Tag Archives: windows
Lights festival debuts in Downtown Dubai
Lights festival debuts in Downtown Dubai Kelly Clarke / 21 March 2014 Walls of iconic buildings in Downtown area become the canvas A typical walk through Downtown Dubai usually exposes you to a visual array of awe-inspiring skyscrapers, with revving engines and car horns providing the perfect sound backdrop. But Dubai’s busy district has now become home to an array of all singing and dancing art. From the shores of the Milky Way, to an urban Serengeti, the city’s skies will explode with colour over the next few days and become ‘the brightest square-kilometre on earth’ thanks to the 32 installations on display at this year’s debut Dubai Festival of Lights. Passers-by will get an insight into the minds of each exhibiting artist — and whether it makes sense or not, it’s certainly going to be a feast for the eyes and ears. Lights in different shapes and colours on iconic buildings in the Downtown area as the Dubai Festival of Lights started on Wednesday evening. — KT photos by Shihab During a sneak preview of some of the finished installations on Wednesday evening, Star Fishermen by Tokyo-born artist Akira-Lisa Ichii kick-started proceedings — but hamour and salmon were not on the menu. “This is a story about fishermen trying to catch the stardust in the Milky Way, so they’re not your typical fishermen.” Composed of three fishing cabins draped in aluminous lighting, the seven-minute composition using a dynamic 360-degree lighting and sound system, sees light take on the role of dancer, and the music its composer, while hypnotically bringing spectators to the seas shore. And when asked where the inspiration for such a unique idea came from, Ichii said the UAE’s history played a big part in show piece. “When I was invited to Dubai, I knew I wanted to adapt this particular piece of mine. Not many people know this about the city, but before all the skyscrapers and highways, Dubai was a fishing village, so I thought this fit perfectly for this festival,” she told Khaleej Times. A light injection Turning Downtown Dubai’s urban surroundings into a façade of light, sound and art, the consensus among the exhibiting artists is that Dubai is a city which deserves artistic light. And French sculptor Edouard Levine, who is showcasing his illuminated geometric sculpture, Mikado, at this year’s festival, told Khaleej Times the city is a welcome platform for his pieces. “Dubai’s art scene is up and coming, so for me it’s a new discovery. It’s a new stage for my work and I am never afraid of trying new things.” With the 10-day light festival making Dubai’s famous square kilometre the ‘brightest on earth’, it could well bag the prize for ‘most entertaining car park on earth’ too, thanks to a humourous video mapping composition from French duo Mouety Batlle and David Passegand. Spread across a giant coloured wall canvas along Mohammed bin Rashid Boulevard, The Anookis throws you back to the days of the Atari computer. With simple imagery and a humourous story, the duo cleverly use lighting and sound effects to create a sense of nostalgia, and spectators are bound to fall in love with the loveable ‘Inuit’ characters too. Visually based on the two artists themselves, the Inuits take you on a wacky journey where cute cries, adorable laughter and wiggling bums are bound to raise laughs among Dubai’s old and young alike. “We originally created these two characters to animate our website, but they became so famous on the Internet, and it just spiralled from there. Now they’re on Facebook stickers and we’ve adapted them into smartphone apps too. This creation should be fun for all people,” Passegand said. Given just five weeks to produce the seven-minute show, The Anookis story is exclusive to Dubai audiences, and with the artists currently working a TV show based on the loveable Inuit characters, we could be seeing a lot more of them around the UAE soon. Time to explore A collaboration between Emaar and the Ville de Lyon’s Festival of Lights in France, Emaar’s managing director Ahmad Thani Al Matrooshi promised to continue long-term partnerships with the art organisation at Wednesday’s event, in a bid to build a cultural bridge between both Dubai and Lyon. So, as office buildings, homes and shop fronts become the canvas for these extraordinary international artists, why not get yourself down there and expose yourself to a different kind of art this month… one which tells a tale. kelly@khaleejtimes.com For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
Women and children first as Russian forces seize base
EU takes aim at Russia economy as Kiev plans Crimea pullout (AFP) / 20 March 2014 The European Union is under intense pressure to find a credible response to an explosive security crisis on the 28-nation bloc’s eastern frontier. European leaders were on Thursday to debate biting economic sanctions against Russia for its annexation of Crimea as Ukraine tore up key ties with the Kremlin and drew up plans to evacuate its nationals from the rebel peninsula. The European Union is under intense pressure to find a credible response to an explosive security crisis on the 28-nation bloc’s eastern frontier that NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Wednesday called “the gravest threat to European security and stability since the end of the Cold War.” But the Kremlin has warned repeatedly that it would strike back hard if confronted with a new wave of Western punitive measures that EU nations — their energy and financial sectors intertwined with Russia’s — would keenly prefer to avoid. Russian President Vladimir Putin will also find himself on the diplomatic defensive in Moscow when he hosts United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, as the global community almost unanimously views Russia’s absorption of the Black Sea region as illegal. But world anger has done little to halt unchallenged Russian military advances that prompted Kiev’s new Western-backed government to acknowledge preparing a Crimean evacuation plan for thousands of its soldiers and families. Tensions eased somewhat in the region on Thursday morning when acting president Oleksandr Turchynov announced the release by Crimean militias of Ukranian navy chief Sergiy Gayduk. Turchynov had threatened the Crimean authorities with “an adequate response… of a technical and technological nature” unless they immediately released Gayduk and several others seized during the storming of Ukraine’s naval headquarters in the port of Sevastopol on Wednesday. His call was backed up by Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu — a signal that even Moscow considered some of the militants’ actions outside the bounds. Yet the pro-Kremlin troops’ march across the mostly Russian-speaking region roughly the size of Belgium has been unhalting since the day Putin first won the right to use force against his ex-Soviet neighbour following the November 22 fall there of a Moscow-backed regime. Kiev’s untested leaders and their Western allies now fear that Putin has set his sights on the Russified southeastern swathes of Ukraine as part of his self-declared campaign to “protect” compatriots from the more nationalistic forces who rose to power on the back of three months of deadly protests in Kiev. “Our major concern right now is whether he (President Vladimir Putin) will go beyond Crimea, whether Russia will intervene in the eastern parts,” NATO chief Rasmussen also conceded on Wednesday. Ukraine has responded by seeking protection from Western powers and planning on Friday to sign the political portion of a broad EU Association Agreement whose rejection in November by Ukraine’s pro-Kremlin president Viktor Yanukovych sparked the protests that eventually led to his fall. Kiev on Wednesday also announced plans to withdraw from the Moscow-led Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) alliance that replaced the Soviet Union and to slap visas on Russians who sought to enter the country. For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
Four-year-old killed in desert safari accident
Four-year-old killed in desert safari accident Sajila Saseendran and Afkar Abdullah / 20 March 2014 Boy flung out as the 4WD in which the family was enjoying the desert safari turned turtle in the Madam area of Sharjah. A family picnic ended in disaster for an Indian couple when the vehicle in which they were enjoying a desert safari overturned on Tuesday evening, killing their only son instantly. The accident took place in a desert in the Madam area of Sharjah. Sources from the Dibba Hospital, where the boy was rushed to, confirmed that he was brought dead. “The paramedics in the ambulance had tried to revive the child. But, he was already dead,” said one official. The four-year-old boy, Pranav, was sitting on his mother Lakshmi’s lap when the four-wheel drive in which the family was dune-bashing met with the accident, the boy’s uncle told Khaleej Times . Pranav’s father Arun Kumar, a television cameraman who used to work for a prominent sports channel, and his brother Ajith Kumar organised the desert safari since their uncle and family had come over for a visit from India. While the brothers and their families travelled in one vehicle, the rest of the members were taken in another vehicle by the tour operator for dune bashing. “Our car had driven up a dune and it overturned when it was going down. I think the climb down the mound was steeper than what the driver assumed and he lost control,” said Ajith. He said the vehicle turned turtle a couple of times and Pranav was flung out of a side window due to the impact of the crash. He died of a head injury that caused profuse bleeding. All others, including Ajith’s two children, escaped with minor injuries. The Sharjah Police are investigating the case. The family’s friends remembered Pranav as a very smart and happy child. “They had just returned after a visit to India. That child was looking very cute after getting his head shaved in a famous temple,” said a family friend. He said that the boy was to start schooling in two weeks. “He had got admission in Delta School in Sharjah. This was not the first time they went for the desert safari. I think they have gone for it for some four to five times. It’s very tragic that his life was taken away like this,” he added. The shattered parents of the child are being taken care of by relatives and friends in Sharjah. The body of Pranav is likely to be flown to the family’s hometown in Alappuzha in the south Indian state of Kerala. news@khaleejtimes.com For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
