My Valentines Gifts

CRATES CRATES CRATES!

Yesterday was the best day. We are obviously having the payback of our nine month misery of waiting. St. Valentine of the third century tapped on our shoulders, and sent his blessings as well as our crates to Satellite in a lovely Mitsubishi truck. I had a slight worry about the condition of the chest, after the customs inspection. Obviously, I wasn't expecting them to utilise drill drivers to unscrew the lid or anything; but it was still a thoughtful, tender bash with a crowbar, at the corner of the crate. Whereas Turkish customs prefer axing them, which is less lovely. Surprisingly, not even a single twig from the chest was broken, everything was in its place; the quad was not even inspected. Rami was with us at Satellite during our exciting wait, then we worked at the space together, listening to music, and setting up the quad, the tent, the chest. A brilliant day!

We have to sort out the flat tyre issue today

Rami, practicing the gears

Ready,

Go!

 Then Rami took us for a Valentine's night out, first to Dubai Mall, then to Downtown Dubai for a delicious dinner and the best ever chat. I was so fascinated by the crowd and the size of Dubai Mall. (Well, it is the biggest in the world) Despite being a shopping mall, it is purely a product of Visual Culture, more so then being a venue for expenditure. It's built to be looked at. It's the place you mostly buy with your eyes, consume with your eyes. To be honest, I quite like the democracy of the mall, where it is free to feed your eyes, and digest what you have seen in the following days, no matter what your status in the society is. The abundance of people you see at a Thursday night is part of the whole display. 

This fountain in Dubai Mall evoked the feeling of a bonfire, in the same way how you stare at it, without moving eyes.

                                                         The ice-skating rink in the centre of the mall

We also have been to the biggest book shop in the world. It is not a book shop, a but a book city. I should say, I was a bit overwhelmed; couldn't choose what to look at, but wandered around paralysed. I should practice for the next time about how to achieve a deduction in book-looking.

The biggest bookshop in the world, perhaps 1/20 of it visible in the image.

Once we lost our walking ability in the bookshop, it was time to chill out and have a nice meal. We headed to Downtown Dubai, which has an impressive view of a very tall jewellery, Burj Khalifa. The food was superb; it was excellent! The staff was so friendly. I didn't want anything to disturb that moment; I would have stopped time, if I could.

Cold mezze

Hot mezze

It was yesterday again I discovered the secret of the numerous editions of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum portrait paintings in Satellite. Always thought they were made by one person, and tried to imagine the context of the project. I'm so happy that I finally asked Rami about it, and now I know; it's a brilliant piece of work! The author of the project Lantian Xie, had 12 identical paintings of the 'publicly-known' photo of Sheikh Mohammed, each crafted by a different art worker in China. Then these paintings composed the installation 'I Think I Love You'. The most interesting part of the project is the bureaucratic legalities of the presentation of the work, which transformed the piece into a project where the paintings became equipments/mediators, rather than the final product.  The Chamber of Commerce allowed Traffic to perform the exhibition but did not permit the sales of the paintings to avoid the imagery of the Sheikh becoming a trade object. The successful skill of the paintings however was the ultimate key, in getting the permission to publicly show the work. In this way the institution of commerce became the jurying body who validates the exhibition. I find it immensely interesting, this process of iconising in a country whose Islamic traditions have never allowed to do so. I just love Dubai so much.

Lantian Xie's work

           We have a spoiler section at the end of this post; hope you enjoy what you see.