This week’s editorial musings
from magpie’s nest
The quote: From such crooked timber as humankind is made of nothing entirely straight can be made Immanuel Kant …
No worries Not in the Gulf, anyway. That’s according to a Gallup survey which asked people in 107 countries what they thought was the world’s most important problem. Some 32% of UAE residents reported “no problems at all” when asked to rank their top concerns — higher than any other country in the world, with carefree Kuwait and Bahrain ranking second and third …
Art Basel Qatar visited Art Basel Qatar clocked more than 17,000 visitors for its inaugural edition (by comparison last year’s Art Dubai had between 21,000 and 30,000, depending on whose report you believe). The general feeling seems to be that it was a success artistically – Global Director of Art Basel Fairs Vincenzo de Bellis: “this week has affirmed what we hoped Art Basel Qatar could be”. Artistic Director Wael Shawky: “seeing the artist-led presentation format resonate so clearly this week has been incredibly rewarding” – and possibly commercially too, though that might be a slow burn if judged by other art fairs. ArtNet reported several six-figure sales, several to institutions; and the organisers could report that representatives from
more than 85 museums and foundations worldwide attended …
… Qatar continues Art Basel Qatar may have had some of the feel of a non-commercial art event like a biennial; but the real thing is coming along this November in the form of Rubaiya Qatar, “a new nationwide multidisciplinary contemporary art quadrennial” from Qatar Museums’ project development arm ALRIWAQ Art + Architecture. It will include several exhibitions, the flagship being Unruly Waters; this will have works by more than 50 artists, inc many original commissions – those signed up include Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Sophia Al Maria, Mohamed Bourouissa, Alia Farid, Lydia Ourahmane, and Marina Tabassum …
Oh, the irony Dubai’s Museum of Illusions is offering a Valentine’s Day deal (two tickets for AED 90) …
SAF residencies The second cohort of artists for Sharjah Art Foundation’s 2025–2026 Residency Programme, supporting artists pursuing experimental and interdisciplinary practices, comprises Richi Bhatia; Rai; Monya Riachi; Azzah Salwaa; Zenaéca Singh; Joar Songcuya; Gian Spina; and Abdullah Tabaza. They’ll be working at Bait Obaid Al Shamsi and the Kalba Ice Factory to 30 March …
Ted advanced Overenthusiastic editing in the last newsletter led us to promote DDG’s Father Ted shows by a whole month: the actual dates are 6 and 7 March. Apologies and heads will roll. It’s still recommended, though …
What’s an Ambedkarite Opera? We wanted to find out more about Kavan, a groundbreaking music-and-poetry collaboration by the Mumbai-based music and street theatre group Yalgaar Sanskrutik Manch and the Nalanda Arts Studio from Bangalore which is coming to NYUAD Arts Center this weekend. So we fired questions at Nalanda’s Abhishek Majumdar, who directs this show and is keen to emphasise that it not simply an anti-caste show: “a satirical opera gives us a way to speak about deep-rooted inequalities in society – and every society has such inequalities”. Our feature is here …
Beginning ends The national tour of the UAE National Orchestra’s inaugural concert series, The Beginning, had more than 3,500 attendees and “strong audience engagement”. Its season is continuing with one-offs: next up – Russian Classics (Shostakovich, Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky) at NYUAD Arts Center on Saturday; Echoes of Time, a symphonic poem based on Ibn Araby’s writings by Nadim Tarabay, composer of The Beginning (5 Mar, Dubai Opera); and Faces of Love, which “traces love’s journey through melody, from its first spark to its deepest mystery” (26 Mar, Fujairah) …
Who’s corrupt now? The Corruption Perceptions Index ranks 182 countries worldwide by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (squeaky clean). For 2025 Denmark and Finland are top (89 and 88 respectively); the UAE is rising (21st position, score now 69) while the UK and USA are slipping past the Emirates on the way down (UK 20th, score 70; USA 29th with 64) …
Opening today The NYUAD Art Gallery’s big Spring show is another goodie – a celebration of the work and influence of the Baghdad Modern Art Group, undoubtedly one of the most important art movement of the mid-Century Middle East. Impressively, around three dozen artists are represented …
Useful app of the week Tock is a minimal, simple macOS menu bar timer – one active timer at a time, controlled by keyboard with simple natural-language input (like ‘45m’ or ‘coffee 5 mins’). Open source and free. More here …
Three more openings this week Gorgeous hot colours from Luis Olaso’s new nature paintings at JD Malat Gallery … Reimagined cartographies by Khozema Al‑Aaed at Firetti Contemporary show how the land absorbs everything we do … Nazilya Nagimova explores memory, migration, and the search for belonging via felt snails and more at NIKA Project Space …
Ending Sunday By contrast with the newer Manar Abu Dhabi and Dhai Dubai, Sharjah Light Festival is more conventional – illuminating iconic buildings (and some natural landmarks), albeit with (some) active light shows. Still very good, though, and free: this year the 14 or so installations are scattered around the emirate, too – it’s not just Sharjah City …
For Animenia Abu Dhabi you’re invited to “step inside a world inspired by the hidden corners of Neo-Tokyo, where glowing signs, colourful characters, and offbeat discoveries bring anime culture to life”. Five days of cosplay, music, food, and J-pop culture at Manarat Al Saadiyat. Not magpie’s thing, but reports from younger correspondents are enthusiastic …
Movies Under the Stars is a programme of classic films screened outdoors at 6.30pm at the rather lovely BEEAH Headquarters in Sharjah, curated by Cinema Akil and all free. Tonight it’s Spirited Away; next The Grand Budapest Hotel (13 Feb), Stuart Little (14 Feb), Costa Brava, Lebanon (15 Feb) …
Useful app of the week Sheetsbase is a free Chrome extension that helps you understand and write Google Sheets formulas. You can tell it what you want to do and it will give you a formula to do it; also explains what the formulas do, gives you shortcuts to access your most used formulas. More here …
Something for the weekend Colormuse is a stylish version of an apparently simple shooter game — change the colour of your ammo to damage different enemy types, absorb matching bullets to power up your attacks, and move around the 2D playing area to dodge the rest. Exhausting. Try it here …
Things we didn’t know no.94 A $180 burger was being sold at Super Bowl LX. To justify the price, the LX Hammer Burger featured bone-in beef shank, a roasted mirepoix demi-glace, and a blue cheese fondue that cascades down the burger on all sides, all crammed between two brioche buns. It weighs 1.5kg. No, we don’t know if anyone bought one (but probably yes) …
Earworm of the week Mandy, Indiana : Ist Halt Son
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