A Chinese festival, a Chinese movie week, and an exhibit of Chinese artists are among the events the nation of Qatar is hosting in 2016 as part of the China-Qatar Year of Cultural Exchange.

At the Qatar Museum, leading contemporary artist Cai Guoqiang is curating an eclectic collection of installations and multimedia with the hope of inspiring young Arab artists.

contemporary artist Cai Guoqiang

''Freedom'', that’s the title of Sun Yuan and Peng Yu’s pressure-hose installation featuring a thrashing, water-spouting fire hose inside a metal chamber.

Huang Yong Ping’s enormous “Wu Zei” - translated as “cuttlefish” or “pollution” in Chinese - warns of human destruction of the natural environment.

They are two of 15 contemporary Chinese artists commissioned for this exhibition

The exhibition is called 'What About the Art?' because the focus shifts away from traditional contemporary art themes of politics, history, and culture to the creative powers of the individual artists themselves.

Curated by renowned Fujian Province artist, Cai Guo-Qiang - whose works have appeared at the Gugenheim, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and even at Beijing’s 2008 Olympics, the exhibition took three years to plan, research, and implement.

Cai Guo-Qiang curates eclectic exhibition

In choosing exhibitors, Guo-Qiang viewed more than two hundred artist portfolios.

Highlights include Xu Bing’s recreation of a classic Ming-Dynasty landscape using dried leaves, cotton, and plastic bags, held together with fishing line and tape and reflected onto canvas.

Award-winning video-game designer Jenova Chen’s interactive, multimedia stations champion timeless beauty over violence and war, and they are popular with museum visitors.

More than six hundred clay sculptures went into this display called “Play” by Hu Zhijun, who took up sculpting a mere three years ago.

And Liu Wei’s “Big Dog” installation is made from ox-hide dog chews. It's billed as an exploration of material, medium, and form, reflecting the historical nature of power and dimensions in religion, politics, society, and individuals.

The exhibition - intended to redefine how we look at Chinese artists and their art - runs through July.

Cai Guo-Qiang curates eclectic exhibition