Zahed Sultan, music

"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

 Copyright © Beena Paradin

Copyright © Claudia Albisser

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

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

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

 -

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

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

"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

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

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

  

"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

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

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

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

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

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!