Analysis of Dubai public space at A4 Space

UAEU professor Dr Yasser Elsheshtawy delivered a presentation, "Slow Space", at the A4 Space in Al Serkal Avenue today, describing the methodology of and data from his studies on the usage of urban spaces in the Middle East.

He began the Campus Art Dubai talk with an introduction of his earlier Cairo project and mentioned his Abu Dhabi project with FIND, but the bulk of the presentation was about his work on public space usage patterns in Dubai -- specifically, of a street in Hor al Anz and a square in Deira, both in "old Dubai".

I thought the long-ish time lapse videos were kind of unnecessary, but I liked his data maps, his descriptions of the process of acquiring the data, information about the histories and functions of the areas, and various anecdotes from the study, some of which were also revealed during the Q&A session that followed.

Quoz Art Festival and a spot of ISEA

The Quoz Arts Festival returned to the neighborhood this year, with a new branding, a wider audience, and a lot of food. Literally, one lane of Al Serkal Avenue, turned into a food street. A satellite attraction was the upcoming expansion of the Avenue, the construction for which was now looking much closer to completion in the plot next door.

Before taking a look around the galleries, though, I dropped in at the Fridge for the final performance of ISEA 2014: Maziar Ghaderi's Dissolving Self, featuring Vrinda Bhandula's dance performance visually augmented with a live projection behind her, controlled by her movements. It's not the first motion-controlled rendering in the world, but the simple bi-chromatic star field, coalescing, expanding and spining with her was beautiful in execution.

I only had the time to look at a few galleries. One I liked a lot was FN Designs and its exhibition of pop art, especially the long panorama of iconic aspects of Dubai life, pixelated and colored in a style reminiscent of retro computer games.

At Grey Noise, Michael John Welan's Lupus consisted of works in the metaphorical vein typical of the gallery, using different media and/or cultural symbols to wistfully allude to the demise of the Irish wild wolf.

Further afield, Mottahedan Projects' multi-artists exhibition, The Other Side of Visibility, featured a diverse and mostly interesting array of art, with my favorites including the works of Tala Madani (right), Maryam Hoseini (top left) and Habib Farajabadi (bottom left).

Dale Nichols piano concert at The Fridge

As a piano music fan, I could not miss The Fridge's latest Fridge Concert Series concert, starring pianist and composer Dale Nichols. For about an hour, Nichols played several compositions on The Fridge's stage, including "Adrift" and "Vagabond's Revenge", and most memorably, "Dreams from a Kitchen Window" and "The Sea".

His music is not typical piano concert fare; it has been described as "cinematic", and does seem to lend itself well to inclusion in soundtracks. Which is to say that it is a very mood-evoking music, incorporating themes of nature and the weather, as Nichols mentioned during his introductions. His composition also eschews repetitive motifs, and his music is distinctively dynamic, changing direction subtly ever so often.

His EP, In Full Color, includes four lovely tracks, including the haunting "October", and the calming, melodic "Blossom", with its background of nature sounds.

Thank you for your cooperation

Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde's latest exhibition, Thank You for Your Cooperation, applies bold colors and words to a urban facade. Par for the course with Turkish artist duo :mentalKLINIK, who have been known to make resourceful and novel use of modern materials. The works on glass are especially striking.

Raw Theatre presents Billy Bishop Goes to War

Relatively new-in-town theatre group, Raw, staged the musical "one man play", Billy Bishop Goes to War, this weekend at The Fridge. I absolutely loved it: great acting, great production, and great music.

The two acts of the play add up to about one and a half hours, during which seasoned British stage actor, James Gaddas, plays a Canadian air force veteran, the titular Billy Bishop, who narrates the story of how he came to be a star fighter pilot in World War I. This story is spellbinding, with many moments of poignancy and hilarity, told with poetic lucidity and detail. It was a time when air combat was still very new, so it's also a nice little historical trip into the golden age of this dimension of warfare.

Gaddas as Billy Bishop did a convincing Canadian accent, and jumped in and out of several roles -- across ages and genders, including voice and mannerisms -- without missing a beat. The pianist supporting him also did a great job supplying timely background music and sound effects, as well as singing in support. The music was very era-appropriate, and Gaddas' singing (including while playing other roles) was excellent. The minimal set and warm lighting were perfect too.

A4 Space unfolds in Al Serkal

Al Serkal Avenue's A4 Space officially opened its doors on Monday with a live music performance by Hamdan al Abri, and milling throngs of have-a-lookers, bringing to the compound and the neighborhood a much-needed replacement for Shelter. With a cafe, a community library, a store, and rather large gallery and screening halls (the latter with stepped rows of beanbags), it also sort of fills in the void left by the old Pavilion. The space's design is neat, too; a platform constructed halfway into the front section, with another level of catwalk overlooking it, and little reading nooks complementing the desk space.

Galleries night and The Fridge season launch at Al Serkal Avenue

Dubai wiped summer sweat off its brow and unpacked its suitcases on September 9th, as the Al Quoz art scene kicked off the Fall season with a galleries' night at Al Serkal Avenue.

Nation Estate still

I particularly liked Larissa Sansour's Nation Estate at Lawrie Shabibi; it was a very interesting juxtaposition of a futuristic utopia with Palestinian cultural icons.

Gallery Isabelle Van Den Eynde's exhibition of Aisha Khalid's works was highlighted by this one piece, entitled Yourself of Yourself.

Hatty Pedder returned to Mojo Gallery, this time with images of Beirut. I loved the ones with the brightly-colored pane backdrops, and her drawing is a huge plus.

At Grey Noise, the theme of the fascinating joint exhibition Intangible experiences, arrangements and manoeuvres by Charbel-Joseph H. Boutros and Stephanie Saade was the de- and re-contextualization of objects. Quite philosophical.

The Green Art Gallery was displaying the photography of Jung Lee, each piece a different word or phrase written in neon and set in natural scenery. Although they resemble hipstagrams at first glance, the quality of the photography and the choice of backdrops and colors make them stand out artistically.

Fusion violinist Elena Thedvall and vocalist Melisa Le Rue at The Fridge

Serkal resident The Fridge also launched its music season with a singer-songwriter session, followed by some of their artists and groups performing across a range of genres. These included a great demonstration of string talent by Fusion violinist Elena Thedvall, and a clappy-happy show by singer Melisa Le Rue with the choir group Dubai Vocal Ensemble.

Acid Fields by Shawki Youssef at Green

While waiting to get into a play, I sneaked a peek at Acid Fields by Shawki Youssef, exhibiting at Green Art Gallery in Al Serkal Avenue. Alluding to the conflicts currently simmering in the Middle East, he has drawn out imagery of the region and the victims in traumatized scratches of scorched black, colored mostly with sickly yellows. You can see the outlines of joints and limbs emerge from the chaos, as if twitching and contorted in pain.

Juliana Down Garage Tour Kickoff at The Fridge

Juliana Down, one of the region's biggest rock bands, kicked off their garage tour this Saturday night with a performance at The Fridge.

The opening act, The Younglings had an energetic indie rock sequence to warm things up, including a few originals. I did not see them on publicity, but the Force was definitely with them.

After a half-hour break, Juliana Down went onstage. By that time, at least 3 camera crews were in place. Guitarist and vocalist Dia Hassan's belted out JD hits in his well-trained voice. Lead guitarist Sari Ramadan (also a founding member) and bassist Andrew Gibson (who joined a couple of years ago) supported with stirring rock strings, and the new drummer Jeremiah John (who also plays the cajon, incidentally) thundered in the percussion.

This is the first show of a tour that will apparently be similar to what The Foo Fighters did a couple of years ago: organizing concerts on fans' driveways and lawns. Hence, a garage tour. I believe this is a first in these parts, so it will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Sponsors Ray Ban, who supported the gig as part of their Envision Series, chucked a bunch of balloons into the air for the crowd bounce about.

If you missed them this time, you can still check them out at their Fridge Concert Series gig next month. Until then, there's the alt rock festival this Friday at The Music Room.