Just in time: the UAE Pavilion is completed

As droves of journalists gather in the foyer of Al Manarat Al Saadiyat ahead of the opening press conference, the organisers of the third edition of Abu Dhabi Art beam with excitement, tinged by the occasional nervous glance at the gleaming golden pavilion just opposite the main entrance.

Men in coveralls are everywhere, some frantically polishing dust-encrusted surfaces. Designed by Norman Foster, the UAE Pavilion is the second building after Al Manarat to be completed on Saadiyat Island, the city’s future cultural district. Eventually, this fleck of land will be home to five cultural mega-venues designed by architectural royalty: Louvre Abu Dhabi (Jean Nouvel), Guggenheim Abu Dhabi (Frank Gehry), Zayed National Museum (Foster), a Performing Arts Centre (Zaha Hadid) and an Aquarium (Tadao Ando).

Shipped in from its original site at Shanghai’s World Expo, the Pavilion arrived in 24,000 pieces, which a cohort of workers and engineers worked day and night to assemble in time for Abu Dhabi Art.

The building is, of course, spectacular. Defined by the undulating lines and alternate surface structures of sand dunes, the facade is smooth on one side, textured on the other. The gleaming stainless steel skin, treated to appear golden, catches the eye from afar. Back in 2010, reports of long lines snaking around it in Shanghai were beamed back to the UAE.

Originally intended as a temporary structure, the decision to bring the pavilion “home” to Abu Dhabi caused a stir among the capital’s cultural squad. Speculation over whether a construction project will finish on deadline is something of a national sport here, after all.

In the case of the UAE Pavilion, the round goes to the optimists. The pavilion is completed, forming a stunning centre piece for the fair, which also encompasses spaces inside and around Manarat Al Saadiyat. Overall, ADA has expanded, making full use of its spacious new domicile. The third edition features more public programs, more family activities, more design elements, more educational initiatives – more of everything, it seems.

Abu Dhabi Art 2011 has grown: among other things, the program features more activities for children and teenagers than ever before.

“In previous years we were limited with the space, but now we are kind of at home, and when we saw the empty floor plan we kept on adding stuff and adding stuff. So it is much bigger than last year,” said TDIC’s Faisal Al Dhahri.

The only aspect of the fair that hasn’t expanded seems to be the number of participating galleries. The term “boutique-style art fair” peppers many conversations with the organisers. The concept has its critics (where are the Eastern Europeans?, asks one Russian journalist), but it serves the event and its public well. As in previous years, the selection of galleries at ADA is superb and the pieces they bring with them make up one of the region’s most exciting public displays of world-class art.

Walking into the pavilion, guests are greeted by the piercing smell of terpentine emanating from the Kamel Mennour booth. Artist Latifa Echakhch and curator Veronique Wiesinger didn’t get a lot of sleep the previous night. Echakhch worked into the early hours to finish her contribution to Wiesinger’s mini-exhibition A Sculpture is Not an Object, hence the smell.

Talking about the pavilion as a location for an art fair, Wiesinger smiles wryly: “Of course, it is beautiful. But for us, it was difficult. Especially when you come with an ambitious project you have to build up on site. We were supposed to spray two days ago. But I think people will enjoy it anyways and understand that it’s a work in progress.”

She is most certainly right. Once the fumes settle, guests will be able to discover an oasis of calm at Kamel Mennour’s cave-like booth, which rewards the visitor with displays by Alberto Giacometti, Anish Kappor and Tadashi Kawamata.

All four walls of the space are covered in dark hues of black and Yves Klein-ish blue, Echakhch’s work For Each Stencil a Revolution. Exhibited at the Tate Modern in 2007, the piece features mentholated spirits and pigment running down sheets of carbon paper, a device famously used by anti-establishment groups in the 1960s. The poignancy of showing this work in the context of recent regional events is, of course, lost on noone.

Latika Echakhch's For Each Stencil a Revolution is part of a mini-exhibition at Kamel Mennour's booth.

Today (Wednesday, November 16) sees the launch of a busy events schedule including guided tours, design workshops, children’s activities, conversations with artists and art experts, outdoor exhibitions and performances, book launches, film screenings and much more.

The complete line-up of events as well as detailed information about participating galleries and artists in attendance is on www.abudhabiartfair.ae. Remember where you are and check for changes before setting off to a specific event!

Images courtesy of TDIC.

From kage's Cinema collection.

A recent assignment for Plaza led me to investigate the local fashion scene in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Now, the UAE – and specifically Dubai - may be known for many things, but bringing forth talented fashion designers is not one of them. This, I reckon, could be about to change.

After some serious word-of-mouth canvassing and relatively time-consuming Internet research - young designers are not always the best at making themselves visible online - I ended up with a long list of people whose work I thought merited a mention in my article. The problem: limited page space; many ended up being excluded. Which is why I thought I’d share my list of up-and-coming Dubai-based designers with you here.

Before you ask: no, I didn’t come across designers based in other parts of the UAE. For the moment, it seems, Dubai is where it’s at. If I’ve overlooked someone, please let me know!

At the bottom I’m also adding links to initiatives and events that are helping to educate, showcase and encourage local design talents.

These are the people whose designs you might soon see more often in the fashion pages:

krossbreed

krossbreed's pop-up studio at Abu Dhabi Art last November.

I met Khalid at his pop-up studio at Abu Dhabi Art last year. Khalid is actually a graphic designer and has had great success with his fashion projects as well. His edgy T-shirts and bags were among the best-sellers at the Abu Dhabi Art’s store.

DAS

The Beljafla sisters are a driving force in the growing market for traditional Arabic clothing with a slightly cheeky, contemporary twists. Stocked by Harrod’s, their flamboyant, elaborately draped abayas can often been seen at art and film opening nights across the Gulf.

kage

kage was founded by former fashion marketers Arwa Abdelhadi and Basma Ghazaleh.

kage does vintage-inspired clothes with girly undertones and they do it well. Founded by two former fashion marketing managers, this young label is showing Dubai how to dress up without rolling out the bling.

Malaak

Proposing a different approach to abaya design, Malaak’s current collection takes inspiration from 1920s movies. Sourced and produced in Dubai, this is 100% Emirati fashion.

Lana Nahawi

From Lana Nahawi's autumn/winter 2010/2011 collection.

The words functional, wearable and cosy are not normally associated with women’s wear in the Gulf, but they neatly sum up Lana Nahawi’s designs, which offer a much-needed alternative for those of us who don’t want to traipse around in unfunctional, sparkly outfits.

Naz Cannon

One of Dubai’s most unconventional new labels, Naz Cannon’s first collection is stocked by Bullets & Butterflies and has already won over a ton of fans. His clever unisex pieces are equally popular with boys and girls.

Wasta

The t-shirt label Wasta is doing well off online sales.

Another graphic designer successfully launching snazzy T-shirt collections, Hani Alireza is giving hope to Dubai’s menfolk, who have been deprived of a good selection of urban streetwear for too long.

Resources, platforms and events for the Dubai fashion scene:

United Designers

A new concept store and fashion platform launched by graduate Yahya Stapic, due to open later in the year. Yahya has issued an open call for young designers to get in touch and see how the project could help to promote their work.

ESMOD Dubai

The UAE’s only full-time university-level fashion school of international repute.

Who’s Next Premiere Classe

A showcase of the best international and regional designers, this is Dubai’s most exciting fashion event of the year.

Dubai Fashion Week

Now under new management, there is hope that the event will find its place on the international fashion week circuit. In the past, it suffered from a lack of planning and strategic vision.

London College of Fashion Short Course Program Dubai

The LCF’s excellent programme of short courses came to the UAE for the first time in 2010 and might well become an annual fixture. The next courses take place in May 2011.

The Austrian delikatessen shop Kipferl, near Barbican tube

Here is a little guide to Austrian stuff in London, which I just did for Visit London’s countdown to the Olympics in 2012. Over the next two years, Visit London will feature the 205 countries that will be participating in The Games by looking at the places where expats go to mingle and indulge in bouts of nostalgia. Nice idea, isn’t it? That’s what I thought.

Not that I was a particularly active or homesick member of the Austrian crowd during my eight years in London, but I did enjoy going to places like Kipferl and The Tiroler Hut every now and then. Usually, it was just for the heck of it, but at other times perhaps also out of some irrational urge to check whether they were still there.

No matter what your opinion of the benefits (or lack thereof) of hosting the Olympics, Visit London’s approach to drumming up enthusiasm for the Olympics is a likeable one. They have chosen to focus of the city’s multicultural heritage, rather than the football-themed initiatives run by expats, some of which are borderline nationalist and none of which give you the insight into a culture provided by places such as the Ethiopian restaurant Sodere in Shepherd’s Bush, the Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art in Highbury or the Finnish Church in SE16.

Here is a thoroughly forwardable article I found on Mashable about nine projects that allow anyone with a bit of spare time or cash to, you know, contribute to the greater good and what not.

At the risk of coming across all sanctimonious, I have to say I like the idea of micro-philanthropy; I like the every-little-helps spirit of it and, erm, it resonates with my somewhat severe personal fiscal regime these days.

I especially like the initiatives that involve mobile apps, games and the coughing up of funds by corporate sponsors (see Free Rice and CauseWorld).

Now that Google’s stand-off with the Chinese government is in its next round, the Guardian’s digital content blog ponders the necessity for search engines to adopt an ethical code similar to that followed by journalists.

“Traditionally, journalism informed people. Can we say that now search engines inform people, too, and should therefore commit themselves to the standards of media companies?,” asks PDA’s Mercedes Bunz.

She gets some interesting responses of different degrees of cycnicism from Clay Shirky, Ben Hammsersley and Dan Gillmor.

Somehow the idea of making search engines commit to ethical guidelines reminds me of the “levy” (post-crisis code for tax) on financial transactions that is currently being promoted by the French and German governments; a noble plan to protect the public from the consequences of the lucrative meddling with a global system that is is too complex to fathom even for those running it.

But, just like the global tax on financial transactions, a moral code for search engines is right up there with international action on climate change and equal rights: all good ideas that only have a marginal chance of becoming reality within the lifetime of anybody reading this somewhat jaded, but secretly hopeful little blog post.

Still, Google’s tussle with the Chinese is good news. I for one am grateful for any grand, expensive gesture that is not purely motivated by a balance sheet.

I just came across this on desMena: a private residence in Kuwait by AGi Architects that is a clever play on the walled compound, the structure that continues to dominate urban landscapes in the Middle East and North Africa.

A remarkable effect is achieved here by making the wall the defining feature of the building’s interior as well as its exterior: it acts as both a barrier and a link between the private and the public spheres; it shields from the city’s hubbub, but also creates a dialogue between street and family space. The project is still on the drawing board and due to be completed next year.

Click here for more pictures and floor plans.

AGi architects specialises in sustainable develpments in the Arab region and recently won the Commercial Building/Mixed-Use Future Architecture Award at the Cityscape Awards 2009 in Dubai. The firm was founded in 2005 by Nasser Bader Abdulhasan from Kuwait and Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea from Spain.

It’s well worth checking out two recent films on the subject: Deen Tight by Mustafa Davis and New Muslim Cool by Jennifer Maytorena Taylor.

Through the research for these articles I discovered a whole new bag of incredibly gifted hip hop artists. More about them later. But for now, I leave you with one of my new favourites - Narcicyst’s tragicomic new release Phatwah:

Last month Mr Justice Burton stated that anyone holding a “philosophical belief which is based on science as opposed, for example, to religion” should also be protected from discrimination at the workplace.

Writes The Economist about the case: “He (Mr Justice Burton) provided a five-pronged test to shore up the ruling: the belief must be genuinely held; it must be held for a long period of time; it must relate to something of grave importance to humanity; it must reach a certain level of cogency and seriousness; and it must not trample on existing ideas of human rights. By way of example, he said belief in the supremacy of the Jedi knights of “Star Wars” fame would be excluded, but he conceded that allegiance to the doctrines of Marxism or communism might not.”

Of course, it’s not news that environmental issues such as manmade climate change are a question of faith to many. But who would have thought environmentalism would find its way into labour legislation quite so quickly?

Perhaps more than a hundred people gathered around an ominously large object hidden under a black drape at Ghaf Gallery last night. It was the opening of Under a Thousand Masks, the new exhibition by Jalal Luqman - the local art scene’s wild man.

Since the rest of the gallery was cordoned off, the room quickly filled with guests and press photographers engaging in speculative banter and high-brow gossip. After a well-timed delay, Luqman revealed the centre piece of the show: The Invisible Giant, a sculpture made of welded-together sheaths of metal, towering more than two metres above its audience.

In Luqman’s own words, he wanted it to be a reminder of those who are gifted, but never discovered, forever waiting for their turn in the limelight. Somewhat alien, androgynous and feature-less, the sculpture seems to indicate that genius is easily overlooked, especially if the search for it is bound by conventions.

Under a Thousand Masks is a small, somewhat disconnected show of eight pieces, with the Gentle Giant being the only sculpture. The other works are examples of Luqman’s digital art, many of them are of a dark, nightmarish mood. Inhabited by contorted, scarred and disfigured subjects, his works don’t shirk difficult issues such as addiction, exploitation and oppression and are reminiscent of both Hieronymus Bosch and the eerie yet comical character design in Guillermo del Toro’s film Pan’s Labyrinth.

Luqman goes far in his rebuttal of the more ornamental traditions in Arabic art, but doesn’t negate them. His works are certainly not what you’d expect to find in an average living room in the Middle East - or anywhere else, for that matter. They are too angry, dark and personal to work as decoration - which is exactly what gives them their power.

PS: No, I’m not putting up a snapshot of The Invisible Giant - go check it out yourself! Under a Thousand Masks runs until 30 November 2009 at Ghaf Gallery, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Turning the desert fertile is part of the UAE’s national mission statement. Unsurprisingly, the country has acquired a serious chemical-fertilizer habit. Nitrate levels in the groundwater and crops have become a cause for alarm in some regions and so the government has made the wise decision to start backing organic farming methods. But the underlying question remains: can desert farming ever be economically viable - let alone sustainable?

The Samosa just published an article I wrote after visiting an organic farm in Shahama, near Abu Dhabi, this summer. It was an eye-opening experience - one that has made me even more curious about the UAE’s dream of turning the desert green. More to follow on this.