A summit to explore what comes next in museums, architecture, design, technology, and sustainability.

Sumayya Vally

Honorary Professor of Practice, Sumayya Vally is founder and Principal of Counterspace—an award-winning design, research and pedagogical practice searching for expression for hybrid identities and territory, particularly for African and Islamic conditions—both rooted and diasporic. A World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and TIME100 Next list honoree, Vally has been identified as someone who will shape the future of architectural practice and canon. She serves on several boards through her interest in dynamic forms of archive, embodied heritage, and supporting new networks of knowledge in the arts. She was named Emerging Architect of the Year at the 2023 Dezeen Awards, and one of Financial Times Readers’ Women of the Year 2023.

Vally designed the 20th Serpentine Pavilion in London, making her the youngest architect to receive the commission, which opened to critical acclaim as being one of the most radical pavilion designs to shape the commission. She was the Artistic Director of the inaugural Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah for which she has been praised for putting forth an entirely new and decolonial definition of islamic art, one that is resonant with the lived and embodied practices and experiences of the Islamic world. Practising adjacent to the academy, Vally has received numerous awards and institutional honours for her contributions to the field, including an Honorary Professorship from UCL, and a gold medal from the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada.

Paola Cattarin

Paola joined Zaha Hadid Architects in 1999 and was made Director in 2019. Havind worked on a wide range of projects around the world, Paola’s expertise spans across design, project management and the overall management of the office. Prior to joining ZHA, Paola gained freelance experience, with various practices throughout Barcelona, Rome and London.

Paola initially studied with the Barcelona School of Architecture (ETSAB) in Spain (1994), going on to gain her Dipl.Arch degree from the University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’ in Italy (1996). Paola has also lectured extensively on architecture, urban design and the work of Zaha Hadid Architects, for academic and professional audiences throughout Europe and Asia.

Sheikha Reem Al Thani

Sheikha Reem Al-Thani is the Acting Deputy CEO of Exhibitions and Marketing as well as the Director of Central Exhibitions at Qatar Museums (QM). She leads a comprehensive team of museum professionals, which services all museums and galleries under the QM umbrella. Sheikha Reem Al-Thani also oversees the development and implementation of QM’s expansive schedule of exhibitions that brings world-class programming to Qatar and introduces Qatar’s culture and emerging art scene to the rest of the world. Most recently, she has overseen the development of several successful exhibitions, including Kaws: He Eats Alone, Making Doha: 1950-2030 in 2019, Contemporary Art Qatar in St. Petersburg and Berlin in 2018 and 2017, and Picasso-Giacometti in Qatar in 2017.

Prior to her current role, Sheikha Reem Al-Thani was Head of Exhibition Design, responsible for the design and production of all temporary exhibitions organized by the QM. Before joining the QM Exhibitions Department, she was an Exhibition Designer at Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art. During her time at Mathaf, she had the opportunity to work with notable professionals from around the world and develop her skills in international museum exhibition design.

Sheikha Reem Al-Thani is also a multidisciplinary designer who works on activation of space through a human approach to design. In 2015, she became the first Qatari to hold a Master's in Design in Adaptive Reuse Interior Architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design. Prior to that, she graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar in 2010 with a double major in Interior Design and Fashion Design.