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the UAE, and the US.