Market of the World, of Deira, of an Art Gallery

Friday the 13th was rather a lucky day as opposed to its putative jinxes. On that lovely day, Ali, Magdi and I went to the Global Village in Dubailand, where you can travel to all the Asian countries at a single night! You can also walk in to a ‘summarised’ Europe and Africa. 

After seeing Mercato Shopping Mall, Global Village and learning about the plans for the World Islands and the reconstruction of the seven wonders of the world, I had a clearer opinion about the ‘Dubai Project’. The emirate itself is like a huge Appropriation Art project that properly adopts, borrows, recycles either the entire form or some sample aspects of man-made visual culture. The strategies of this method include "re-vision, re-evaluation, variation, version, interpretation, imitation, proximation, supplement, increment, improvisation, pastiche, paraphrase, parody, homage, mimicry, echo, allusion, and intertextuality.” (Wikipedia) However in a very unconventional way, these features rendered Dubai quite unique and original in its aesthetic, as the Emirates’ conserving culture inevitably ‘labeled’ these structures Arabic and Dubaiian.

At the Global Village, I had delicious food called Mamakeesh Lahm at the Lebanon pavilion (definitely my favourite cuisine), and saw amazing folk dance shows at the Palestinian pavilion. The best bazaar I reckon belongs to Pakistan and Afghanistan; tiny bit disappointed with the Turkish section though. Overall, I very much enjoyed like a child in this little constructed world in the middle of the desert.

Yesterday I had a little tour to the souks on both sides of the creek. They reminded me very much of the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Bazaar of Istanbul, in terms of the warm atmosphere of the market, intriguing shops and insistent sellers. I had a good deal for this giant brass bell that I fell in love with at first sight, and looking forward to use it for my Istanbul tower.

My beloved bell

Mobile homes for the market workers

This gold ring has the Guinness Record of being the heaviest of its kind: 58 kg; I weight the same with a ring!!!

In the evening, we went to the Traffic Gallery to see this amazing Lebanese film called “Teta, Alf Marra”, which means “Grandma, a Thousand Times”. It is a beautiful piece of work, and impossible not to be touched. The protagonist, the grandmother herself was a very distinctive character with a great sense of humour; a natural performer who carried the whole film on her shoulders. 

There was also a market event going on in the gallery, which I found quite similar to the collaborative project that Collective Gallery in Edinburgh actualised with Pist from Istanbul and Arrow Factory from Beijing. The objects for sale were a little bit pricy but it was lovely to flick through.

Yesterday was my very first night within Dubai art scene, and enjoyed my time observing the differences with my accustomed art scene in Glasgow. Contemporary art in Dubai as an emerging community is seemingly an upper class pursuit. Naturally this would affect the subject matters of the works produced. As a typical postindustrial city, Glasgow has a big working class population, which contains the contemporary art community as well. In order to survive we would do any job including cleaning, painting walls, plastering, etc, as labour is quite expensive in Britain. So artists are the desired cheap workforces for such needs. On the other hand, labour is rather cheap in Turkey and the Emirates. The minimum wage is very low, or even sometimes there is none. This is obviously influencing the distribution of occupations and interests, allocating everyone to their specified classes. I am feeling very lucky to be part of this progress that Dubai has been through, and looking forward to follow this process, and the changes awaiting Dubai in the following years. It is the fastest changing city and I can’t imagine how it will transform during one’s lifetime.