Lisa Reinisch | Clippings and Blog
A work in progress, feedback welcome.
While copious amounts of red tape continue to stymie the opening of The Flip Side, the independent record store the UAE so sorely needs, I thought it would be nice to draw attention to something our nascent independent music scene already DOES have: two vinyl-only record labels. Yes, you read that right. Unbeknownst to many, experimental imprints Bedouin Records and Ark to Ashes have been releasing homegrown beats on 12" for over two years now.
Read MoreThe ninth edition of Art Dubai opens today and I am happy to report that ‘the most global of art fairs’ lives up to its tagline: this year's programme includes work by more than 500 artists and 92 galleries hailing from more than 40 countries. More galleries than ever are presenting high-concept booths focused on just one or two names, allowing visitors to immerse themselves in the work of individual artists more fully than is usually possible at events as busy (and commercially driven) as this. Here are three galleries at whose booths I couldn’t help but linger.
Read MoreExploding furniture from Dubai. Sick robots from Doha. Stuffed crochet weasels from London. Dubai Design Days has corralled an eclectic bunch of designers for its biggest and most charming line-up to date. Inside the now familiar tent-dome at the foot of Burj Khalifa, objects of artistry and wit await at every turn. This time around, I am especially taken by whimsical projects that inject a sense of fun and wonder into the often über-sleek world of collectable design.
Read MoreOn Saturday, I spent a couple of hours exploring this year's edition of the Quoz Arts Festival, which turned out to offer exactly the kind of immersive, sprawling cultural whistle-stop tour I wanted that day. In a bit over two hours I somehow managed to see four exhibitions, watch a photography demo as well as part of a movie, listen to several DJs, giggle at witty, locally designed t-shirts and spend way too much money on a tiny (but oh so pretty) bottle of organic lemonade. Here are some of my favourite moments from a leisurely stroll around Alserkal Avenue's hive of galleries, food stalls and retail spaces during Quoz Arts Festival 2014.
Read MoreTwo new guide books take it upon themselves to reveal the hidden charms of Dubai, a city routinely dismissed by travel writers as artificial, crass and devoid of character. It seems both books (Uncommon Dubai, edited by Hind Shoufani, and Soul of Dubai, sponsored by the Dubai Culture & Arts Authority) have their work cut out for them. After all, the churn of ready-made write-ups about Dubai is thoroughly entrenched. But now an alternative breed of locally produced guide books is emerging, partly in response to incessant one-dimensional portrayals, partly as a result of a revival in the city's cultural and intellectual life. Their message to the world: forget everything you've heard about Dubai and look at the city through the eyes of its inhabitants.
Read MoreThis weekend, Champ of The Camp, the remarkable documentary film by locally based filmmaker Mahmood Kaboor (Being Osama and Grandma: A Thousand Times) hit cinemas nationwide. For a film like this, in a country like this, to get a theatrical release is a major achievement and it follows months of social media campaigning, international press coverage and negotiations with local distributors. But if ticket sales don’t live up to the distributor’s expectations, Champ of the Camp might disappear from cinemas within days. Right now, there is no better way to support two historically disregarded groups in the UAE: manual workers and independent documentary filmmakers.
Read MoreCows are getting a lot of press these days, most of it bad. Whether it is because of their climate-destroying metabolism, the use of vampire steroids in their rearing or the deeper meaning of steak, media outlets everywhere have been serving juicy stories on the ins and outs of red-meat consumption. In the UAE, a number of magazine editorials have focused, perhaps unsurprisingly, on the less ominous, more marketable aspects of our infatuation with beef, such as restaurant reviews and recipes. As a result, bovine diagrams like this one are popping up all over the place.
Read MoreAnd suddenly, just like that, Dubai has real DJs throwing real parties. No red-carpets, no dress codes, no processions of magnum bottles with sparklers on top. Just some music-loving people hiring a bar (or a boat) to play ace tunes for small crowds. Who would have thought that budget hotels in dusty Al Barsha would be where it's at one day?
Read MoreLast night I came across this poster at the eminently busy season opening at Al Serkal Avenue. It caught my eye because I have the original version, bearing the words "Visit Palestine" and the silhouette of the Dome of the Rock, hanging in my front room. With that random connection to my humble dwelling, I was captivated and, undoubtedly, so will be multitudes of others. Such is the power of pop culture references, which come in many shapes, most of them addictive. It's all very tongue-in-cheek, as was much of the art on display last night. Humour, it seems, is not just the safety vent of political and social subversion; it is also a sharp hook for the slippery attention span of the viewer.
Read MoreAs a visit to any bookshop in the UAE reveals, an entire genre of novels based on the promise of ‘lifting the veil’ and revealing the ‘hidden lives’ of women in traditional Muslim societies has emerged and is doing brisk trade. Many of them, such as Jean Sasson's blockbuster Princess series, deal specifically with the lives of women in Saudi Arabia. Slowly but surely, the women of the UAE are also becoming the subject of such literary portrayals. To me, these books are strangely irresistible, a guilty pleasure. Guilty, because the reasons for this fascination seem to oscillate between a principled intention to explore local writing and an indignant kind of voyeurism. Awkward stuff. But I can't help myself, I want to read them all. For better or worse, these are three tales from behind the veil I've devoured most recently.
Read MoreMagazines in the UAE are not what they used to be and, unlike in some other places, that's a good thing. We now have access to a larger number of less predictable titles, as well as more interesting places to buy and read them. Case in point: The Magazine Shop in Dubai, pictured above. At the open-air pop-up shop in DIFC, stalwarts of the Middle Eastern mag pile, such as Canvas, Bidoun and Brownbook, now share shelf space with spirited uppers-and-comers like Watad, We Are Here, The Outpost and The Carton. I call them the 'Generation X of Mid-East Magazines' because they are experimental, exquisite and unapologetically expensive.
Read MoreThe UAE's social norms make segregation of the sexes in many public places a fact of life. Not in a forced way, like in Saudi Arabia, but rather based on an optional model that provides 'special' amenities, such as ladies-only seats on buses or separate screenings at film festivals. From a Western perspective, it can be difficult to see that, in the local context, these services empower women because they allow those of a conservative background to make inroads into public life. Unfortunately, the ladies-only world is full of hair-raising language and practicalities.
Read MoreThis morning, I was about to chuck away the free copy of 7Days that lands on my doorstep every day, when the cover story caught my attention: "Is there a nile croc loose in Dubai Creek?" read the headline, set above an image of an open-mouthed specimen of the species. When I flipped to the page with the 'amateur snapshot' the story was based on, I saw that Duncan Hare, the reporter who wrote it, had fallen for a hoax.
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