Iraqi artists pay tribute to dead protesters with sculptures
Tahrir Square has emerged as a focal point of the protests, with protesters camped out in tents
Updated 30 December 2019
AP
BAGHDAD: The sculptures carved by seven art trainees were lined up outside a makeshift workshop in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square. With them were posters depicting protesters who have been killed in anti-government demonstrations in the past three months.
One sculpture showed a protester with a tear gas canister in his eye. Another showed a volunteer tuk tuk driver next to his three-wheeled vehicle who was killed while evacuating wounded protesters during clashes. A third illustrated a protester’s hand flashing the victory sign and colored by the Iraqi flag.
For Iraqi artist Mahdi Qarnous, 53, the exhibition that was recently inaugurated in Baghdad’s central Tahrir Square — the epicenter of Iraq’s anti-government protest movement — is a personal contribution to the movement. It is aimed at immortalizing fellow protesters killed and kidnapped during the demonstrations that have engulfed Iraq since Oct. 1. It is also a way, he says, to allow young, talented Iraqis to channel their talents away from violence.
Iraq has been roiled by protests that have left at least 490 people dead, the vast majority of them demonstrators killed by security forces firing tear gas and live ammunition. The mass uprisings prompted the resignation of former Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi late
last month.
Qarnous said he recruited seven uneducated and unemployed young protesters from Tahrir Square, put them through an intensive six-week course that he personally funded and after three weeks they were able to start their own art projects.
We see this activity as part of the ongoing protests and a memorial monument for our martyrs and our abducted fellow protesters.
Mahdi Qarnous, Iraqi artist
“We see this activity as part of the ongoing protests and a memorial monument for our martyrs and our abducted fellow protesters,” he said.
Tahrir Square has emerged as a focal point of the protests, with protesters camped out in tents. Dozens of people took part in the simple opening of the sculpture exhibition on a recent day. None of the art trainees who were presenting their work attended the event, however, and their names were withheld due to security concerns.
“The current regime produced a generation that is poor in producing and cherishing arts. ... You see here in this exhibition that our people have potential but lack the path,” said Qarnous.
Murtada Muthanna, 23, an artist and activist, said the exhibition is a message to the world.
“It says we are a people with inspirations for life not death. Our revolution is peaceful and we are seeking reform not destruction,” he said.
Ithra showcases historic Islamic treasures at second Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah
Ancient edict, prayer carpet fragment, religious manuscript among artifacts
Event explores ways faith is experienced, celebrated
Updated 28 January 2025
Arab News
JEDDAH: Historic Islamic artifacts are being displayed by the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture at the second edition of the Islamic Arts Biennale currently underway in Jeddah.
Running until May 25 at the iconic Western Hajj Terminal, this year’s biennale, titled “And All That Is In Between,” explores the profound ways faith is experienced, expressed and celebrated.
Pieces on display include an edict from the Ottoman Sultan Mustafa III, who reigned from 1757 to 1774, regarding the Prophet Muhammad’s tomb; a prayer carpet fragment; a tafsir (interpretation of the Qur’an) manuscript; a folding manuscript stand; a mosque lamp; and a large wooden minbar (pulpit).
Ithra, which is renowned as a global leader in Islamic arts and heritage, will feature its pieces in the biennale’s Al-Madar section. This exhibition brings together contributions from prominent local and international institutions, emphasizing the richness and diversity of Islamic culture.
Farah Abushullaih, the head of the museum at Ithra, said: “It is a privilege for Ithra’s Islamic collection to be featured once again at this prestigious biennale, which celebrates the diversity and depth of Islamic arts.
“Our participation underscores our ongoing commitment to preserving and sharing the rich heritage of Islamic art with a global audience while expanding knowledge of key concepts of Islamic traditions that have shaped and continue to shape Islamic identities today.”
The artifacts on display, which were carefully curated in collaboration with Heather Ecker and Marika Sardar from Al-Madar’s curatorial team, reflect the theme of waqf. This fundamental Islamic concept involves dedicating assets for communal benefit, supporting religious, educational, or charitable initiatives.
Ithra’s participation aligns with its mission to inspire, enrich and foster appreciation for Islamic heritage through various initiatives, including its triennial Islamic Art Conference and major exhibitions. Its current “In Praise of the Artisan" exhibition showcases over 130 historic and contemporary works, many of which are on public display for the first time.
With its robust programming of lectures, workshops, and live demonstrations, Ithra continues to honor the past and present, positioning Islamic craftsmanship as a living tradition. Its efforts underscore the institution’s role as a global champion of cultural exchange and creativity.
The Islamic Arts Biennale, hosted by the Diriyah Biennale Foundation, provides a platform for exploring Islamic arts and traditions.
The event’s first edition in 2023, at which Ithra also participated, attracted more than 600,000 visitors.
Immersive installation takes center stage at Quoz Arts Fest with ENESS’s ‘Forest Dancer’
Updated 26 January 2025
Hams Saleh
DUBAI: As part of this year’s Quoz Arts Fest in Dubai, ENESS, the Australian-based creative studio, will debut an immersive light and sound installation titled “Forest Dancer and the Path to Pure Creation” at Concrete in Alserkal Avenue on Jan. 25-26.
ENESS founder Nimrod Wies said that the installation symbolized “freedom and joy through creativity.”
“The artwork promotes the idea that embracing your creative gifts positively impacts those around you and inspires you to find your place in humanity through art,” he said. “We hope that visitors experience joy and playfulness in our exhibition and take away from it the inspiration to fill their lives with creativity and expression.”
The installation features inflatables packed with computers controlling sound, lightplay and motion-tracking LED eyes. “The biggest challenge is that we arrive from the other side of the world and we work all hours to create a completely immersive artwork that takes over any space that it occupies,” Wies said.
“The most rewarding part of my journey has been to exhibit all over the world and see different people respond to the artworks. I love seeing the appreciation audiences feel and experience, and hearing their joyful feedback.”
Speaking about the festival’s appeal, Wies said: “Working with Quoz Arts Fest suits the ENESS vision because we love to be involved in local cultures and bring our work to thriving areas with all-ages audiences who are open to new ideas. We think that the Alserkal neighborhood is the coolest place in Dubai.”
Wies said that public art created opportunities for alternate behavior and emotion. “Public spaces are generally relatively codified with clear designations for what sort of behavior is undertaken where. However, the introduction of public art can reconfigure a space visually, emotionally and behaviorally.”
Looking ahead, Wies said: “We have works coming up all around the world. We are looking forward to our next experience in Saudi Arabia.”
Rare Vatican artifacts on show at Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah
More than 500 historic items, contemporary artworks on display
1685 Nile map’s journey to Jeddah a ‘cultural milestone’
Updated 25 January 2025
Jasmine Bager
JEDDAH: A six-meter map of the Nile believed to be more than 300 years old has left its home in the Vatican archives for the first time to become the centerpiece of the second Islamic Arts Biennale launched in Jeddah on Saturday.
Visitors to Jeddah’s Western Hajj Terminal, the biennale venue, can see the map along with 10 other artifacts from the Vatican Library.
The historic chart, drawn with watercolor ink on Venetian paper and depicting historic sites along the Nile, has been dated to around 1685.
Display space is divided into several sections, each blending Islamic cultural heritage with contemporary interpretations. (Supplied)
Its inclusion in the biennale marks a cultural milestone, showcasing the Vatican’s commitment to interreligious and intercultural dialogue, according to Vatican archivist and librarian Angelo Vincenzo Zani.
The map underwent restoration by the Vatican before making the journey to Jeddah. It is displayed alongside a sister map of the Arabian Gulf from the National Library of Qatar.
Both maps are believed to have been acquired in the 1700s in Constantinople by Giuseppe Alemanni, a Lebanese librarian who later became the Vatican Library’s prefect.
HIGHLIGHTS
• Organized by the Diriyah Biennale Foundation, the exhibition in Jeddah explores faith by juxtaposing contemporary and newly commissioned artworks with historical objects from Islamic cultures.
• More than 30 cultural institutions have provided objects from their collections, as well as 29 newly commissioned works of art.
Zani attended the biennale’s opening ceremony and later told Arab News that the artifacts highlight a rich history of cultural exchange and shared knowledge.
The Islamic Arts Biennale features more than 500 historical artifacts and contemporary artworks, including treasures from Makkah, Madinah, and around the world. (Supplied)
“I think this Islamic Arts Biennale is very important. The concept of art is very important — to expand knowledge and creativity. Art is an emotion that we can all understand. It can cross over in a dialogue that is ‘in between’.”
The 2025 biennale’s theme, “And all that is in between,” draws from the Qur’anic verse “And God created the Heavens and the Earth and all that is in between.”
The Vatican Library is also showcasing several works from its collections in “The Art of Numbers” display at Al-Madar section of the biennale.
Display space is divided into several sections, each blending Islamic cultural heritage with contemporary interpretations. (Supplied)
Al-Madar, or “The Orbit” section, features items from 20 institutions with significant Islamic art collections worldwide.
The section examines the role of numbers in collective history, exploring their origins in natural calculations and applications across Islamic culture, mathematics, architecture, music, design, celestial and terrestrial mapping, ocean navigation, trade and geometric patterns in Qur’anic decoration.
Heather Ecker, Al-Madar’s curator, said the Vatican Library, which was established in the Middle Ages, is the oldest taking part in Al-Madar.
The Islamic Arts Biennale will run in Jeddah until may 25. (Supplied)
“The Vatican has Arabic manuscripts on virtually any subject, and has a large collection of early Qur’ans. It has early translations of the Qur’an, of which we are exhibiting several,” she said.
Ecker said the Nile map appears to have been linked to a travel log and is a visual record of a journey.
“The maps were created from the written text and from memory, apparently,” she said.
The Islamic Arts Biennale features more than 500 historical artifacts and contemporary artworks, including treasures from Makkah, Madinah, and around the world. (Supplied)
“It’s not a map as we conceive it, because it is image with text, with annotations that correspond to observations made during the voyage and notes taken. It collapses geography in a certain way, so it scrunches up the land between the Nile and the Red Sea, for example, in order to include more sites such as Jeddah.”
The map has been in the Vatican since the late 18th century, but had never been restored and was first shown in 2021, Ecker said. The Diriyah Biennale Foundation helped fund its restoration and conservation.
“It’s much brighter now,” Ecker said. “The paper is much more supple now, so it’s really vastly improved, and it’s much easier to exhibit and for people to appreciate. That was a big undertaking, and important in the field of conservation preservation.”
Organized by the Diriyah Biennale Foundation, the Jeddah exhibition explores faith by juxtaposing contemporary and newly commissioned artworks with historical objects from Islamic cultures.
The event has built on the success of the first biennale, and is bigger in scale and ambition, Aya Al-Bakree, CEO of the foundation, told Arab News.
This year, more than 30 cultural institutions have provided objects from their collections, as well as 29 newly commissioned works of art.
“The biennale is rooted in Saudi Arabia and has become a clear landmark on the international stage as well. We are excited to share this exhibition with audiences from near and far,” Al-Bakree added.
Display space is divided into several sections, each blending Islamic cultural heritage with contemporary interpretations.
The inaugural Islamic Arts Biennale in 2023 attracted more than 600,000 visitors. The 2025 edition will feature more than 500 historical artifacts and contemporary artworks, including treasures from Makkah, Madinah, and around the world.
The 2025 curatorial team is led by Julian Raby, Amin Jaffer, and Abdul Rahman Azzam, with Saudi artist Muhannad Shono as curator of contemporary art.
Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer wows fans in Riyadh
Updated 25 January 2025
Lojien Abdulfattah Ben Gassem
RIYADH: Renowned composer Hans Zimmer performed on Friday at the Mohammed Abdo Arena in Saudi Arabia as part of the Riyadh Season events.
The Oscar-winning composer performed a selection of compositions from films such as “Dune,” “Wonder Woman,” “Pirates of the Caribbean,” “Interstellar,” “The Lion King” and “No Time to Die.”
The concert concluded with enthusiastic applause, marking a memorable highlight of the Riyadh Season. (Supplied)
The music was accompanied by interactive visual projections and stage effects that complemented the performance and highlighted its theme.
The concert, which sold out immediately on ticket release, concluded with enthusiastic applause, marking a memorable highlight of the Riyadh Season.
Zimmer expressed his gratitude to the Riyadh Season audience in a recorded message at the end of the concert, thanking them for their enthusiasm and energy.
Turki Alalshikh, chairman of the General Entertainment Authority, revealed this week that the composer is working on a new interpretation of Saudi Arabia’s national anthem.
The post continued that the German composer was also offered the chance to create the soundtrack for the upcoming Saudi Arabia film, “The Battle of Yarmouk.”
Zimmer attended the Kingdom’s Joy Awards on Jan. 18, which honors the achievements of artists in the Arab world.
DUBAI: US pop star Gwen Stefani is set to perform in Abu Dhabi on Feb. 21 as part of the city’s Saadiyat Nights, marking her first-ever performance in the UAE capital.
The triple Grammy Award winner will take the stage just 24 hours before legendary US singer Lionel Richie closes the event on Feb. 22.
The three-month open-air music series will also feature performances by Egyptian composer Omar Khairat on Feb. 1, British musician Sting on Feb. 3, Lebanese music icon Magida El-Roumi on Feb. 10 and US pop star Christina Aguilera on Feb. 15.
Artists who have already performed include Grammy-winning Michael Buble, Russian band Leningrad, US R&B group Boyz II Men, British singer Robbie Williams and Iranian singer Ebi.
Stefani has achieved global recognition as a songwriter, performer, and frontwoman of the US rock band No Doubt, and as a multi-platinum solo artist. Over the course of her career, she has received numerous awards, including four MTV Video Music Awards, two Billboard Awards, an American Music Award and a Brit Award.
Stefani has sold over 60 million records worldwide, combining her success with No Doubt and her solo career. Her 2004 debut solo album, “Love. Angel. Music. Baby.,” achieved multi-platinum status and included chart-topping hits like “Hollaback Girl,” which became the first digital download to sell over 1 million copies in the US.
Stefani is no stranger to Emirati culture. In 2019, she performed in Dubai at the Dubai World Cup. During her visit, the singer immersed herself in Emirati culture, embracing the quintessential tourist experience by taking a desert safari, dining in a desert tent, watching a falcon show, riding a camel, covering her face and hair with a headscarf, shopping at the perfume souk, and visiting the iconic Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building.
Saadiyat Nights is part of the Abu Dhabi Calendar’s year-round schedule of events, which includes music, sports, comedy, family-friendly shows, cultural festivals and art exhibitions.
Held on Saadiyat Island, the concert series is set against the backdrop of the Saadiyat Cultural District, pristine beaches, and luxurious resorts.
The inaugural edition of Saadiyat Nights, which ran from January to March 2024, featured a lineup of artists, including American stars Mariah Carey, John Legend, and Alicia Keys, Iranian singer Googoosh, and Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli.
