art, culture in the arab world

"Now where to?" movie by Nadine Labaki

2011-11-11T03:03:00.000+03:00

Nadine Labaki strikes again with a movie on Lebanon. Entertaining, funny, sad, devastating, stirring emotions, stirring memories, the movie is well done. It also raises many unsolved issues in the recent history of Lebanon: sectarian schism, religious clashes, snippers omnipresence, villages divided, sons killed, mothers wailing, sisters in chock, some hiding, others in silence. The movie is surely a women's voice of the civil war, what could have they done, how did they contribute passively or actively. And the story ends with a total twist of fate that puts hope and gives courage to women in the possibility to alter the course of life.
A must see.

Zahed Sultan, music

2011-10-30T13:40:00.000+03:00

"My single "I Want Her But I Don't Want Her" went live (for sale) today on iTunes via the infamous Hotel Costes 15 compilation :) Already...(in less than 1 day) its sales / download popularity has surpassed EVERYTHING i have done on my part for the past 6 MONTHS to sell my music!!!! Now that's BRAND POWER!!! http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/id456649604", Zahed Sultan comments on his track a month ago.
Kuwaiti artist, with hands on other issues such as an environmental movement with a magazine, a yearly exhibition,consulting, Zahed has talent and is surely enjoying himself. Good music, way to go...

Culinary Photography Festival in Paris

2011-10-29T23:07:00.021+03:00

The 3rd FIPC (International Festival of Culinary Photography) event will take place in Paris from 28th October to 13th November 2011.

Prizes are given to the best photographer, another to the best photography of Heritage food or ingredient, another to food bloggers.
If in Paris, take a look.
The whole industry of culinary photography has taken a new turn:
First, the well orchestrated shooting of ingredients, cooked food and ambiance to entice food appreciation and consumption.
Second is this festival's objective : street food and what do people eat in the simplest form.

Some Tv networks cook all day, bloggers start in their kitchen sharing their daily recipes, a movie was made on Julia Child and the blogger who tried to cook all recipes in her cookbook. Fast food spreading. Slow food gaining grounds.
It all gives a happy ending feeling: they present wonderful looking food, they share recipes and as a viewer, you can watch, but not smell and not taste until you get to your kitchen and do it yourself.
Quite a way to help people create.

Website link to the FIPC

Shoe? Safaa Alset in Bahrein

2011-10-28T21:14:00.000+03:00

An exhibition at Albareh gallery in conjonction with Saks Fith avenue in Bahrein from the 25th october to the 24th of November 2011.
Safaa Alset, syrian artist, works metal and creates sculptural forms.
Her "Shoe" is about also the arabic meaning of "shou" (or What)
The question is surely about the cinderella ever growing syndrom of the shoe in the Arab world. Metal shoes, designers red sole shoes, flipflops, higher and higher heels or any form of shoes to squish those toes and look pretty?
Shou, are we getting out of it soon and addressing issues in the Arab world in regard of what women could achieve?
Shou, do we stay stuck in the realm of pretty pretty girls and brush our vanity?
Shou, will artists know where to look for inspiration on women's condition in the arab world?

Safaa Alset writes on one sculpted shoe : Shou, lawen rayheen (or "What, Where are we going?")
Of course, it is the toughest question to ask in the region today.

link to albareh
link to Safaa Alset website

Giovanni Curatello: Isfahan's friday's mosque

2011-10-05T14:22:00.000+03:00

At Dal al Athar, in Kuwait, Giovanni Curatello gave a lecture on his passionate interaction with Friday Mosque in Isfahan, Iran. Professor of art history at the Udine University in Italy, Curatello started his career as an archeologist in Isfahan where excavation were conducted in the seventies. In his lecture, he talked about the different encounters in archeology, in architecture, in Islamic art, in geometrical patterns. The mosque was built in 772 under the Abasside rule and evolved with added elements throughout the passage of different rulers. The most obvious element talked about is the Dome of Nizam al Mulk, as Curatello mentioned, is an architectural masterpiece in its size, diameter, height and material used.
Curatello seem to travel extensively to the place where his passion started as he showed pictures of mosque taken last september. It looks like he will continue his exploration to expose the mysteries in the mosque. "The monument will only give answers to questions as far as the one asking is ready to receive; and only when it wishes to give them" says Curatello. The tale of the mosque was a "fascinating forest of colors", shapes, volumes and stories.

(more on the mosque : link )

Sept 11, 2011 - Sound of Silence

2011-09-11T22:34:00.001+03:00

Ground Zero in Manhattan at the Memorial for the Sept 11, 2001; ten years after. Paul Simon sings live: The Sound of Silence:

Hello darkness, my old friend...

It is a time in the US to remember the loss of their loved one in that tragedy.
It is a time for us Arabs to remember the loss of so many as a result in the ripple effect.
Security became a vast subject for debate and action. Repression another version. Chaos created. Fear installed. Hatred creeping in.
Ten years spent watching a war on terror, rather than spending it on development, education, creating jobs for the younger ones, promoting acceptance and care.

"And in the naked light
I saw Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared Disturb the sound of silence"

We got all entangled in finding scape goats, isolating groups based on religion or color, fighting other people's wars, destroying our best on the way.

"And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made"

We each have our own war to worry about, but remember that destruction leads only to more of it, while construction takes time and effort, choose the right war.

Milonga sauvage, Tango in Paris

2011-09-05T23:04:00.007+03:00

Milonga is the place or the event for a tango dance. Sauvage in french is "wild".
Through a mailing list, fans of Tango meet up in a place, not necessarily a stage or a room. Music is played, and couples reach out for a few hours of dancing delirium. Girls, if alone, can line up on one side, put their tango shoes on, until a man proposes. No money is envolved, it is not a class, nor a rigid structure.
They swirl on the beat, take the pause in their movement to stay on the tune, they close their eyes for perfect pleasure.

Arabs of the new social media revolution, those who saw all the anti-dictatorship movements, why not use twitter to plan a "Milango sauvage" or a "wild taqtaqa" and dance to new winds of freedom

Life with Saddam: the book

2011-08-25T20:40:00.000+03:00

"My life with Saddam" by Parisoula Lampsos and the journalist Lena Katarina Swanberg was published in the spring 2010 in Sweden. Written locally in Swedish, the book was reviewed by the major western newspaper and rights for a translation were sold to many countries in the West. The closest to the Arab world is Turkey who bought rights to translate it and publish it.
There is always controversy on veracity and authenticity in a story that is hard to verify by other sources. But the value of such a story is to read a way of life that is quite close to Saddam and his sons. It could be field under the Historic/fiction genre.
The question is why hasn't it been translated in Arabic for a wider and more concerned public?
Today in the Arab World, where dictators have a hard chance of long term, future plans; it might be a good idea to reflect on recent history and remember what was life like under them. The value of attachement to history is not a question of emotional memories, but rather a medicine to create a cleaner future without follies of the past.

link to the publishing agent

Rise Planet of the apes / movie

2011-08-23T13:33:00.000+03:00

For those born before 1963, the book "planet of the Apes" by the the french writer Pierre Boulle is the first exploration into the world of apes controlling humans and the injustice seen from another perspective. Then movies, Tv series have been produced, shown in theatres, seen by so many and engraved in the collective unconsciousness. How would we feel if we were the one trapped in the victim's seat?
In the sixties, the racial struggle between black and white in the USA was at it's peak. Today, they have a colored president. That looks like evolution on that front.

We, in the Arab world, should welcome such a movie in force. The Arab world is living revolutionary winters, freedom springs, bloody summers and uncertain autumn, with a common weather forecast of "down with the dictatorships".
The underprivileged need more than despair to move forward. They need that sparkle in the eye that means: yes we can!
In the Arab world, there are many dark areas of injustice and inequality. Women could take a forward stand and be more forceful than just driving in Saudi Arabia. Religious monopoly reduces minorities to hide and lie. And on and on...
One wish for this movie is to be shown without censorship!

Post it war in Paris

2011-08-18T14:57:00.001+03:00

The post-it war in Paris is raging. In the corporate world of offices, it started with an employee who leashed her creativity and made a video game hero on her window with post-it notes. The Bank across could not stay idle and riposted with another video game hero. And it is all over Paris, its suburbs and going beyond!
It has been going for a few month.
Who said one cannot break the chains of monotony with whatever is available around?

Post-it war link to more photos

Moleskine Notebook exhibition in Paris

2011-08-17T13:44:00.005+03:00

"Moleskina Contamina" interprétation de l'artiste portugaise Joana Vasconcelos

At the Bon Marché, in Paris, Moleskine is presenting an exhibition: artists and their notebook. An inspiration in creating within a small scale, sketches and artwork.
Moleskine has a vested interest in presenting its product beyond the iron curtain of intimate, personal space. It is also promoting an important form of art: sketching, playing, changing the tool into beauty.
With a view on what artists do with their notebook, it gives also a closer look to to a work in progress, to spontaneity in the process. Exhibition until the 25th of August 2011

Goldbeater, a lost tradition

2011-08-16T00:32:00.006+03:00

http://youtu.be/gkLi1px1vdo

Goldbeater for five generations, Dauvet is the last one in France. Competition comes fromt he far east, with a few goldbeater makers of the fine thin sheet of gold. But Mr Dauvet has a feeling of a unique art, transmitted to him by his parents, that he holds in his hands and wonders if he will be able to pass it on to his son. A knowhow with tools and machines that seem like a lost tradition, a passion against all modern waves, a pride of production.
Dauvet has on his trophy his gold leaves for the Invalides'dome, the statue of liberty's flame and many others.

Dauvet website link

Creative Spaces - Beirut

2011-08-14T19:04:00.006+03:00

Creative Spaces in Beirut is an outstanding effort from a Lebanese graduate, Sarah Hermez, who decided to contribute in lives of others who could not go as far as she did.
Coming back home after studies at the New School, Parsons in New York, and a few trips in emerging countries such as India and Cambodia, she established herself in Beirut and wanted to share her knowledge.
Against all odds, she took her professor's offer, Ms Caroline Shlala-Simonelli, a lebanese american, expert in fashion making. She looked for a place in Lebanon, gathered students, fundraised all of the above. And it all started.
A two month course in learning: from the very beginning in finding ideas, looking for creativity, until the end product: a exhibition on the 17 until the 19 th of August 2011 in their atelier.
With the precious help of Ms Caroline, the whole process is spreading quality, precise tools and knowledge. It is about sharing a passion.

if you're in Lebanon do not miss the event!

creative space's website link

Jassim al Nashmi and Pete Goché at Iowa State University

2011-08-13T18:30:00.001+03:00

The opportunity of creativity given to a Kuwaiti Student at Iowa State University: Jassim al Nashmi has the incredible opportunity to travel outside his country, study abroad, learn in the best of the situations. He is at Iowa State University in the USA and wanted to work with an architecture professor and practising architect, Pete Gouché.
The story goes as follow:
"I decided to do an independent study with a professor I liked, but did not know what to study exactly. He suggested a course he had designed called Ritual Stations: simply put, you are to pick a domestic ritual that you practice by yourself or with your family and explore it, the end result is the product of this exploration, which can be anything. I chose Muslim prayer, so I asked friends and family what prayer means to them, what kind of environment they imagine would be most comfortable to pray in, what they think about when they pray.

I decided to design a space that would be the manifestation of what I had researched. This space was to be portable, because one can pray virtually anywhere, it was to be easy to construct, because it is for anyone to use, and it was to create a space in any room of any building feel transcendental and peaceful. With the materials and techniques that were available, it seemed like a praying mat was necessary, but also something that enclosed the space but felt like there were no real boundaries, which is what prayer feels like. Using traditional Islamic ornamentation, a permeable partition wall was fabricated that serves as a divider of space; playing with light & shadow and emanating a divine aura."

For a muslim arab student, the subject is thrilling :"ritual stations". Society in Kuwait is still attached to its rituals as a matrix of identity. Jassem picks Muslim prayer, uses the traditional geometric pattern so widely seen on mosques and buildings in the Arab world, and opts for a mat for the use of three adult males as he says "so my dad would pray in front of us and the 3 of us (my 2 brothers and I) would pray side by side."
This all looks like a repetition of what is traditionally available.
But Jassem goes a bit further in his creative process and decides to twist a bit the traditions: he thinks about portability, about simplicity, about availability. He wants to create a place of prayer without clutter and without external input.

It is a good trial for a young student in his capacity to encounter creativity. His challenge was surely to talk about a subject that is generally seen in the US as a symbol of terrorism. But did he really push himself to the limits of creativity?
What did his professor, Pete Gouché, consider for the project's evaluation?
Jassem says: "he was interested in our perceptions of our rituals and he wanted to help us explore them, he is a very humble man so he sees a lot that other professors don't see; he actually learns from his students. "
The student must have learned the necessity to learn from others, beside professors, as the true way to connect with others.

The real question here is whether the student, with his exposure, could come back home and continue to explore the matter with full thrust. Will he be able to push his environment's limits and persist in creativity no matter what his peers' reactions are?
Will he think of integration rather than segregation? Will he feel at home with the whole world rather than an identification to country or nationality?

It is Kuwait greatest asset, beside Oil: young students learning outside and coming back home. It brings in change a step at a time, silently, slowly, without much violent or repression.

Pete Gouché's website link

Modern Architecture for a Church in Munich

2011-08-03T21:30:00.000+03:00

Herz Jesu Church in Munich is of interest in modern architecture, a prayer hall with a combination of space, light, steel, glass, wood and the multiple levels of christian symbols.
Allmann Sattler Wappner Architects won the competition for the Church and they used all contemporary tools to bring into life a place for prayer with a facade of glass that opens up entirely as doors to welcome all. The glass throughout the building is used in different grades of transparency to opacity closer to the altar as a degrees of light in the church. With simplicity in its interior and exterior, light becomes the only revolving effect.
With only a few constraints of use, the building is an example of how prayer places can adapt to the needs of the moments, reflect the era when it is built, remove the pretense of historic gimmicks.
The same location has had two previous churches that were burn down, one by war, the other by accident. Hopefully it will survive a few generation to carry the architectural message through.

link to the architects' web site

Theo Jansen, kinetic sculptor

2011-07-30T16:04:00.000+03:00

BBC report

Kinetic sculptor, using wind, motion, pvc, wings, Theo Jansen uses his creative power, his combining skills to make animal like creatures. Majestic.
Hours of labors, trial and error, he does what it takes to keep his work alive.
Arabs of talent, use your time to create!

Deconstructed Stairways to heaven - Vincent Dubourg

2011-07-29T14:37:00.001+03:00

The '3 Storey Staircase' private commission by Vincent Dubourg,
represented at Carpenters Workshop Gallery
by a to-scale maquette. Photograph by David Brook

Wallpaper magazine displayed a photo of this staircase designed by the artist Vincent Dubourg, commissioned for a home in London by an Arab lady. As a discreet art patron, no name appears in the article. Vincent Dubourg talks about his experience in the project: how he was set free from guidelines and could work as an artist to produce the stairways as he wished. Sprouting from the wooden floor and reaching to the top as an organic element it looks like the staircase has lived there before the house was built. Although the tree feeling is quite vivid, the material used as steel and metal gives a dissonance in the biological alive sensation; but pulls out a futuristic and robotic effect. Impressive.

Wallpaper article (link)
Vincent Dubourg website (link)

Edimburgh jazz festival

2011-07-28T21:43:00.001+03:00

The beauty of jazz festival or any other festival style is the choice: on a given day, let's say wednesday 27th july 2011, you're in Edinburgh and you plan to do what the locals do.
Angela King, a jazz singer (link)
Hidden orchestra / red snapper (link)
Hypnotic brass ensemble (link)
some others scattered in town.
The choice was to listen to Evan Christopher, clarinet player who knows about history of jazz. He plays "Django a la creole" with guitarists David Blenkhorn and Dave Kelbie, and bassist Sebastien Girardot. He talks about Django Reinhardt and how the mix of clarinet, manouch, gypsy and creole music in the jazz tunes started when Django joined the Ellington band. The concert was light, pleasant and entertaining. With the sound of his clarinet, Christopher creates a jazzy mood, soothing! Nothing like live performance.

Lucien Freud passed away

2011-07-25T11:12:00.000+03:00

autoportrait

Lucien freud passed away at the age of 88 and left many of his works to the Arts. In the contemporary world of concepts, installations, abstract, Freud painted reality in human flesh and bodies; he took the time to express himself to the fullest. Not looking at the plastic superficial perception of human bodies, he said:" I paint what I see not what you want me to see"; searching for a truth beyond the explicit.

The giant bookstore "Borders" shuts down

2011-07-20T09:22:00.000+03:00

With store in the UAE or Oman, Borders shutting down by the end of september will have its own effect in the Arab world.
For reasons of profitability and return on investment, the US giant bookstore that had in stock more than thousands of books in each of its 400 stores, has to close down. The shift of clients behavior towards reading is a silent revolution, but predictability is another unknown factor: will the small neighbourhood bookstore resurface? will the internet take over any buying of books? will reading on electronic devises wipe out the paper format forever?
Fnac (another giant in France) is rethinking its strategy to keep some of its market shares. They plan to concentrate their efforts on the customer rather than the product, which could make the event of visiting the store an experience by itself.
Will Amazon be our only source of books?
In the Arab world, before contemplating a bookstore's financial results, we still have to work on the books productions and accessibility: censorship and repression on ideas and thoughts are slowly cracking up through different countries, but it has barely gone beyond twitter and facebook. Reading or writing books require a deeper and longer thought process than the 140 symbols message.

Souad Massi at the Democratic Republic of Music in Beirut

2011-07-08T02:20:00.000+03:00

Democratic Republic of Music is the new concert/bar/restaurant in Hamra. They were looking for the perfect sound; so they tailored everything around it. "We built a box in a box with special materials so that the sound is crystal clear with minimum reverberation. DRM is a concert hall that was conceived from this perspective: the perspective of music producers and musicians." they say in their website.
And they have added the experience: food, drinks, service, friendliness.

Tonight Souad Massi on the microphone. The algerian singer shared her passion with her voice, with her heart.
A great performance in a magical place.

Democratic Republic of Music link

Can you do the Cans campaign?

2011-06-03T12:34:00.000+03:00

The art of can has started in 2009 in other parts of the world, it arrived to Kuwait and the deadline is august 2011 to submit your art work with redbull cans. Billboards are everywhere (though quite unclear)
Recycling redbull's cans and showing creativity and talent; what a noble cause!
Let's see what the arabs can produce...

link to the red bull site

Jim Al Khalili - the House of Wisdom

2011-05-29T06:21:00.000+03:00

The House of Wisdom, How Arabic Science saved ancient knowledge and gave us the renaissance by Jim al Khalili.

The author is a professor at the University of Surrey, theoretical physicist and broadcaster. With interests in the development of body quantum scattering methods, al Khalili has an added quality of communicator through Tv shows, radio talks etc.

The Arabs contribution to science has been widely researched and published, but "the house of Wisdom" must be brought in with another angle and an in depth vision.

Jim al Khalili website link

Meditative calligraphy workshop in Kuwait

2011-05-05T12:47:00.001+03:00

Fareed Abdal, Kuwaiti architect and artist, is also known as a great teacher with his students at the Architecture departement at Kuwait University. He opened his knowledge again in a three days workshop on arabic meditative calligraphy at the Dar al Athar al Islamiyah.

He said: "three days of workshop is nothing, but a small window into a craft that can be expanded to an art." He started with the simple basic rules of arabic calligraphy, he engaged with the students in asking them to create their own tool for the next session, he went beyond the exactitude of script and letter formation. He combined his practice to allow thinking about space, time, the white around the black ink. He then opened doors of exploration in the arts of arabic calligraphy and used Sufi and other traditional schools of calligraphy to bring in the tradition while pushing it into a contemporary art.
He continuously spread the productions on the floor outside the room to allow another persective and pull out reactions from the students.

If Fareed Abdal is doing another "meditative calligraphy" workshop, make sure to sign up: it is definitely worth all your efforts

Book: Arabic graffiti

2011-05-03T12:20:00.001+03:00

"Arabic Graffiti" coauthored by Lebanese typographer Pascal Zoghbi and graffiti writer and publisher Stone aka Don Karl Zaza, has been released in April 2011, by the publishing house "from Here to Fame". They called on contributors who have worked on the subjects extensively (Houda Kassatly, William Parry, Huda Smitshuijzen Abifares, Rana Jarbou, Tala Saleh) .

The Arab countries are now in a positive flip: revolutions, protests, public expression, demands of liberties and freedom. The book will attract attention internationally as the world needs to see what is really happening in the realm of creation and arts.

Forest calling for art

2011-05-02T12:20:00.000+03:00

Malin Holmberg, I will stop loving you, 2010
Photo: Anders Norrsell

Anne Thulin, Double Dribble, 2010
Photo: Anders Norrsell

The forest is now a playground for Art. In the southern part of Sweden, the foundation for contemporary art, Wanas, has asked artists to face the living green bulk of a forest. Their contributions was mainly sculpture and land art. Around a medieval castle, near the city of Malmo, the foundation has an integrated bio dairy farm, exhibition spaces dedicated to contemporary art and an untamed forest left to its own evolution where artists are called to leave an imprint.

"Art is the only solution to strand the invisible gap between nature and man" says the sculptor Richard Nonas.

Arabs are far to busy with fundamentals on freedom of expression and liberties, will they ever think about their relationship with nature?

Maya Lin, 11 Minute Line, 2004
Courtesy the artist.

Link to the Wanas Foundation

Ghada al Kandari at the Tillal Gallery in Kuwait

2011-04-06T12:30:00.000+03:00

Ghada al Kandari, an accomplished artist, gave us a beautiful part of her expression.

It starts as a first step in her blog:

http://prettygreenbullet.com/

It is the window to the artist's inside lense. She blogs, writes, takes pictures of her work on a process level, she shows her sketches. As if this web window allows her to share the process she goes through. And the process is fascinating.

It has the creative sparkle that mesmerizes.

The second step is the exhibition:

At the Tillal Gallery, in Kuwait, Ghada al Kandari had a full exhibition, although the space is cold, big and unfriendly. She managed to fill the walls, use the empty space to comfortably put the scene and decor for her "Eves".

The collection of her works showed a well rounded process of works. She has her style and yet evolves with intensity.

Women in different personas, doing different things, being at different stages, are the main subject of her works.

She, herself, wore a beautiful black dress to compliment the show.

The third step: the canvas are pulled down. The show is over. Ghada is showing a new painting in her blog. She moves on. Easily or with difficulty, it is hard to tell.

Then, frivolously, in an unexpected manner, two paintings by Ghada are hung on a different wall beside a staircase, behind a table with a flowered vase. The two "Eves" have found a new home. At least they were bought in a pair as to have each other in case of severe loneliness or homesickness. There is a story behind the "Eves" and it feels that they have said a lot, heard a lot, and saw a lot...

Thierry Titi Robin Trio in Kuwait

2011-03-29T23:01:00.000+03:00

At the Shamiyah theatre, the Titi Robin Trio performed as the last event for the "Francophonie" month in Kuwait.
Delightful music!
Thierry Robin started as a gypsy guitarist in his carrier, then went off the world to live interactive music, and play with other music. His latest album is about his journey in India, Turkey and Morocco. On stage, he uses his classic guitar, puts it down, takes a bouzouk, changes repertoire and continues on the Oud. Francis Varis on the accordion gave a pleasant wind sound to the guitar. ZE Luis Nascimento, on percussion, gave depth and beat that rounded the whole performance.
It was a good show, though the French flavor was more in the fusion and openness to different cultures.

"Excerpts from his website:
"When words fail, music raises its voice,” Vladimir Jankelevich used to claim. Titi Robin’s music expresses what words often have difficulty capturing: it speaks of the extreme solitude of the soul, the naked truth of heartfelt emotions, the delicate grandeur of love, the tough but necessary process of learning how to live one’s life, and the fierce sensation, occasionally tinged with violence, that the beauty of the world can stir in each and every one of us.
For over thirty years, this restless musician has swum at the confluence of gypsy and Arab cultures. He has surfed the impetuous and majestic poetic wave that flows from the foothills of India through Central Asia down to the banks of the Mediterranean in every direction. But it is impossible to reduce his art to a simple desire to blend sounds and styles, less still to an ambition to concoct an acceptable style of world music."

Titi Robin's website link

United states of Palestine / Khalil Rabah in Kuwait/ gorilla style

2011-03-28T13:14:00.000+03:00

Art in an unusual venue. Not in a gallery, not in an art fair. This installation, by Khalil Rabah, will be part of the World Travel Expo, Kuwait 2011, Mishref, international fair grounds, from Tuesday 29th march 2011 to April 1st from 10 am to 1pm, and 5 to 9 pm.

The travel expo has a clear mission : "Unlock the business potential, bringing exhibitors with tour operators, leisure buyers and the industry's most influential meetings, incentive and corporate buyers".

So tour operators, travel agents and the industry's who's who, have all scheduled to be at the trade fair, see what's new and mingle with potential clients.

Then they'll walk up to booth A6 and read: United States of Palestine Airlines. It looks real.

They'll react.

What is it?

Who's airlines?

Where does it fly to?

Is it a joke?

Now that is art! In the most unexpected, in the least predicted manner, the viewer will take a second to pause, or not.

Gorilla art, street art, art for the people.

Art away from collectors and fancy, flashy, posh connoisseurs.

Art that triggers a series of questions, unsettle our routine and conventions, surprises us.

Art fundraising for Japan on facebook

2011-03-14T11:10:00.000+03:00

facebook link

The earthquake and tsunami in Japan is an open wound for humanity. It is a humbling phenomena that puts back in scale the magnitude in which planet earth reacts to its natural course, and how humans are just a drop of nothingness in their own ego driven self centered activities.

In Los Angeles, USA, a city that lives under the threat of earthquakes, a group of artists on Melrose Street are calling on facebook for a art fundraising effort and all proceeds will be donated to relief in Japan.

In the Arab world, we are prone to man made violence: wars, revolutions, brutality, dictatorships, repression etc. Artists often participate in efforts for war relief. In Kuwait, we have seen auctions for the 2006 war in Lebanon, we see art fundraising charities for children's hospice. and this list can go on. Artists in the region can barely know where to turn their heads to!

Treasures of the world - in Kuwait at the Americani Cultural Center

2011-03-11T00:29:00.000+03:00

Sneak preview: "Treasures of the world" objects, jewellery, daggers, metal works, rock crystals fromt he Mughal Period are displayed at the new "Americani Cultural Center" in Kuwait. It will open its doors to the public in May 2011. The exhibition has been touring the world for the past decade, from Moscow at the Kremlin to St Petersburg at the Hermitage, to Paris at the Louvre and the list is long...

It is clearly explained that this not a museum but a temporary exhibition.

The Center is the old American Hospital of Kuwait that started its activities in the early 1930's and was closed when Kuwait built its first large hospital in the 1950's. The architecture is preserved and its has an outstanding feeling of respect for the old bricks, rather than wiping out the old to build new as it has become a trend in Kuwait in the name of modernization.

The scenography for the exhibition is the essence of the show. The blown up miniatures showing scenes of the Mughal period give a sense of wide angle view to the minute details and precision in the making of these objects. Same showcases have been travelling with the objects around the world, with its own full lighting, security systems and tags to explain in few words the origin and story behind the object.

A worthwhile experience...

Sinan Hussein - in Kuwait

2011-03-07T19:02:00.001+03:00

Sinan Hussein, the dreamer who escapes the ugly world through his paintings, has more than 20 of his works on show at the Boushahri gallery in Kuwait until the 11th of march 2011.
One of his works, "the wedding couple" was sold at the JAMM auction of february 2011 in Kuwait.
An Iraqi artist, he has been around in Kuwait for a while, after a time in Jordan and previously in Baghdad.
As much as he considers his time in the faculty of art at the University of Baghdad as being useless and how he believes his teachers needed training and revamping, Sinan shows a mastery of the basics: color, composition, texture, subject, research, point of view... And that must have been acquired quite early in his training.

Although he has exhibited more abstract work previously, this particular show is about a world of spirits, without arms, sometimes without ears, eyes or mouth. His spirits are to scream out the lack of humanity in the human world of today; yet their screaming is done in the softest toned way, in a sense of peace, playfulness and lightness.
His spirits vagabond from a closer human figure barely touching the ground to a bubble of dream in the dream. Their side twisted head seem to show a surprise or disbelief in what they see. Some have halos around their heads maybe to relate to other iconic figures in the world of art. One of his works is entitled: My Jocanda, as if he pays a tribute to past masters. The space on the canvas that surrounds the spirits are worked intensely from color to texture to elements as if the spirits needed the best of care and profound assistance and support.

Sinan sees that they contain the humanity that he cannot find elsewhere. He could be a medium through which they express their agony: a way to remind all of his fellow humans to reconsider their own lost humanity.
He paints a world trapped in canvases and hardly accessible from the real world. He might be labeled as a caricature / light figures / rosy world - artist. It needs an in depth look at his figures and discern the pain through the lightness, as a refined process for expression far from those abrupt, loud noises we got used to in the arab world of art.

Sulayman al-Bassam latest play in Kuwait

2011-03-01T17:41:00.001+03:00

A new play by the director, Sulayman al Bassam, showed at the Dar al Athar al Islamiyah.

Inspired by the Shakespearian "Twelfth Night", it involved a plot about mistaken identity. Al Bassem added another of layer of confusion, with the play done today in a context of repressive system where music, gender proximity, dance, love, freedom of thought and freedom of speech are totally banned. Then al Bassam acts in the play as a reformed director trying to look back in the recent history, before the repressive system and digs up an old archive on a production of the "twelfth night" in the 60's. He then tries to reconstitute the production given the boundaries of the repressive system with a full fledge sarcastic, ironic twist.

Al Bassam is a maestro in plugging Kuwaiti traditional symbols with an arab context. He takes a classic and gives it a modern, arab, kuwaiti flair for a complete resonance to the current socio-political scene in Kuwait. The actors carry out the message with brio. The setting, decor and costumes are always in full harmony and complementing perfectly the play. His previous plays were "Richard the Third", "Romeo and Juliet" and many others.

However, this time, the convoluted and added confusion on references to the repression were slightly overbearing. Al- Bassam must be really worried about repression and is trying to express an unease without unleashing real issues. He could do with a little more naked expression.

Sultan gallery in the 50-20 mood

2011-02-28T14:52:00.002+03:00

works by Abdulla al Awadi

works by William Andersen

Sultan Gallery hosted last week a collective exhibition with the Title: Kuwait 50 20. It is the month of celebration in Kuwait for their independence, their liberation. Among other artists were Abdulla al Awadi, professor of Architecture at Kuwait University and William Andersen, professor of Art at American University of Kuwait.
William's works were a grid of 50 by 50 pieces of 8 star shaped plaster with a significant photo collage on the subject, Kuwait. The images were about history, politics, islamic references, major moments that make the Kuwait of today, major events of the region, wars, elections all on a background of islamic patterns or geometrical patterns.
Abdulla's work were canvas printed of intricate geometrical shapes produced with smaller images of kuwait. One canvas had the word Kuwait twisted in another pattern of calligraphy over the global production.
The correlation of these two works is quite striking. Both works have gone far in the details of research, finding history through icons or images, debating on the format, pondering on the significance of a country and how to present it. Their works are quite advanced which indicates an in depth understanding of the medium.
Although they remain at the surface of images, it is part of a general trend in Kuwait to keep the image of the country at the facade only. The decorative part is emphasised, keeping deeper subjects further away.

Thomas Modeen had few other works displayed, It was a delicate paper cut ripple effect of white on white in a near A4 size. Could it have anything to do with the 50 20 title? nevertheless it was a pleasant interpretation of texture and paper.

The giant blackberry phone was another striking artwork, maybe an installation, maybe a tribute to the importance in kuwait of social networking, chatting and connecting at all times with friends, facebook and google.

Kuwait celebrates 50 20 5 in 2011

2011-02-27T14:50:00.003+03:00

image hosted in flicker

The Arab world is tiptoeing on the verge of public protests, revolutions, demands, uprising and political turmoil, with a contagious sense spreading across borders.
While Kuwait is celebrating its 50 years independence, 20 years liberation and 5 years of the new Amir's leadership. The party was big. The military parade, a classic parade, had one significant twist: the Amir hosted a large congregation of Arab leaders, leaders from around the world, military delegations, friends and family. It must have been a good time to discuss current political issues. The Arabs have integrated in their language the word : "coulisse" used as "kawaleess" or what goes behind the scene. The kawaleess must have been the "it" place to be.
What could the Syrian president have said to the Lebanese president? What did the Iraqi president chat about with the King of Bahrain? Did anyone give any advice to the Qatari Emir on what to do with Al jazeera tv? Did the King of Spain share with anyone his experience in parliamentary monarchy?
It must have been a good fruitful party.
And for the people of Kuwait, the giant, massive fireworks along the Gulf Road was a display of joy and fun. It was very well prepared with a general artistic presentation of Kuwait's history. In the streets fully packed, people rejoiced.

Kuwait Auction - JAMM - Abdel Aziz al Mudhaf

2011-02-20T16:54:00.001+03:00

Abdel Aziz al Mudhaf 's painting was sold during the JAMM auction in Kuwait. He's a young artist just graduating from American University in Kuwait.
His art is daring, bold with a cry of expression beyond the pain and repressed feelings. It was one of the few works that went beyond the decorative and expected.
He has produced in the same theme some works exhibited in Kuwait and in Dubai.
The buyer of this artwork must be a courageous collector and an audacious believer in supporting emerging artists.

Auction in Kuwait - JAMM- Fareed Abdal

2011-02-18T16:49:00.001+03:00

Interview with a Kuwaiti artist, Fareed Abdal, during the auction in Kuwait.
Fareed is an architect, professor, artist, photographer, jewelry designer and has many unspoken areas of interest... His artwork was sold at the JAMM auction of this year.

- What do you think of this auction in Kuwait?
"Any activity that can unleash creativity in our society is a good activity. It allows us to develop visual depth. We all have subjective opinions on what art should be, who is an artist and how should he be. Whether the artist is young or older, starting now to create or have a track record and maturity in art; It doesn't really matter.
The artist is listening to his inner journey, he will not be fooled by judgement of others. It is better if the art is celebrated but artists have their own story to be told.
There might be a need to have a more rigorous judgement and critique.

- How do you sparkle creativity in younger generations?
"Art is a form of meditation, a contemplation and reflection. It is the necessity to share each's point of vue, his angle of life and each is different. Practice often becomes the theme and becomes an obsession. Anything will be a source of sparkle...
Matthew Fox said: "Do not confuse beauty with beautiful. Beautiful is a human judgment. Beauty is All. The difference is everything. "

- Does Kuwait need an auction house, is there not enough galleries?
" I could build assumptions and see the negative side of auctions as it is known worldwide: It's like a stock market, you raise prices of shares and promote speculation.
The good side to an auction is bringing an understanding about the culture value. The value of a painting is different from its cost. Kuwaitis are sophisticated buyers in business and they are well aware of cost in many things. But the added value of development, of an extra mile or an extra artistic input is not yet appreciated. The power of aesthetics is an added value. It is a new language of creativity and this auction will trigger debates about prices, value, added value, creativity.
That is quite healthy
We need to increase the number of people who recognize the added value.

- Is there a culture of auctioning in Kuwait?
" Not in the visual art maybe, but in our own history and culture we do a lot of auctioning, from the fish, to camels, to goats, to cars.. these are commodities and objects.
Historically, we even had auctions on appreciation of beauty with arabian horses solely about aesthetics and beauty, so different from warrior, race or work horses.
So yes, we do have a culture of auctioning in Kuwait in all of its meanings...

- What was behind your art work for sale in this auction?
" It's a work of calligraphy of a Quranic verse, but I like to flirt with the Sacred and the Holy and see what comes out of it. I confront the verse against other religious frameworks, against water on paper, against the structure and the imposition of a framework by preconceived ideas of sacred. I see the universal everywhere and I am part of the Divine's creation as equally as anything else."

- Nearly all works have been sold, is it a successful auction?
"I measure success not by sales but by the intention:
The auction is donating a percentage of the profit to a charitable cause: "Bayt Abdallah" a hospice in Kuwait for children with life threatening diseases, open to any child in Kuwait, regardless of origin, nationality or religion.
This cause celebrates every moment of life, to help out children in distress.
I find it special and different from other auctions, artists are part of collective effort to help out. and that is beautiful."

Auction in Kuwait - JAMM - year 2

2011-02-12T19:43:00.001+03:00

JAMM keept its promise after last year's auction in Kuwait. This year's auction was in a another venue, but the art displayed and sold through bidding was of equal quality if not more prolific.

For the event of the 9th of February 2011, JAMM selected around 90 art pieces, from paintings, photographies, sculptures, neon installation etc...

Artists came from Kuwait, the Arab world, Iran, Turkey, and western countries. Some of these artists are just starting their careers, others are well established in Kuwait and out of Kuwait, some have a long history of recognized works.
Subjects had the classic calligraphy, modern calligraphy, political art, icons in theArab world, icons worldwide, classic Kuwaiti scenes and many more...
The eclectic choices showed an understanding of how the local market will react.

Pieces like the Damien Hirst prints were not perceived as a hot buy and did not make the expected high numbers. Art Critiques were saying that the market in kuwait was not a speculative one, they don't buy to resell and make immediate profit. They seem to need an emotional connection to the pieces they bought.
Overall, the experience was worthy of all the efforts.
Next year will hopefully be even better.

Rap in Tahrir Square - Cairo by Dia al Deen

2011-02-10T08:52:00.000+03:00

A video clip in a rap style: The lyrics are simple but they express needs of the Egyptian street , going well with the Nile revolution.
" We live like cockroaches ...
This is the meaning of Freedom,
and it tastes better with Mouloukhia ...
Do you see the disaster in our lives
Everyone turns his back
and prays God to be spared ..."

Rap makes sense with the demands and discontents of the people. The Tahrir phenomena is a wave spreading. The Arab world is holding its breath waiting for the outcome and wishing for the best to be achieved.

(Thanks Abdullah for posting the clip on your facebook page)

Hang in there 248am - blogger gets a lawsuit for an opinion

2011-02-05T16:49:00.001+03:00

The Arab world is boiling with turmoil, masses are asking for change, freedom, liberties, opportunities. In Kuwait besides the concours d'elegance and the preparation for the 50th celebrations of Liberation day, a blogger, Mark, in his popular blog: 248am, receives a lawsuit for posting his opinion on Benihana, a newly opened restaurant in Kuwait. He did not really like his experience.

Do you mean if one talks about anything negative, they will be immediately persecuted?
And this is not a political opinion, or a dissent's reaction, or a voice calling for justice or a repressed group in some underprivileged conditions.
This is just a restaurant, food, and marketing.

Well, fellow blogger, Mark, hang in there. It can only show how powerful you have become in your opinions and how important your views can be.

There is a lot of talks about the importance of Facebook or twitter and virtual communities in the making of these street revolutions. The power of opinion, once it's heard by a larger group, can have a huge impact.
We'll be waiting to see the lawsuit's evolution and Benihana's survival.

248 am link to blog

Concours d'elegance - car show - Kuwait

2011-02-05T10:12:00.000+03:00

photos by "concours d'elegance"

For the second year, Kuwait hosts a "Concours d'elegance" for vintage cars, in the Marina Crescent, Salmiya.
"Some of these cars are sculptures" says a viewer as he took his family to see the beauties on display. Some cars were flown from Japan, from the US, from all over the world. There is a jury of 16 experts on the matter. There must be a grand prize after the show.
But the real pleasure is the idea that Kuwait celebrates history. When it opens up it doors for old machines, labels them with the term "elegance", it gives an opportunity to value historical way or the old way of doing things.
For a country so geared towards the new and the latest in all technologies, it is reassuring to see that there are local oldies, polished, waxed, cleaned in their best attire.

link to the website Concours d'elegance

Stefan Weber - Berlin Museum

2011-02-02T23:45:00.009+03:00

Aleppo room

Ishtar gate

Stefan Weber, orientalist and director of the Museum of Islamic Art in Berlin, Germany, gave a lecture in Kuwait at the Dar al Athar al Islamiyah. The title was obscure:" Fragments of a lost Past or evidence of a connected History: the role of urban artistic heritage in the new conceptualization of the Museum of Islamic Art in Berlin".
It sounded convoluted, introverted study of unknown objectives.

Dr Weber pulled it off quite nicely and gave a historical perspective of the museum itself, with dynamics and thought process behind it in the 1920's and the 1930's. He explained the evolution and reasons behind a museum and the evolution of objects' presentations. As the museum is expanding in another wing, he shared briefly the process of making a new space.

He talked about how historically objects and architecture were not isolated but interconnected through time, space and in relation to global trade and movement of artisans. He referred to what Yuka Kadoi was lecturing on few weeks ago: "the Islamic Chinoiserie"or how China influenced Iran in productions of art and objects. But he had a more assertive tone and did not seem to question at all the evidences. He showed the phoenix and the dragon, symbols in China, on metalwork produced in Iran. For him, it could have been imported as a symbol, but after a generation, it was totally integrated in the culture and fashion thus becoming part of the local consciousness.

It seems like a new trend to integrate art history in a context and expand it, rather than isolate objects and art history in its own frame.

In the new Museum, he explained that objects will be displayed according to three parameters: of course chronologically, then geographically, and last, in relation to how and where these objects were used.

Have you been to the Islamic Art Museum in Berlin? Hurry then! They have treasures, and they have directors passionate about their work.
Dr Weber said:"When I got my job at the Museum, I was so happy I could see the Aleppo room and all its woodwork at all times, it's my favorite..."

What to wear on a revolution - Amani Massoud

2011-01-31T22:38:00.000+03:00

What to Wear on A Revolution - Amani Massoud LINK

Shake the standards, write with wit, and get a reality check on what is happening in the streets of Cairo. A new web portal / blog "Mashaallah" recently activated, publishes quality, journalistic reports.
Amani Massoud starts off the revolution with a cynic's perspective. She accounts as someone who would like to continue life as usual and yet is compelled to participate in something bigger than her. "Accordingly, I left home that day with very little expectations, determined not to take part in what I had already decided was a failure," she says, "Two layers, of not so loosely fitting pants, layers of light sweaters…nothing too low, and comfortable boots. That’s what I wore for the revolution. Nothing that gives way to sexual harassment or a chance to have your clothes pulled off..."
The full story is a good read to follow what's happening in the Arab world's public scene.

And the title "what to wear on a revolution", is actually a profound question. It gives a direction in which the revolution might go. We'll see if women are participating, we'll see if their attire is one of freedom or one of restrictions, we'll see if women will take their places in times of change.

If the fires catches up and the wind blows beyond borders, fashion could be a good measure of where it will all go...

Mashaallah blog

"Power point makes us stupid" - Franck Frommer

2011-01-29T22:51:00.000+03:00

The word is out since the US military is strategically thinking of Power Point's (ppt) impact on winning or loosing a battle. (see NY Times article)
In France, Franck Frommer, a former journalist and a specialist in communication, has been studying the matter closely for the past two years and produced a well documented research. He says ppt is a good tool to make many presentations, but why has the world of communication been highjacked by powerpoint and the only way to communicate and present any idea has to go through that box?
He is surprised at how the whole world is thinking now in slides, one thought per slide, with limited visuals. His worry is the lack of creativity in the process. He defines thinking through Powerpoint as intelectual poverty.
Food for thought: do you feel that ppt is making you stupid?

link to Entrecom's blog in french

link NY Times

Oleg Grabar

2011-01-23T18:35:00.002+03:00

Oleg Grabar passed away on January 8th, 2011. On the review of the Aga Khan's architecture awards, this blog had not mentioned the Chairman's award given to Grabar as a tribute to his work on Islamic art and architecture.

In his speech in Doha for the awards, and as his last public appearance, he says :

" It is with much pride and gratitude that I have accepted the Chairman’s Award from the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, following Hassan Fathy, Rifat Chaderji, and Sir Geoffrey Bawa. It is an honor to join such a distinguished company and, even more so, to be the first one who is not an architect nor a planner, not even a decision-maker (...) but an academic scholar and teacher who has spent his life in universities and research institutes learning and then transmitting to others, in lectures, seminars, and writing whatever I had learned and understood. And it is with these two themes of knowledge and of education that my remarks will deal.

(...)

These are all developments that could have made all of us richer and more sophisticated in our understanding of the vast Muslim world. But have they done so? Not always. In a paradoxical way, they have strengthened parochialism, because few thinkers, practitioners or generalists are really involved in imagining what Morocco, Uzbekistan, or Malaysia have in common. It has become easier to firm up one’s own rather than to drown it with too much parallel information. This development is clearly tied to the rise of local nationalisms of all sorts and may not subside, but national passions are so tragically inbred in men and women that I can only hope that the global humanism I wish to preach is not a dream. Then, the rise of violent extremism among Muslims and a destructive and senseless response among non-Muslims have led, for our academic and practical purposes, to an almost paranoiac concern for security and to restrictions on travel or on exchanges of all sorts which are harmful to the growth, even the maintenance, of learned connections and of a fruitful knowledge. Behind both extremism and the response to it lies a profound ignorance of everything, from the interpretation of religious texts and awareness of history to the beliefs and motivations of others than ourselves.

These are all rather frightening prospects, especially when it is so easy to draw a vision of a rich and productive future, in which local creativity can enhance the lives of all men and women and become known to all of them, from financial or political leaders to schoolchildren. People of my age will not know whether this vision will ever become real, but we all know that those here and elsewhere who are under fifty have an exciting challenge ahead of them, and, thanks to the Aga Khan Award and to a number of parallel institutions, one or more vehicle to meet that challenge."

Those under fifty, (or just around fifty...) do hear out the wise man in his wishes: "you have an exciting challenge ahead of you... "

the "global humanism" has been dreamt of and can be achieve, here and right now, by those who hold the future in their hands...

link to the speech

Kite flying in Kuwait

2011-01-21T18:02:00.001+03:00

Did you ever hear the swooshing sound of the wind in a large kite?
On a crisp clear day, kite flyers of Kuwait gather at the Messilah beach and enjoy the art of flying kites.
They bring their treasures with ropes, weights and spend the day on the beach for the pleasure of a floating experience, eyes on the sky.

Yuka Kadoi- China/Iran interaction during the Moghul period

2011-01-16T23:47:00.002+03:00

At the Dar al Athar al Islamiyah on the 12th of january 2011, in a surprise, unscheduled lecture, Dr. Yuka Kadoi gave a talk on the interaction between Iran and China during the Moghuls period in the 13th c. ad.
In a poised manner, she introduced many flamboyant ideas about art and history.
She covered many areas and objects from ceramics, to metal works, to miniatures. She, then, showed the evolution of the artisan's works and influences form China, through the Moghuls. She also stated that China, being as conservative as they were could not have been influenced by Persian artists. She compared europeans of that period being only on a one way mouvement and islamic chinoiserie being a fruitful admiration with fundamental interactions. She tried to question the reason of having a lotus flower in the decoration of a metal bowl in Iran under the Moghuls when in China, lotus is a symbol of Buddhism. She showed pictures of figural images in manuscript, how before the Moghul invasion they were two dimensional and after the Moghuls, they had perspective, depth, and a better feel of space and height.
It is quite a narrow angle of looking at history.
But she added that interaction were limitless when the trade flourished through the silk road or maritime routes for a long time. She said that ideas did move, and there has been an interaction from east to west before the invasion of Iran by the Moghuls. Nomadic people, skilled artisans moved across borders and frontiers, and they brought with them teachings without restriction.
She also stressed on the need to enlarge the definition of Islamic Art, since it is not only one style and one block, and fade away from the obsession to find one absolute version of islamic art.
She talked about paper trading from China at that time and how that trade had influenced a much larger and wider production of manuscripts.
Are we not still trying to understand the impact of trading with China on our culture and art? are we not still trying to define islamic art in an absolute, pure term or rather in a contemporary, interactive way?
Debates are open and scholars help us search for answers.

A photographer in the Sartorialist

2011-01-14T00:03:00.001+03:00

The sartorialist:
(definition of "sartorial": adjective: of or relating to tailoring, cloths, style of dress: sartorial elegance)
A photographer, Scott Schumann, is interested in fashion, cloth and people who carry well what they wear. He takes photos on the streets of New York, Milan or Paris. He also takes photos of highly visible and known people in the fashion industry. He shows his works on a blog: The sartorialist.
Up to that point, it all seems pretty typical of anyone who has a passion and exhibits his views on the web through a blog.

In that video though, there is one fascinating attribute: the look on his eyes. Schumann is metamorphosed when released in the wilderness.
He becomes a tracker, he maneuvers as a hunter, he detects details, he identifies a look, he spots grace, he catches a style, he captures the effort of refinement.
Then, quickly, in a few seconds, it's over: pictures are taken and he's back on the tracking lane, without respite. Everything, everyone can become a prey.
And he remains an agile hunter, moving, determined to track, no matter how many images are in his memory card, or his actual physical memory. There is no end to it.

link to the sartorialist

Monet in Paris

2011-01-10T05:06:00.003+03:00

"La Pie" - Monet - Musee d'Orsay - Paris

Monet is a classic in Paris, or for a visit to his house outside Paris in Giverny.
A huge retrospective of his works will be shown at the Grand Palais until the 24th of jan 2011.
It is a delight and pleasure.
But if you can't make it, do consult the website for the exhibit: it is as pleasant as his work, and a real treat to browse through.
link to website

Bulgari - Italian Jewelry at the Grand Palais, Paris

2011-01-08T04:47:00.001+03:00

photos by Bulgari for the exhibition

Bulgari carries 125 years of finest jewelry making. An exhibition at Grand Palais in Paris until the 12th of january 2011, shows archived pieces of Bulgari but also privately owned pieces that could not be exhibited otherwise.
If you have any interest in the art of jewelry, do not miss an opportunity to see how it was made historically and how it has evolved through new technologies and the market's demands and desires.
Bulgari remains a symbol of class and good craftsmanship.
link to the Grand Palais

Basquiat at the Museum of modern art in Paris

2011-01-06T04:18:00.000+03:00

photos by the Museum of Modern Art, Paris

Museum of Modern art in Paris is showing a retrospective of works by Jean-Michel Basquiat, of haitian and porto rican descent, who lived in New York in the Golden Age of clubbing, graffiti, street art, and pushing limits.
He became a star of the wild expressionism or "neo-expressionism" wave that countered the minimalism and conceptual art in the USA.
Prolific in his works, as if constantly urged to produce, he never doubted his being as an artist. He did not bend into a style or a trend. He just painted in the rawest manner, without obvious skills.
it came out unrestrained, spontaneous.
Subjects were deep, painful, violent.
He started as a graffiti artist in the streets of New York signing under the name of SAMO (same old shit). Galleries recognized his potential, collectors started buying.
He made a collective work with Andy Warhol, the association produced interesting pieces. Although they shared a lot of similarities, Warhol had a plastic aesthetic side to his work that did not necessarily match the violent, naked self expression of Basquiat.
He died at 28 years old.
Short existence for an artist.
But the retrospective is a great overview of his work.
If you're in Paris by the 30th jan 2011, don't miss the show.

link to the Museum of Modern Art

Satish Kumar - You are therefore I am

2011-01-02T01:23:00.000+03:00

Satish Kumar is of Indian origin. His works are mainely oriented towards a holistic life, from economics, to nature, to earth, to people, to respect and connect.

He believes that Descartes in his:"I think therefore I am" has placed the ego at the motor of the human being and established a dangerous dualism. He says this solitary consciousness has made the western man alone, thinking that animals are without spirit so he killed them; that he was superior to others so he colonized them, that he produced guns and war machines to put everyone under the fear of terror, that he destroyed many ecosystems until he realized he lived in it. (le monde magazine extracts)

He says in some of his interviews:
"I became a Jain monk at the age of nine. I came across Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography when I was eighteen. I understood that religion, spirituality and the world should not be placed in separate compartments. Sadhus or monks usually take abode in caves or mountains, giving the impression that spirituality is only for those at a higher plane.
Gandhi said that this kind of dualism is not right. We must incorporate spirituality in e veryday life. When I read that message, I felt I could no longer be a monk."

"Gandhi, Vinoba and Schumacher saw a beautiful, cohesive world. Human beings need to learn from Nature and live in harmony with Nature. The problem is not poverty, but affluence. We do not need to alleviate poverty, we need to alleviate affluence.
The word 'poverty' has been hijacked and corrupted. It originally meant 'voluntary simplicity'. In Gandhian terminology, being poor is better than being rich. He lived simply in a hut made of mud, bamboo and grass.
Today, a successful economy means more. Whereas Gandhi, Vinoba and Schumacher say: "Enough! Where is sufficiency?'
from Life positive, interview

These are my wishes for a bright new year 2011 in the Arab world:
"You are therefore I am"
thank you for reading my blog

Garbage Dreams

2010-12-30T03:10:00.007+03:00

Garbage dreams: a beautiful documentary on an ugly subject: three teenagers work form morning to night collecting garbage in Cairo, Egypt, and recycling it at the Zabaleen city. Documentary's reviews are praising the broadness of the approach from the teenagers' dream to the condition of these workers, to the globalization effect on the industry to a society that turns away from some sour issues.
It has won many awards and should be a good documentary to watch.
web site link

Kisskissbankbank

2010-12-29T19:59:00.007+03:00

Interactive, reactive, responsive: kisskissbankbank is a web stage for those with projects and no funds, and those willing to donate small amounts to support a project.

Projects that have reached their total goals in fund raising were:

Music: first album by the group twenty one cigarettes

Travel: and sketch a travel dairy to be published

Video clip: for the never ending song by Faustine Seilman

and many more

New talent can find a way to make their dream come true.

It looks promising.

do we have anything like that in the arab world?

kisskissbankbank link

Kuwait donates to the Institut du Monde Arabe - Paris

2010-12-28T13:25:00.002+03:00

The Kuwaiti Ambassador to France and Dominique Baudis, director of IMA
photo by the institut du monde arabe

A generous act: 3 million euros from the state of Kuwait to the Institut du Monde Arabe (IMA) in Paris given in october 2010. There is no doubt that Kuwait can achieve a lot in promoting art and culture from the Arab world. The IMA has a simple function: show the French and the Western world what the Arab world stands for in creativity, history, music, arts, archeology, cinema, and many more. Their other function is interactivity and understanding.
Kuwait participates actively in that sector with their benevolent gesture.
But how can one reconcile that act with the fact that the Architectural school at Kuwait University does not have a budget for their library?
What is considered more important: public image for the outside world or nourishing creativity within?

a library in kuwait is looking for books

2010-12-26T17:59:00.000+03:00

A cry form the heart: They need books.
What better donation in the spirit of giving during the year end holidays:
books for the architecture library at the university of Kuwait!
as Cicero said:
"A room without books is like a body without soul"

But it might actually be easier to make a wish list on amazon and an another account for transport (aramex or dhl), where we could donate according to needs on a web click basis.
Or maybe push some architectural firms in Kuwait to get involved in some CSR work and donate books for the library rather than focusing only on building skyscrapers and pushing the skyline just a bit higher on the horizon.
There should be ways to spread books for those who want them!!!
Give your old books away, you will gain space for new ones...

"Our little library is despaired at the fact that it wasn’t able to provide any new books this semester for our eager students so we need all the help that we can get.

I know how much you all love reading so if you’re anything like us then I’m assuming there must be some uneaten, unwanted or worn out book here or there collecting dust on a shelf, under your bed or hidden in a cupboard.

Help us by donating the books you don’t wanna read anymore which we will be recycling to get new books.

If you’re interested please send us an email at arch.kuniv@gmail.com oralrc.arch@eng.ku.edu.kw. Alternatively you can call us at 2-498-5261. Our working hours are from 8:00am to 2:15pm. Please note you might not get an answer during the following days and times (our little librarian runs around doing other missions): Sunday, Tuesday & Wednesday from 10 to 11 am

Hope to hear from you soon
--
Architectural Learning Resource Center (ALRC)
Office: 2-498-5261 "

Agha Khan Awards for Architecture - Chandgoan mosque - Bangladesh

2010-12-24T11:30:00.003+03:00

This shortlisted project in bangladesh did not make it to the best five; however the concept of such a clean cut mosque gives an edge to what is usually built in the islamic world.
The tendency for mosques today follows often a trend to emphasize devotion through opulent ornementations and blown out of proportion perspectives to show grandeur.
Examples of such architecture are the Sheikh Zayed mosque in AbuDhabi, the unfinished mosque of Saddam in Baghdad or the Blue mosque of Hariri in Beirut
The Chandgaon mosque is an innovation in the third world to consider simplicity as a measure of beauty yet an aspiration for spiritual connection.

Agha Khan Awards for Architecture - the Green School

2010-12-22T11:23:00.002+03:00

photos by the Agha Khan awards for Architecture

The Green School in Bali, Indonesia was shortlisted for the Agha Khan Awards for Architecture but did not make it to the top five. It must be difficult to choose among many great projects, but this one is worth the interest.
The school takes a holistic angle of what teachings can be. Based on sustainability, first the building material uses a locally grown bamboo that fits the climate and helps the local farmers. Energy is produced by alternatie sources including a bamboo sawdust hot water and cooking system, a hydro-powered vortex generator and solar panels. In an effort to give students a hands on experience, each student has a small part of the garden to grow vegetables and send it to the kitchen for their lunch. Their curriculum caters for today's need to be at par but brings also a valuable understanding of what needs to be done in the future.
In their website they posted a quote of the week:
"Tell me and I'll forget, Show me and I may remember. Involve me and I'll understand." Native American saying

Link to their website
Link to the Agha Khan Awards for Architecture

Agha khan Architecture Award - Revitalisation of the Recent Heritage of Tunis

2010-12-18T22:49:00.001+03:00

The last of the five projects awarded by the Agha Khan was for the revitalisation of the Recent Heritage of Tunis, spearheaded by the Association de Sauvegarde de la Medina de Tunis (ASM).
It chose to look at recent buildings form the 19th and 20th century and consider it as valuable although it has a diversity of styles, form art deco, to art nouveau to pastiches of classic.
There is a fundamental questioning on what is old, how old is old and why do we need to value it, to restore it, to preserve it, to revive it.
What does history gives us?

In Kuwait, there is another type of relation with old buildings. The general trend forgoes the past: New is better as old is a reminder of difficult times. A committee is trying to work on preserving old buildings, some individuals choose to live in old houses. But it might be too late!

photos by the Agha Khan Awards for Architecture

Sunny Art Fair in Amman - Jordan

2010-12-17T12:11:00.000+03:00

Until the 18th of December, Amman is hosting the first contemporary art fair in Jordan. Great initiative, specially that efforts in the art world of Middle east are usually focused on locations where the buyers are more than where the artists produce.

Selection of artists and local gallery show a depth in works and maturity in the productions.

The lectures and the debates have interesting titles and could be of value.
It must have been a magnet to attract art lovers and connoisseurs away from the other event concurrently in the region "the opening of the Mathaf", the New Art Museum in Qatar. Sure, the Qatar event made the headlines of CNN about nudity and controversy. However the Amman show is a real live interactive production!

link to the Sunny Art fair Web site

Agha khan Architecture Award - Ikepoyl textile factory in Turkey

2010-12-15T22:37:00.000+03:00

The next Agha Khan Award for architecture was given to the Ipekyol textile factory in Turkey, Erdine, west of Istambul at the edge of the European frontier. The corporate group chose to invest in good, well thought of architecture with design by Emre Arolat and build a pleasant environment for workers and staff to produce better.

Space, light, recreation, cafeteria, all the elements needed for the employees are provide. The staff is not even in the creative realm, they are behind their machines, producing women's cloths on a production line. Now that is an interesting thought for the underdeveloped world, filled with sweatshops and dirty dark factories.

The whole atmosphere might be overboard for what a textile factory should or need to be. Did anyone look at profits, margins, returns on investment? They must have: Ipekoyl is brand with a vision and targets to be on the top of their market. If you ever find an Ipekoyl store during your travels: remember: they value details down to the architecture of their factory so their cloths must be worth looking at!

(photos by the Agha Khan Awards for Architecture)

Agha khan Architecture Award - Madinat al Zahra Museum Spain

2010-12-13T09:34:00.000+03:00

The next Agha Khan award for architecture was given to the Museum in Madinat al Zahra, Cordoba, Spain. It was completed in 2008 and designed by Sobejano Architects, Fuensanta Nieto and Enrique Sobejano. As they have said: “ We took the foot print of three ancient city and incorporated a new building around it. It is a relationship between contemporary architecture and the historic city, more of dialogue.”

A clean cut feel, with white cement walls. Simple but vast in its volume and space. Patio and courtyards intergrate all the light possible.

It is always a bet and a challenge to be so contemporary. The real judge will be the surviving effect of time.

photos by the Agha Khan Awards for Architecture

Aga Khan Architecture awards - Wadi Hanifa in Saudi Arabia

2010-12-12T00:13:00.000+03:00

The next Agha Khan award for architecture was given to the wetlands of Wadi Hanifa on the largest river next to Riyadh

Over 120 km, the Wadi was a dump, neglected for decades. The authorities decided to implement a change. With the help of Moriyama & Teshina planners from Canada and Buro Happold, the Wadi since 2001 is on a rebirth mode. Alive.

The wetlands were designed to become a recreational area, it allowed the enhancement of agricultural land, and it has biological treatment plant to purify the water.

If all dumps were turned into gardens, would that make planet earth happier?

Photos provided by the Agha Khan Architecture awards
Link to the website

Agha khan Architecture Award - Bridge school in China

2010-12-07T00:15:00.000+03:00

An Agha Khan award was given to a chinese Architect, Li Xiaodang for his "Bridge school" in Fujian province in Xiashi, a village crossed by a river.
A bridge school is simple steel structure over a river. As Xiaodang says: "minimum intervention for maximum impact". The aim was to rejuvenate the village, give a new breath to the tiny primary school. On a 200 sq meters, the school can be totally opened up or sealed up. Wood is the material used for the surface, a sustainable and easily replaced medium. The school of two classrooms has become a playground for the kids.
That looks like a creative solution for low cost and effective architecture for the future.

Dance Africa Dance - festival in Bamako Mali

2010-12-01T19:59:00.002+03:00

LINK TO a France 24 report (8min 39')

Dance Arabs Dance,
Enough of talking, arguing, attacking, revolting, justifying, victimizing, repressing, censoring, suicide bombing, destructing...
Take a look, Arabs, at our brothers in Africa during the dance festival in Bamako.
Learn
And get down to business:
Dance Arabs Dance

Sophie Budden, Conservateur at Dar al athar al Islamiyah

2010-11-29T23:36:00.001+03:00

During a lecture at Dar Al Athar al Islamiyah, Sophie Budden talked about her job at the al Sabah Collection, covering more than 22 000 objects. With a wide range of pieces from fabric, to carpets, to metal, to stones, to manuscripts; and from different eras, to different provenance, Sophie was talking about her aim: general care, cleaning, storing, finding, packing, exhibiting.
It all sounded quite thrilling.

She showed pictures of before and after, she showed how meticulous the work had to be done, how precise scalpels under microscope took 4 to 6 weeks to clean a metal object to restore and give it a shine. She had a higher pitch of voice when she tried to convey her excitement on how it was "terribly neat to look and find what you want" through the custom made data base for the collection or through the endless storage shelfs. She mentioned "vigilance" as a time consuming effort for keeping the objects safe from humidity, from moths...
She shared her amazement after cleaning a silver enamelled sword, the exuberance of true minuscule carving showed and how the movement of luminosity is reflected and refracted

It seems that Sophie Budden has an incredible mission: Civilisations disappear, people die, and she fights the time machine to protect the precious objects from going back into dust.

more on the lecture at the DIA blog link

The Chandayana by Dr Naman P. Ahuja

2010-11-27T00:16:00.002+03:00

Dr Naman Ahuja, from the Jawaharal Nehru University, in New Delhi, loves to tell a good story and the "Chandayana" is a good story. During his lecture at Dar Al Athar al Islamiyah he tried to push for a scholarly presentation of styles of painting miniatures on paper (the Mandu style, the Jain style, the unique style, the Chaurapanchasika style...). He tried to explain how a folk tale was hijacked by the sufis to turn into a religious message of seeking and looking for divine intervention. He tried to explain the shift from an oral tale to a written script, and to underline the importance of epic indian codes of symbolism.

But when he stood there and said: "She swoons, their eyes met!" with a pause. It became vibrant, alive. As if he was Mullah Daoud in the 14th century, keeping his public alert, gasping for more. And the story of Chanda goes on with love, beauty, honor, loyalty, tourment, separation, exile, husbands, wife, mothers in law, battle, armies, fakirs, yogis, deities, and supreme love yet unbearable to many.

Dr Ahuja gave a pulsating lecture and it remained informative and enriching on all levels.

For more on the story of Chanda DAI blog link

photo :The Heroine Chanda fanning her beloved, Laurak, under a tree, from a manuscript of the Chandayana (The Story of Chanda), 1540
Pigments on paper
(SanFransisco Asian Museum)

Aga Khan Architecture awards in Qatar

2010-11-26T18:02:00.001+03:00

Every two years, since 1977, the Aga Khan Awards for islamic architecture selects projects as recipient of the famous awards and gathers all the attention on the subject. On the 24th of November this year's ceremony was held in Qatar.
Please find a few extracts from his Highness the Agha Khan's speech:

"Many of you will remember my personal concern, back in the mid-1970’s, that this conversation was scarcely even taking place.

Discussion and debate about the built environment in the Islamic world was then a very thin proposition. The continuity of Islamic architecture had sadly lapsed - weakened by the heavy hand of colonialization, by modernization and globalization, by the lack of architectural training in Islamic contexts, and even by the development of new construction materials in the industrialized world. The result was a paucity both of indigenous architects and of foreign architects working with distinction in Islamic settings and idioms.

Historically, the arts, including architecture, have taken their principal inspiration from religious faith. But when art is separated from faith-based roots, other influences can dominate - including soulless technology and empty secularization.

At that time I used the term “vacuum” to describe the Islamic architectural scene. The initial goal of our Awards programme was to replace that vacuum with an energized debate.

Why should we emphasize an Islamic approach to architecture? Our Master Jury, in responding to this question, has described how global forces now threaten the values of “memory, heritage and belonging,” and how the built environment can help meet that challenge.

At the same time, in looking at the places we have met and the projects we have honoured, we also see enormous diversity. Diversity, in fact, is part of the essence of Islam.

Nor does respecting the past mean copying the past. Indeed, if we hold too fast to what is past, we run the risk of crushing that inheritance.

The best way to honour the past is to seize the future.

These, then, are four of the major concerns that I would submit for further discussion. What does architectural excellence mean in the context of Islamic traditions and aspirations? How do we reach a wider array of constituents? Can we expand our social and economic relevance? And how do we best employ innovative technologies?

These concerns, of course, will lead us to further questions. How and where do we teach about architecture? How can we anticipate and occasionally help steer the processes of change? How do we best reward and learn from those who are most successful? How can we share our lessons with others outside the Ummah?"

In the next few posts, the 5 recipients awarded will be presented in this blog

If you are impatient, visit the Aga Khan Website for more on all these wonders:

link

The full speech link

Resuming blogging

2010-11-25T23:35:00.002+03:00

After a long freeze in the desert, nearly 4 month, blogging is ready to resurface.
Ready or not, here it comes!

(Thanks Abdallah for the comic strip!)

Eric Schmidt: "Privacy? too dangerous"

2010-08-07T05:22:00.007+03:00

At the Techonomy conference in the US, Eric Schmidt, Google's boss, was saying that privacy will soon disappear and will become dangerous. "In a world of asynchronous threats, it is too dangerous for there not to be some way to identify you." he says, " If I look at enough of your messaging and your location and use Artificial Intelligence, we can predict where you are going to go. Show us 14 photos of yourself and we can identify who you are. You think you don't have 14 photos of yourself on the internet? You've got Facebook photos! People will find it's useful to have devices that remember what you want, because you forgot... But society isn't ready for questions that will be raised as a result of user-generated content."

Food for thought, and those who threaten security are surely finding their ways to locate privacy through a diligent process...

link to a blog

Blackberry Ban In the Arab World

2010-08-06T05:22:00.001+03:00

Blackberry phone users are edgy, will the ban in Saudi Arabia, UAE, and now Lebanon, Jordan be effective soon? The ban is about the instant messaging that goes encrypted to RIM (research in motion) the company that makes the handset devices and is located in Canada without any visibility from governments.
We all have seen the big issue of "Security" waived at us as an "encore" for limiting personal arena of freedom. Security this, security that... and what are we left with.
Blackberry was a handy tool.
But fortunately RIM was in negotiation with the UAE to collaborate with the local authority and allow encrypted messages to be unencrypted locally. There might be some hope.
link to BBC article

Bernard Berenson "The Passionate Sightseer"

2010-08-04T20:22:00.000+03:00

Found in a second hand bookstore, "The Passionate Sightseer" written by Bernard Berenson and published in 1960. He was an american jewish connoisseur of art and renaissance period.
In his published diaries from 1947 - 56, he recounts on a trip to Libya, Tripoli, in May 1955. He shows photos of the Theatre at Sabratha with its great mosaic floor, he wrote about Leptis Magna and his awe at the roman ruins.
He says: "Leptis is, all considered, one of the most impressive fields of ruins on the shores of the Mediterranean and can stand the comparison even with Palmyra, the desert port, and with Baalbeck, its gigantic columns and its over-blown floreated decoration."
On the conservation in Libya, he says :" One cannot help wondering what will happen once the Allied control comes to an end. Will the Libyans want to carry on and preserve what may seem to them an intrusion from a hostile world? (...) But I hear too little of what goes on politically in this haven of peace and tranquility and cannot presume to form any judgement."

But our modern times art experts in the Arab World have enough tools to continue exploration and preservation with all western standards. It just needs the will to cherish History and stones

Big Bambu - Installation at the Metropolitan Museum of New York

2010-08-02T22:09:00.001+03:00

photo by the Metropolitan Museum of NY

The Metropolitan Museum of New York invited the twin brothers, Doug and Mike Starn for a sculptural colossal installation on the garden roof top.
In an audio interview, they talk about their work:
" We wanted to make a living organism, not really finished, on what it means to be alive, not only on the animal level, but as a city, as a culture, it is always complete but not finished. There are lines and flow of directions while we set it up. But there is no symmetry. We created pathways within just as cities get energy from roads and pathways, we wanted our pathways to feed the installation. It is a lot of fun to walk on the bambu installation, you feel like a kid again. it is incredible with the view of the central park."
An interesting experience, and elevating on many levels: the city, the ground and the interconnections of humans and their surroundings.

Bidoun Magazine at the New Museum - New York

2010-07-30T00:27:00.000+03:00

Bidoun magazine is having an exhibition at the New Museum in New York showing books, literature and what is published in the Arab world for the public to see, read and discover. It could another installation where one has to scratch one's brains to understand the profound sense or the meaning of it. Or it could just be an attempt to promote culture from within. But will it be in Arabic, or English books? will the English books be a reflection of the inside, or just another view of the neo-Orientalists?
It will run from August 4th to Sept 26, 2010. If you have a chance to be in the neighborhood, let us know what it is really about!

link to the New Museum
Link to Bidoun Magazine

Rivane Neuenschwander - I wish a wish

2010-07-29T00:39:00.002+03:00

At the New Museum in New York, Brazilian artist Rivane Neuenshwander had an installation: I wish a wish.
Colored ribbons are hanging on holes in the walls, with wishes. From: I wish to be loved, to I wish to graduate, to I wish we could give back to earth what earth has given us etc... You can write your wish on a piece of paper and put it in a hole, or participate online. You can take a ribbon with a wish that pleases you and hang on your wrist with the hope that the wish will be fulfilled when the ribbon detaches.
There were two wish that were of some concern , "I wish for peace in Middle East" and "I wish for peace in Iraq and Afganistan". Wishing for peace is beautiful wish. But how the Middle East and Afganistan is the ultimate portrait of war, discrimination and abuse. Could we all wish for peace across the board, around the world? Could we wish for the end of fear to promote peace?

Link to the New Museum exhibition

Forensic Artist in the New Museum- New York

2010-07-28T00:41:00.000+03:00

Cary Lane is a forensic artist and an art teacher in New York. His performance at the New Museum is part of an installation by Rivane Neuenschwander, "A day like any other". The title of his act is called "My first love". The process and the works of a forensic artist is unravelled at a desk in the museum. Someone talks about his first love, how he remembers the face, the emotion of that memory, the precision of traits. With an extensive interview, the artist will draw the first love and will ask eventually to have the photo of that first love emailed to him to see the accuracy of his drawings. Forensic artists are put in the highlight, with the importance of their jobs at police stations around the US.
Have you ever heard of a forensic artist in the Arab world?

link to NYtimes article

The New Museum - New York

2010-07-27T21:41:00.001+03:00

The New Museum is a recent addition to New York skyline. Opened in dec 2007, it has a an intriguing sense of blocks ready to fall off, blocks with a sense of play time. White, airy and full of light architecture is at its best in innovation and adapting to the current environment.
Architects (Sanaa) from japan designed it, in mind the inside before the outside, the works and needs inside the building before the outer looks.
Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa (the Sanaa team) are the 2010 laureate of the Pritzker architecture award, the most notorious award in architecture that gave Zaha Hadid, an award in 2004.
In the Arab world we are expecting all the new museums to start mushrooming in the UAE (from the Louvre to the Guggenheim etc) , the chosen architects were well established award winners. The next step would be to pick architects with talent and creativity and bet on their capacity to innovate, build a museum or anything and wait for the awards to be given...

The New Museum link
The Pritzker Award link

Paige M. Gutenborg (print a book on demand)

2010-07-24T04:48:00.001+03:00

Paige M. Gutenborg: a machine to print in minutes any given book. It is in the Harvard Bookstore in Cambridge Massachusetts. It is a heavy investment for an independent bookstore, more than 100 000 usd, but as the owner of the bookstore, Mr Jeff Mayersohn, says :"We measure our business in awesomeness rather than in dollars." The opportunity to create with this machine is endless and it is a combination of the physical books with the new technology. Bookstores cannot keep a large inventory of all, they compete with giants like Amazon but with this service of books' database from Google and others, Harvard Bookstore can be ahead in the market. Mr Mayersohn said that in the Middle East, this machine is available and he mentioned the one at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Egypt. It would be commendable to see such inventions at every independent bookstore in every capital of the Arab world, where anyone could come up with his pdf file and print out copies of his creation, or download any book and circumvent any official decision that books should be censored and they might be a threat to the minds.
link to Harvard bookstore
link to books on demand
Link to Bibliotheca Alexandrina

Sufi Music festival In New York

2010-07-23T18:15:00.001+03:00

The New York times wrote about the Sufi Music festival that took place last tuesday in Union Square. It talks about how music and sufi songs praise islamic saints, poets and philosophers revered by Sufism; all performed in the heart of New York, a place wounded by radicalism and violent islamic manifestations.
Abida Parveen, the star of the festival, has a voice in the tradition of the qawwalis rated as one of the finest voices with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. This festival was organized by Pakistani Peace builders who promote peace and tolerance through cultural actions. Hopefully we'll see intercultural events with the intention of peace and tolerance in the Arab world, and find ways to work along those lines.

NYtimes link

"We love words"

2010-07-12T13:12:00.000+03:00

"We love words" is a web platform and a social networks for authors to show texts in French as a alternative to flicker for photographers, and myspace for musicians.

With a legal frame to protect authors and their rights, with a possibility of archiving, editing, creating and promoting events, the "we love words" is an interesting approach to writing and publishing.

It would be of a very high value to have such a platform in the Arab world where our main concern is censorship and political (un) correctness. Although the web is closely scrutinized by minders, but it still has a sense of virtuality far far away from reality...

link to welovewords

Routes d'Arabie: roads of Arabia - Louvre Museum

2010-07-10T01:06:00.001+03:00

The Louvre Museum hosts a large exhibition on Saudi Arabia, with the title : Roads of Arabia, from the 14th of july to 27th of Septembre.
With a historical backgrounds of Saudi Arabia as a crossroads to many civilizations pre-islamic and after the emergence of Islam, the exhibition will show what was left as evidence of these passages. From the Antique period to the incense caravans to the development of different parts of Saudi Arabia and several oasis's until the Islamic era to the pelgrimage roads and sacred locations.

For the small story behind the important exhibition, the newspaper "Le Monde" titled today: "King Abdallah of Saudi Arabia sulks France" (le Roi d'Arabie boude la France) and the paper gives a geopolitical explanation of why the King will not attend the opening of the "Routes d'Arabies" as a way to express his unease with the French president.
If "le Monde" is correct in its assessment, art and culture can be used as tool for nations' interest or disinterest!

Louvre Museum link
Le Monde link

Jérôme's sound system

2010-07-09T02:15:00.000+03:00

Jérôme, in Paris, an engineer turned into a pilot for commercial planes, has a hobby: to build his own sound system from bits and pieces, wires, lamps, into an elaborate amplifier + speakers. He talks about it with the interest to track the right sound, the perfect note. He says it is all about the presence in the music and how to feel that moment.

The effect is rewarding and music becomes a pleasure.

Anass Habib

2010-07-07T00:54:00.001+03:00

Will you be in Paris on the 31th of July 2010? A concert by Anass Habib at the Eglise St Eustache seems to be worth the visit! Within the "quartiers d'été" a festival in Paris, Anass Habib will give a performance.
He is known to master his voice and to use it to explore songs from the classical repertoire and from all religious range in the Arab world. He worked on the Maqamaat, to the Mouwashahat to the Mawal, to traditional music from Lebanon to Aleppo, from medieval spanish songs to poems of Mahmoud Darwich. He was born in Fez, Morocco, and has been exploring the world of music ever since he heard Fairuz in an a cappella.

link to Quartier d'été

Link to Anass Habib website

Poetry market in Paris (marché de la poésie)

2010-06-21T00:01:00.001+03:00

Poetry at all stands, a market for poets and poetry lovers. Words, verses, books, collections, all to use the beauty of language.
For three days (until the 20th of June) at the "place St Sulpice" in Paris, the poetry market has organized seminars, talks and lectures on poetry. In its 28th edition, the market promotes new comers in the field, new publishers and those who are well versed in the matter.

Alain Gorius has created the "al Manar" publishing house dedicated for literature from countries south of the Mediterranean. After living for quite a while in Morocco, where he established an art gallery, he went back to France in 1998 and opted for his passion of poetry, mostly arabic translated to french. The books he publishes are often combining words with illustrations by artists. Maram al Masri is one of al Manar's authors, and her latest "I look at you" is a delicate, profound book on intimacy and modesty.
Without restrictions or limitations, the poetry in his stand has a sense of freedom and openness.

Link to al Manar web site

Vuvuzela and world cup

2010-06-15T00:35:00.000+03:00

Original Vuvuzela

Are you for or against the Vuvuzela at the world cup? ban or keep?
The crowds are there to cheer, they need the public collective mass activity to feel the thrill. The vuvuzela is a great catch object and a good marketing tool as a symbol of South Africa's football fields. Brand your vuvuzela, buy your vuvuzela, show your support and know that you belong if you make that noise.
And if your're annoyed, keep your tv quiet and watch the game in silence...

BBC talks about it: link

Washington conquers the 9-3. "Le Monde"

2010-06-06T23:18:00.000+03:00

The reputable newspaper in France, "Le Monde" writes today about the culture of influence and empowerment, and how the US embassy, has done very thorough work of assessing and reaching out to the "hot" suburbs of Paris where in 2005, riots flared up.
The main issues are about integrations of migrants' generations into the main stream French society. The overseas Obama team identifies potential leaders, those who act and work hard in making a difference. They are given a helping hand in their process through a trip to the US to learn more, or a hollywood actor that visits.
The US seems to open channels to any potential change in France, a change hard to look at from the French themselves. Ali, Reda, Roukhya, Majid, Yassine are interviewed and give their opinion on this incredible capacity to be recognized by the outside world and not by the establishment.

In the Arab World, we are used to such post-colonialist discourse and cultural imperialism. Our way, their way, the traditional way, the modern way, which way is the best way to evolve? Is it true that confronting the western liberal democratic highway, we can only find the religious extremism as an alternative? Is there a solution to instill some hope of improvement in today's youth?

Le Monde article link in French

Eco-consciousness

2010-06-06T00:29:00.000+03:00

Recycling, remodeling, using the old to make a new vision. Interesting architectural concept, from LAVA an architectural firm in Australia, to make use of old buildings and introduce new concepts: energy saving, energy generating, sustainability, supply of natural air flow - in two words: Eco-conscious!
In Kuwait, there is a frivolous sense of endless oil wells, hence total disregards to what the planet needs.
We see old buildings just torn down as if made of carton and new ones built with little consciousness. Could it be the heritage of nomadic bedouin culture: put your tent where your camel can graze, remove your tent as soon as the well is dry, move on to another spot?
But Nomads have a deep sense of resources and earthly respect. They keep their carbon footprint as light as possible. What was lost along the way of development?

Adam Young - OWL CITY

2010-06-05T13:25:00.001+03:00

In an interview, Adam Young said "The basement is where I write all my songs, there is no distractions", he started to create his music in 2007 as an antidote to his insomnia. It's a formula he hasn't messed with.
" I'd like to make myself believe
That planet Earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay
Awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as
it seems

'Cause I'd get a thousand hugs
From ten thousand lightning bugs
As they tried to teach me how to dance"

Arabs with Insomnia, get down to your basement, write lyrics and play music...

Louise Bourgeois. 1911 - 2010

2010-06-02T10:45:00.000+03:00

Louise Bourgeois passed away on Monday 31th of May 2010. She lived in Manhattan, New York. Her works of art are the disturbing kind, the kind that doesn't leave you, the kind that haunts you. She was an icon in the feminist movement but she was first an artist who explored new frontiers on expressing emotions, fears and scars. She was known for her installations and sculptures with very evocative sexual emblems.

New York Times article : link

Quit facebook day

2010-05-31T14:45:00.000+03:00

Are you joining a few thousands to commit and quit Facebook on the 31th of May 2010? It is nothing compared to the millions around the world who enjoy being hooked on Facebook.
The interesting part is the necessity to unhook, to unplug, to feel less exposed.
Where is the threat: all the information available on each and all users. Some will say: "I have nothing to hide". Other will say: "I will only share what I want". Some will refuse to comment, some will justify a new way of life and communicating.
There is an undergoing revolution in the virtual world impacting our realities.
Have we really explored our own image in who we are and how we would like to portray ourselves to the general public? Who is using the information and to what purpose?
Privacy and personal data has been a fight under the name of civil liberties and necessity to contain information abuse. Facebook pulverizes any notion of the sort. Technologies today are capable of retrieving data and information without your knowledge.
It also allows a possibility of looking into other's thoughts, contacts, friends, just as stalkers do. Our unconscious desire to stalk goes beyond the morality of sharing. So when an exhibitionist wants to show all he has, he doesn't need to go around the bush, he can just share some photos on Facebook, and all the "voyeurs" can see without leaving their screen.
Facebook is a major success with the number hooked on it. It has filled a vacuum of connection beyond the material, physical world.
But it remains a tool at the service of the users. What are you doing through Facebook?

http://www.quitfacebookday.com/

Ghada Waked, art and culture

2010-05-30T22:03:00.000+03:00

Ghada Waked teaches photography at the ALBA (Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts) in Lebanon, she talked on the essence of art and culture and how today it is perceived

"Culture has taken the cover of the mundane. The mundane is hunting down culture. Economics are hunting down the social. In all of that, it has become a matter of price tag, sale price, and who's going to own what. The curator has a new dimension in the culture of arts. He has a role of flirting with investors and artists flirt with the curator.

But no one is ready to walk on the wild side of art and life. It has become a restricted closed circle.

Art around us seems to have lost its aura on reaching to a wider public, in touching souls.

We have in Lebanon good programs and festivals on visual arts, video arts: the Alba Film Festival every year, Ashkal Alwan... with very good speakers and good debates. But it has not moved the masses."

A teacher is closer to the younger talent, closer to their creativity and production. A teacher will help unravel and open eyes and it can take years to materialize. But it is of great importance to keep the horizon stretched out and allow young artists to think on how to shake the unbearable layer of convenience.

Art therapy linked to improvement in asthmatic children

2010-05-23T19:14:00.000+03:00

Researchers in the medical field have explored a link between the effect of art therapy and children with Asthma. The research was done with a group of kids, documented, measured, studied, in a time spam in comparison with a group of kids who did not receive any art therapy.
They published their results: It works... it makes a difference and it improves the kids on worry, anxiety, communication...
On one hand: Where are we, in the Arab World, to improve health issues in Children beside the heavy medication and Hospital / Doctors relationship?
On the other hand: Where are our researchers exploring such areas?

Link to Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology
link to reuters report

Mahmud Obaidi at Sultan Gallery

2010-05-21T01:35:00.000+03:00

It is better not to use the word Terrorist anywhere near anyone, they might think you actually are one of them...
Mahmud Obaidi, an iraqi-canadian, invited to attend the opening for his exhibition in Kuwait, could not get his entry visa on time for the event. Too bad for those who were waiting for an explanation.
Although quite harsh and explicit art about homes in boxes, Obaidi entitled his exhibition in New York: "how not to look like a terrorist".
He puts on canvas elements of war, guns, tanks, corpses, signs of fragmented entities, inflated beings and words. It is about controversial art of expression to unleash what is said on the Middle East at all times. With the profusion of news 24h a day, it looks real. Then comes the argument: do we want an art that enhances our realities or just shows us the crude side of our unease? Do we want pretty or can we bear our own horrors?
Obaidi digs deep in expressing. He pulls from afar images to talk about: what is a home in the arab world? what do exiled arabs carry with them to find a living? what is imprinted in the collective subconscious? how are arabs perceived in the west?
He finds aesthetics to combine the several possibilities, he plays with organic material, adds hair to the collage. He made books in metal and paper with sand and dirt. He added wood and wire to give a sense of belonging. It must be an identity crisis. But isn't the whole arab world trying to forclose on any questioning beyond the post-colonialism or the oil era?
It is a an audacious exhibition and it's worth noting that the artist doesn't help anyone escape in lala land but rather pushes beyond the comfort zone.
(Until the 3rd of June)
Sultan gallery link

Gerard Avidissian at Dar al Funoon

2010-05-19T22:41:00.000+03:00

At Dar al Funoon, Kuwait, Gerard Avedissian is exhibiting his artworks, a collection of mixed media on canvas, with a figurative style combining fabric, arabesques and women.
His study on women wearing all sorts of outfits and jewelry is decorative and colorful, even if he tried to add some depth of space. He portrayed women dancing or others just posing as if he was intrigued by the looks and the stiffness. Is he wishing to explore a feminine side to life that he has not yet reached?
Dar al Funoon has accustomed its viewers to a more daring approach to contemporary art and works with a finer edge than this. But to every work of art, there must be a buyer somewhere.

Sarah al Hamad: "cardamom and lime, recipes from the Arabian Gulf"

2010-05-04T21:12:00.001+03:00

A cook book from the Arabian Gulf

In Kuwait, people are divided into two categories: Those who eat out of a kitchen in a home and those who consider local food a mystery. The mystery is where to find it, how to cook it, and how to make it taste like it should.
Sarah al Hamad has ventured to nail down that mystery, transform it into a simple recipe book and unravel the enigma. She admits that during her research she went for months; from family to friends to kitchens to cooks to reveal the mystery of it all: “ The nature of Gulf cuisine; how varied and individual it is and that the proof is in the spicing – how much is used and which spices with which foods – is where the difference lies.” more....

read the article in BAZAAR MAGAZINE:

Budrus - Non violent mouvement in Palestine

2010-04-23T23:11:00.000+03:00

Budrus is a documentary on a non-violent mouvement in Palestine, showing the persistance of some activists from the Palestinian and the Israeli side.
Non violence was advocated many years ago, some do it silently, some succeed, some other fail. But today in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, press coverage is all about violence. On the Israeli side, it is common to talk about threats from terrorists with the need to protect and for security to prevail. On the Palestinian side, it is usually about victims, rights removed, agony and pain. From an arab perspective, it is about the unsolved conflict that has no end and full of humiliation which dragged many years of suffering. From the Western perspective, it is about whose media talks louder and present their point of view. Violence every where, from all images and talks.
Budrus is a village in Palestine that stood non-violently against the Wall in 2004. With the help of conviction and "thinking outside the box", men and women from all sides got together and made a difference.
Julia Bacha is the director of this documentary following the major steps in the mouvement. She talks about "peace fighting for peace" and the need of freedom. Media doesn't cover much of this, but a documentary would allow a different vision on the subject. The film got screenings and awards in the Arab world and recently in New York at the Tribeca film festival 2010. It is worth seeing if ever in your neighborhood.

Budrus official website
Little white lies blog: review

Houda Kassatly - art on trucks

2010-04-21T22:59:00.001+03:00

At last, a book on art painted by truckers on their most precious possession, their vehicles.
Houda Kassatly, an anthropologue and photographer, did a research and published it at "Editions Terre du Liban", with the title in French: " Les camions peints au Liban d'aujourd'hui".
Big or small, four or twelve wheelers, heavy duty or light weight, trucks are decorated with first a need of aesthetics, with colors and designs. Once elegance and grace is in place, the truck needs full protection from evil eye or any superstitious malefic power. After that poetry, sayings or slogan or even jokes can be added to reveal the driver's philosophy and entertain other cars passing by.
It is an art and it says a lot on masses and proletarian expression of culture and beauty.

(photo by Houda Kassatly from her book)

Ashkal Alwan - Homeworks 5

2010-04-20T23:37:00.000+03:00

Ashkal Alwan is "platform for the creation and exchange of artistic practices. As a non-profit, the association is committed to education, production, support and circulation of creative and intellectual endeavors rooted in an engagement with civil society."
Based in Beirut, they will start their yearly program: Homeworks on the 21st of April to continue until the 1st of May. Their program is rich and attractive.
If in Beirut, do pick a venue and take the time to see or watch or hear, it looks promising.

Ashkal Alwan program

Ashkal Alwan site

Ancient Egypt art - discovery of a royal scribe tomb

2010-04-18T00:50:00.001+03:00

A tomb of an ancient royal scribe has been recently unearthed in Tell al Maskhuta in the province of Ismaelia, Egypt . This intricately decorated tomb belonged to Ken-Amun in charge of royal records during the 19th Dynasty (1315-1201 BC).

Beside their unparalleled monumental art, scattered in open air from pyramides to statues to temples, ancient Egypt has left treasures still today in the realm of discoveries and exploration. Mumies have been opened to be studied and then shoved in museums. Scrolls and tools have been neatly rearranged in display boxes. Frescoes, bas relief, stones are there to be seen. What a gift from the Pharaohs and their civilizations!

The question will remain facing the mass tourism tendencies on how will anything be preserved for the afterlife of civilizations or even the future generations to learn harmony and aesthetics ?

Photo Romance - Rabih Mroue, Lina Saneh

2010-04-12T13:16:00.001+03:00

Rabih Mroue and Lina Saneh are showing their theatre / video / performance: "Photo Romance" in Paris at the Parc de la Villette until 24th of April 2010. They have good reviews in medias in France and internationally on their artistic activities. Their subject in this recent work is about identity of a man and a woman in search of answers about the major fault lines of conflict and existence in Lebanon: religion, ideas, politics, masculin virility, women's role, freedom, reality...
Will you be in Paris to see this performance?
It might take a long time before any of this can be shown in the Gulf. It might be too tricky or too adventurous.