(No) Body is Translating

The Jameel is running a third season of Night School, a seminar programme where UAE residents can discuss urbanism and history in Dubai. Under this season’s theme, There You Are, participants will assess how much we can know about a place just by taking a good look around. The seminar itself is fully booked, but there are three public events in Art Jameel’s lobby; this is one of them.

Abu Dhabi-based writer Deepak Unnikrishnan will present the opening chapter to his first literary/artistic project in seven years, Pettee. The lecture will focus on the role of the moving body in Gulf spaces as a translating device and sound machine, and why he is convinced we must pay attention to community elders with Gulf roots: to document how they move/sound, not only write what they say/remember. The project will continue in the spring with a dance and sonic collaboration at The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi.