This week’s editorial musings from magpie’s nest
The quote We either make ourselves miserable or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same Carlos Castaneda
Jazz Abu Dhabi … It was International Jazz Day yesterday (30 April), but jazz is big for the next few weeks – especially in Abu Dhabi, which has been designated ‘Host City’ for 2025. You should be able to stream last night’s sold-out All-Star Concert here. And mark your diaries for the best of the UAE’s new music scene at NYUAD Arts Center on 17 May …
… Art by Abu Dhabi … DCT Abu Dhabi is reported to be opening up its “vast” Masterpieces Collection of art and artefacts in the coming year with a series of ‘exhibition dossier’ mini-exhibitions, a load of long-term loans to the Zayed National Museum and the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, plus smaller collections to Louvre Abu Dhabi, other loans to museums both nationally and internationally, and an online catalogue for research and loan opportunities. First up: Poussin’s Confirmation, on show at Louvre AD from this week.
Incidentally, Louvre Abu Dhabi has extended its Kings and Queens of Africa: Forms and Figures of Power exhibition to 8 June 2025 in response to “overwhelming public interest and sustained demand” …
… Pritzker Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi will host the 2025 Pritzker Prize ceremony, a first for the region. The Pritzker honours living architects whose work demonstrates a combination of talent, vision, and commitment. Liu Jiakun, the 2025 Pritzker Prize Laureate, will give the Prize lecture at the Cultural Foundation on 3 May, alongside fellow Laureates Riken Yamamoto (2024), David Chipperfield (2023) and Francis Kéré (2022) …
ToDA’s back Theatre of Digital Art in Souk Madinat Jumeirah is open again after a major refurb. Expect even more state-of-the-art digital technology to offer visitors “an unparalleled multisensory journey” via a modernised main auditorium plus a foyer area for separate displays …
Sculpt on The Trump administration is seeking sculptures for the president’s ‘National Garden of American Heroes‘ pet project, reports the New York Times. Selected artists will get up to $200,000 per sculpture, which must be realistic, life-size, and made of marble, granite, bronze, copper or brass. A total of 250 are planned. It will be paid for in part from cancelled National Endowment for the Humanities funding …
Fewer jobs? UAE companies seem to have put hiring plans on pause this year, as higher taxes, rising rents, and increased salary demands make them more cautious. The latest Gulf Employment Index from recruitment agency Cooper Fitch said hiring activity across the Emirates rose just 1.25% in Q1, compared to the final quarter of last year …
Jazz hands It’s International Jazz Day on 30 April, with worldwide celebrations on and around that date including some special gigs in the Emirates. The biggie is the official International Jazz Day All-Star Global Concert at Etihad Arena, organised by and featuring Herbie Hancock; it competes with Blue Note at Dubai Opera, a celebration of 85 years of classics from Blue Note Records. The day before you can catch a tribute to Quincy Jones from top trumpeter Riley Mulherkar and his quartet at NYUAD Arts Center …
Something for the weekend Random fun for artists You will be assigned an anonymous work of art from somewhere else on earth and you have to represent it in your own medium; it then gets passed to another artist somewhere else for them to translate in turn … Try it here.
Things we didn’t know no.94 Wasabi is expensive, so most companies use horseradish instead. Real wasabi is actually milder than what you’ve been probably getting with your sushi …
Earworm of the week Sault : L.U.
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