Poetry market in Paris (marché de la poésie)

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

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"

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

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

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

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

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

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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

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

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

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"

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

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

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

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