7
Richard Serra's tallest public work — seven steel plates honouring the spiritual weight of the number in Islamic culture.
7 stands at the end of Museum of Islamic Art Park, where seven steel plates rise in a heptagonal arrangement. Unveiled in 2011, it is both the tallest public artwork in Qatar and the tallest piece Serra has ever made. The number seven echoes the days of the week, the colours of the rainbow and layered spiritual symbolism in Islamic culture, translated into mass and shadow rather than ornament.
I. M. Pei, architect of the Museum of Islamic Art, personally recommended Serra to Qatar Museums for the commission, linking the park's architectural rigour with sculptural equivalent.
Exhibo editorial
Serra's trick is to make steel feel like it is leaning on you. 7 does that with Gulf sky as the ceiling and the museum's limestone as a neighbour.
Visit at low sun when the plates throw long shadows across the grass, then walk the park's other commissions before heading into MIA itself.
How to find it
At the southern end of MIA Park on the Doha Corniche, outside the Museum of Islamic Art. The park is open to the public; combine with the museum and Corniche promenade.
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