Editorial musings from the nest
The quote: Anyone can do any amount of work, provided it isn’t the work he is supposed to be doing | Robert Benchley …
Makeover It only took eight years, but the magpie website finally has had a redesign. It’s the same reliable, mostly authoritative, occasionally opinionated content; but it looks better (we think) and works better (let us know). Check it out …
Artspeak in Arabic DCT Abu Dhabi’s newly-launched Abu Dhabi Culture Glossary isn’t currently a glossary at all – it doesn’t have any definitions (yet) for the few hundred art- and culture-related terms it lists. What it does have is Arabic translations, and that’s really useful: no standard English-Arabic dictionary is going to have many suggestions for ‘Fauvism’, ‘Neo-Expressionism’ or ‘Magic Realism’ (surely ‘magical’?). And “the next phase will introduce definitions and expanded explanatory notes”, which will make it genuinely valuable. Developed in collaboration with key local players – Louvre Abu Dhabi, Zayed National Museum, Natural History Museum, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, Arabic Language Centre, and others – the Mk1 version is here ….
Act on The Short+Sweet people are looking for actors for a free/unpaid Script Workshop for a 11am-5pm day at the Rove WTC on 26 Sept to work with 10-minute playscripts produced during a recently completed Short+Sweet Playwriting Course. Could be fun, must be good for networking …
A.R.M. and the man Launched in 2021 by A.R.M. in partnership with Art Dubai, the A.R.M. Holding Children’s Programme commissions a different international and/or local artist or designer each year to develop a bespoke workshop designed for UAE-based children. For the sixth edition, Lithuanian artist Tomas Daukša has adapted his ongoing Bigfoot Worlds into a hands-on project for children aged 5–17 in schools across the seven emirates. He uses the Bigfoot character as a traveller moving through unfamiliar environments; the children respond by building miniature ecosystems and habitats, using storytelling, sculpture and world-building to explore belonging, ecology, perception and empathy. It looks great; schools have until 25 Sept to sign up … Info here.
More Baghdad The NYUAD Art Gallery has reopened with All Manner of Experiments: Legacies of the Baghdad Modern Art Group. The exhibition now runs to 3 January and there will be new public programming this season – a series of Saturday afternoon lectures and conversations. ‘[Curator] Nada Shabout has brought together artworks and archival materials that illuminate a crucial chapter in modern Arab art history, while tracing its continuing influence on generations of Iraqi artists today” observed the Art Gallery’s Executive Director Maya Allison. Recommended …
What AI can do An Anthropic report on AI misuse lists several case studies showing a variety of “malicious activity” by criminal groups and state-sponsored organisations (inc “a UAE-directed influence operation” directed against the Moslem Brotherhood). Grim stuff: “the capabilities described in this report should be assumed to be available to any actors who are motivated to use them”. It’s downloadable here.
Civic culture Culture Summit Abu Dhabi will be back at Manarat Al Saadiyat “and across the Saadiyat Cultural District” from 8-10 December. The theme: Towards a Reimagined Commons, which “invites participants to rethink ‘civicness’ by questioning and building spaces for imagination, conversation, and action”. More here …
Making it 1 … PeachPuffs (who are a rather good band) have a gig on 6 Oct as the opener for the next Fridge Concert Series, and they’e looking for “work that brings the space to life” – could be sculpture, installations, visual art, objects, activations, whatever. Submit ideas via the link in bio before 2 October.
Art in your hand Hotel Indigo Dubai Downtown is again running its ‘Your Art, Our Cup’ open call inviting artists, illustrators and just about anyone who can wield a colour Sharpie to design the hotel’s next takeaway coffee cup. You need to submit an original design “inspired by the hotel, its vibrant neighbourhood, art, culture, coffee and community”; the winner gets to see their work on Indigo’s takeaway coffee cups, plus free coffee for a year at Indigo’s Open Sesame cafe, a two-night stay with breakfast for two, and “recognition across the hotel’s marketing channels”. Entries are open to 15 October. Get the design template from marketing.hotelindigodubai@ihg.com.
Making it 2 … The Maker Days programme belatedly dropped on Instagram a couple of days ago (it looks pretty good: lots of variety, lots of practical speakers) and a registration link has appeared on the website (scroll down to the end of the page).
… Make it real Somehow we missed the MiZA Residency shout-out, and applications close 20 Sept. It’s for six residencies spending nine weeks at MiZa in Abu Dhabi, testing, building and turning an idea into “something real”. Residents will have access to a workspace suited to their project, mentorship, and MiZa’s ecosystem. “You don’t need a company, a business plan, a track record or a particular discipline. Just an idea worth exploring, and an eagerness to build it with someone else” – apply with a partner, or apply on your own and let MiZa make the match.
Good grant The Technology Innovation Institute (TII), part of Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council, has reportedly received a Qualcomm grant to develop SADEED, TII’s proprietary AI-based predictive maintenance platform for safety-critical systems on aircraft – particularly cargo drones and eVTOLs. SADEED runs on Qualcomm’s Dragonwing IQ9 edge AI processor. Meaty stuff, since it will “identify early indicators of component degradation before they develop into failures”. The odd thing is that the PR says “TII has become the first institution in the Middle East to receive Qualcomm’s Tech for Good Grant”; but when we poked around we could find nothing on this grant programme, there’s no mention of it in Qualcomm’s CSR materials, and certainly there’s been no PR for any other recipients. And it has nothing to do with F5’s similarly-named Tech for Good grants. ‘Tech for Good’ implies something socially responsible, which is true of F5’s programme but seems a stretch for delivery drones and pilotless flying taxis …
Useful app of the week Supaste is a $15 Mac app that saves everything you copy or screenshot – so not just text but also images, links, files, code, colours, even SVGs. Stuff is kept in a useful visual history, automatically grouped by type, app, and custom categories. Mighty handy, though you’d be able to convince yourself more easily if it had a free trial period. Check it out here.
Useful app of the week Datablur blurs sensitive information on your display with one click (or by default – handy for passwords and CC info) giving you realtime screen privacy for live calls, demos, presentations, recordings, screen shares, and people wandering past. Extensions available for Chrome, Firefox and Edge, or try it here.
Something for the weekend Postered is an online game in which you are given a film title and five potential taglines, and have to guess which one was used on the original movie poster. There’s a new film every day, and a decent archive. Try it here.
Things we didn’t know no.94 You’ll have heard the Wilhelm Scream; first used in 1951, it’s a stock sound effect that has since appeared in hundreds of films – most recently (says a Wilhelm watcher) in a 2026 TV movie called Spider-Noir. It was originally created with the direction to make it sound like “a man getting bit by an alligator, and he screams”.
Earworm of the week Ibibio Sound Machine : When You Want to Dance
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