This week’s editorial musings from magpie’s nest
The quote Life is like a 10-speed bicycle. Most of us have gears we never use Charles M Schulz
Gaza Mon Amour A group of 50+ Palestinian artists is trying to set up a Gaza Biennale, looking for a location and seeking institutional partners both at home and abroad (and they’re interested in finding partner galleries). “It is a message to the art world that there are artists working under unbelievable circumstances, facing obstacles and the harshest conditions, and still creating work, talking about art, teaching art, and running workshops with kids.”
Fashionabilities Apply for a six-month fashion design residency run by Design Council Abu Dhabi at Abu Dhabi University – 10-15 applicants will be invited to participate, three of whom will be selected from the final show for a further three-month internship in NYC. But get in quick – the deadline is 15 December. Here’s the Opportunities listing.
Notre Dame de Desseins Amazingly, Macron’s 2019 pledge to reopen Notre Dame by the end of this year looks like being realised. As an alternative to the many pics of the gorgeous restoration, try Carol Adlam’s illustrated journalism of the story in Delayed Gratification.
Best films Sharjah Art Foundation has announced the winners of the Sharjah Film Platform Awards – four best films (Documentary Feature Coconut Head Generation, dir Alain Kassanda (France/Nigeria 2023); Documentary Short Surveilling A Crime Scene, dir Alana Hunt (Australia, 2024); Fiction Feature Cu Li Never Cries, dir Phạm Ngọc Lân (Vietnam / Singapore / France / Philippines / Norway 2024); Fiction Short Upshot, dir Maha Haj (Palestine / Italy / France, 2024).
The festival concluded a week ago; there’s still an Open Call for the Sharjah Film Platform Feature Fund, AED 500,000 to develop a feature film (deadline end Feb 2025).
Get creative The second edition of the Al Quoz Creative Entrepreneurship Forum, organised by Dubai Culture and Al Quoz Creative Zone, is running this weekend. While we don’t yet have the actual schedule (and it doesn’t appear to be on the website) we do know that there will be Keynotes by Natasha Sideris, Anas Bukhash and Sumaya Dabbagh; the return of the ‘Community Hub’ featuring potentially useful partners in finance, licensing, manufacturing and more; entrepreneurial skills workshops; and a programme of panel discussions, TED-style Lightning Talks, mentorship sessions, “and so much more”. If you’re in the creative sector it’s definitely well worth registering here, especially as it’s free.
On the subject of uninformative press releases, we’d like to be able to tell you more about the inaugural Dubai Sculpture Symposium, which is running now till 22 December with live sculpting and some panel sessions in Al Shindagha. But that’s about as much as we know (apart from the participation of Azza Al Qubaisi, Aktham Abdul Hamid, Georgi Minchev, and Liu Yang among unnamed others). Maybe the Dubai Culture website will be vouchsafed some more information …
Fair enough Photofairs has cancelled its planned Hong Kong edition scheduled for March 2025, citing “recent logistical constraints” (unspecified). Photofairs also killed off its New York edition earlier this year.
Also India Art Fair has cancelled its recently announced Mumbai event, the first edition of which was planned for November 2025 to coincide with Art Mumbai. At least one gallery said they didn’t have the resources to attend both, and Art Mumbai is the established option (plus The Art Newspaper says Art Mumbai has been offering current exhibitors a discount if they commit to the fair). India Art Fair’s Delhi edition will still go ahead in February.
Bluesky starter pack of the week Drowned in Sound’s collection of music mags, blogs, podcasts is here.
Something for the weekend Sort-of snooker. Simple and addictive. It’s here.
Things we didn’t know no.94 A chef’s hat traditionally has 100 pleats. Apparently it’s meant to represent the 100 ways you can cook an egg.
Earworm of the week The Waitresses : Christmas Wrapping
Be the first to comment