Today’s opening of “Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam” marks in the most spectacular way one journey completed and another beginning. It is the culmination of years of work to bring to fruition in an appropriately sensitive way, and with a spread of artifacts supporting the central “journey” theme, the largest exhibition anywhere or in any time devoted to the subject of Haj.
Awarded Artist of the Year at the 2011 Arab woman Awards in Dubai, Khawla Al-Marri has stirred a domineering art clique unlike any other. An altruistic artist, she inspires the body of youth and instigates nationalism through her oil paints and acrylic dreams.
JEDDAH: A 3D graffiti competition that started on Jan. 25 at Read Sea Mall is expected to finish and announce its winners this Friday. As part of the Jeddah Shopping Festival, the Arabic Company for Events and Projects organized the event in cooperation with artist Fatima Baazeem. The event has already dragged a large group of Saudi young men, who found in it a way to practice their hobby.
AL-JOUF: Farmers participating in the Al-Jouf 5th Annual Olive Investment and Marketing Festival have sold more than 70 percent of their exhibits of olives and olive oil products by the end of the ninth day of the event on Tuesday. They said the festival presented them with a profitable marketing opportunity. Participation in the festival was not limited to farmers from the Al-Jouf cities of Sakaka and Doumat Al-Jandal but also included farmers from regions such as Qurayyat, Tabarjal and others.
Mayor of Berlin Klaus Wowereit receives in Berlin on Thursday President of Saudi Commission of Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA) Prince Sultan bin Salman who is currently in Berlin to inaugurate the “The Saudi Archeological Masterpieces through the Ages” at Pergamon Museum. Wowereit said the exhibition will promote cultural relations between Germany and the Kingdom (SPA)
LONDON: The British Museum and the King Abdul Aziz Public Library, who are jointly preparing for the major exhibition, "Haj: Journey to the heart of Islam" that opens to the public on Jan. 26, displayed Wednesday a splendid sitara textile at the British Museum here.
Transporting the 400 Saudi archeological masterpieces from the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia, to the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, Germany, was not an easy task. The mission took a few days, during which trucks drove 720 km and spent two days at sea.
Issam Kourbaj speaks of his work and experience as the student of the “Godfather of Syrian art,” Fateh Moudaress.
For six months (from July 4, 2011 to Jan. 9, 2012), the John Addis Gallery at the British Museum exhibited a small retrospective of Syrian modern art. The exhibition, titled “Modern Syrian Art,” included artwork by great names such as Marwan Kassab-Bach (popularly referred to as Marwan), Youssef Abdelke, a rare multimedia triptych by the poet Adonis and many others.
JAIPUR, India: Best-selling Indian writer Chetan Bhagat on Saturday criticized the support leant to authors whose books are banned for offending religious communities, a day after Salman Rushdie canceled a trip to India citing threats against his life.
BALTIMORE: Edgar Allan Poe fans waited long past a midnight dreary, but it appears the annual visits to the writer’s grave by a mysterious figure in black called the “Poe Toaster” will occur nevermore.
Much has happened in the Middle East during the last 20 years, and the American University in Cairo (AUC) Press has reflected the social, political and literary climate of the region.
HELSINKI: The Guggenheim wants to build a 140 million euro ($178 million) museum on the Helsinki waterfront as it expands its satellite of contemporary art galleries to new locations such as Bilbao in Spain and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
A concept gallery in Downtown Dubai that showcases a vision of the future with emerging Arab artists
“Gifts of the Sultan” is the first exhibit to view Islamic art through the lens of gift-giving, and to explore the ways gift exchange fostered the development of art styles and techniques.
Syrian artist Tammam Azzam opened a solo exhibition with his latest series entitled “Dirty Laundry” at Ayyam Gallery, Dubai last week.
Nouf Al-Semari expresses herself through her paintings
The Haj exhibition has 209 exhibits. Many are physical objects of religious significance as well as of great beauty in their own right. They celebrate Haj and Islam, but what they cannot do is to show the incredible privations pilgrims were forced to endure in the early days of Haj. The journey, often taking many months at huge expense, involved walking, or at best, traveling by camel over some of the bleakest and most inhospitable terrain on the planet.
Exhibitions do not just happen. They are the product of enormous amounts of effort, coordination, and in the case of the Haj exhibition in particular, trust. Exhibits may have large commercial value but in the case of the Haj exhibition, this was secondary to the considerations of spiritual and cultural value. The curators knew they were dealing with articles of exceptional value to over 1.6 billion Muslims, and getting the slightest thing wrong would cause repercussions at many levels, not least to the high reputation of the 260-year-old British Museum.
JEDDAH: Edge of Arabia successfully launched the most significant show of Saudi contemporary art ever held in the Kingdom with support from Abdul Latif Jameel Community Initiatives and Abraaj Capital last week.
In the center of one of the grandest entrances to any museum anywhere, that of the Great Court of the British Museum, stands the monolithic circular tower of the Reading Room.
Working on a design by Sydney Smirke (1798–1877), work on the Reading Room, which stands at the heart of the museum, began in 1854. Three years later, in 1857, it was completed. It was soon acclaimed as one of the great sights of London and became a world famous center of learning. In 2000, it underwent complete restoration.
2011 was a year when women’s issues in Saudi Arabia took a good shaking.
LUCKNOW, India: Organizers of an Indian literary festival said Tuesday they hope Salman Rushdie will attend, despite calls by Muslim clerics to ban the British-Indian author from the event. Rushdie’s planned appearance at the Jaipur Literary Festival has sparked an outcry among some Muslims who consider his 1988 book “The Satanic Versus” blasphemous.
In these grim times of economic crisis here is a book that takes a positive look at failure! Its inspiring message concerns all of us. It not only challenges our common assumptions but also justifies risk, failure and experimentation as a means to economic and general progress.
From cricket hero to Pakistani political force
Four unique and artistically remarkable golden Qur’an copies by Turkish Graphic Designer Erdem Gog and his partner Ziya Cagrici were presented on Dec. 18.
Since the fall of Hosni Mubarak last February, the eyes of the world are still very much on Egypt.
A collective assembly of art ideas at ATHR Gallery
Lawrence of Arabia is alleged to have claimed there is no art in Arabia, but the debut of over 40 works by Saudi artists, ranging from videos to sculptures and even art installations, at the Edge of Arabia exhibition proved otherwise. The exhibition, exceptionally curated by Mohammed Hafiz and co-curated by Edge of Arabia Founder Stephen Stapleton, began on Jan. 19 at the Al Furusia Marina along the Jeddah Corniche.
The Ara Gallery certainly knows how to bridge the gap between art, glamor and alluring natural beauty. The opening reception for “Light From Life” exhibition was held in the tasteful interiors of the gallery at Burj Plaza in downtown Dubai. With the towering prominence of Burj Khalifa, The Ara Gallery opened its doors to welcome the local community and other guests on a chilly evening in Dubai.
