This week’s editorial musings from magpie’s nest<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Move in the right direction<\/mark><\/strong> The Junction is launching an eight-month Director\u2019s Programme<\/strong> to train, mentor, and develop emerging directors, culminating in the opportunity to direct a full-length play in any language. It\u2019s obviously not a full time course, but it will require commitment. The content looks good, and if it\u2019s based around the Junction\u2019s shows it should deliver a varied experience of everything from script selection to showtime via dealing with actors, audience development, and critiques. It\u2019s free; selection is by interview and the deadline for applications is 20 September. Queries to gautam@thejunctiondubai.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Open call closed<\/strong><\/mark> Dubai Culture and Art Jameel have announced the ten recipients of for the second edition of their Research and Practice Platform grants programme<\/a><\/strong> for projects that address the climate crisis. The Open Call in October 2023 apparently attracted \u201ca diverse pool of multi-disciplinary creatives\u201d from across the UAE who will get micro-grants ranging from AED 3,600 to AED 22,000. The recipients are Fatema Al Fardan; Zara Mahmood; Pauline Doctolero; Akari Yasuda; Zahra Jewanjee; Abubaker Eltom; Marvarid Qasem; Mayssa Kanaan; Kathryn Legaspi; and Datecrete Studio. Their proposed projects range from pottery and filmmaking to botany, painting, research, community programmes and public art installations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Modernist Abu Dhabi<\/mark><\/strong> ‘Abu Dhabi Culture’, which we assume is a DCT Abu Dhabi YouTube channel, has just added a three-minute celebration of modernist architecture in the city<\/strong><\/a>. Most of our favourites are in there \u2014 like the bus station<\/strong>, the Saeed Al Kalili tower<\/strong>, and the Armed Forces Officer Club<\/strong> as was. The vid is a tad glossy, some of the personal commentaries are a bit prosaic, and there\u2019s no context about the development of the city and the rationale for those cool buildings; but overall it is a neat advert for architecture in the capital that is more than 20 years old but less than 50.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alserkal art<\/strong><\/mark> A bunch of the Alserkal Avenue galleries have coordinated their September openings for the 18th \u2014 among those we know about are Carbon 12<\/strong><\/a>, Firetti Contemporary<\/strong><\/a>, Lawrie Shabibi<\/strong><\/a>, Aisha Alabbar<\/strong><\/a>, Green Art Gallery<\/strong><\/a> and Ayyam Gallery<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first quin<\/mark><\/strong> And the next NYUAD Art Gallery<\/strong> show has just been announced. Opening 1 October, it\u2019s titled Between the Tides: A Gulf Quinquennial<\/a><\/strong><\/em>. You don\u2019t come across many quinquennials, but this is the first of an ongoing series of exhibitions to be held every five years that will survey artistic voices from across the GCC \u2014 and documenting artistic movements here is exactly the kind of thing that the Art Gallery should be doing in its role as a university-linked not-for-profit organisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRather than a comprehensive survey, this exhibition reflects on significant moments within the field of visual production from the last five years \u2026\u201d We\u2019ll have all the details next week, but for now let\u2019s note that it includes 21 artists and collectives from across the GCC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oddities<\/mark><\/strong> Every year the British-based Association for Art History runs an Art History Festival<\/a><\/strong> to \u201ccelebrate and explore the histories of art, design and architecture showing how these subjects help us to better understand the world around us\u201d. It consists mostly of events in the UK (16-22 September this year) but there are a few online talks too \u2014 including one that looks particularly attractive for a UAE audience. The title is The Development of Art and Art Audiences in the UAE<\/strong>, and it\u2019s a panel discussion between three people who are very well qualified to speak on the subject \u2014 Manal Ataya<\/strong>, previously DG of Sharjah Museums and now advisor on museums to the Ruler of Sharjah; Asmaa<\/strong> Shabibi<\/strong>, co-founder and director of Dubai\u2019s Lawrie Shabibi Gallery; and Munira Al Sayegh<\/strong>, independent curator and founder of Dirwaza Curatorial Lab in Abu Dhabi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s led by art historian Sophie Kazan Makhlouf<\/strong> who has become an articulate commentator on the visual arts in our region. Mostly this manifests as writing for the likes of Markaz Review but (not entirely coincidentally) she\u2019s also responsible for the imminent The Development of an Art History in the UAE<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, a book we\u2019re looking forward to seeing when it gets published (due 14 October).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The online chat is on 18 September (but it will probably be available for streaming thereafter). Tickets are free; access info is here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Buyers located in NYC<\/mark><\/strong> Maybe things aren\u2018t so bad in the art market after all. The Armory Show<\/a><\/strong> in New York, traditionally regarded as the opening of the US season and a bellwether for the whole art biz going forward (and from this year under the ownership of Frieze) seems to have done pretty well by participating galleries, with four-figure sales aplenty for emerging artists and some six-figure buys reported for the better known names. Frieze Seoul also appeared to represent decent business<\/a><\/strong> for galleries; the Frieze group must be doing something right …<\/p>\n\n\n\n Overall, the consensus seems to be that the doomy end-of-days reports following the Spring auctions could be put down largely to a shortage of consignments and a lack of big-ticket items. Here\u2019s The Art Newspaper\u2019s view on the Armory Show.<\/a><\/strong> (Or for a rather different take on it, try Hyperallergic<\/a><\/strong> \u2014 \u201cis this year\u2019s fair a reflection of a tired, oversaturated, and complacent art market?\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bluer skies<\/mark><\/strong> Bluesky update: the Twitter alternative is now at around nine million users<\/a><\/strong> (who include magpie: @magpie.bsky.social<\/strong>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brainache remedy<\/mark><\/strong> Bad, ball, dan, mass, pat, tan<\/strong>. We asked what property these words share; the answer of course is that the vowel can be replaced with any of the other vowels (and yes, English pedants, ‘muss’ is acceptable to the OED).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Things we didn\u2019t know, no.94<\/mark><\/strong> The modern pencil was invented in 1795 by an officer in Napoleon’s army called Nicholas-Jacques Cont\u00e9 in response to a shortage of graphite. He came up with an alternative by mixing graphite powder with clay and forming it into rods that were then baked. \u201cThis allowed for the creation of pencils that were both more durable and capable of producing consistent marks, a significant advancement over previous writing instruments.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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