This week’s editorial musings from magpie’s nest<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The quote<\/mark><\/strong> Poetry is everywhere; it just needs editing\u00a0James\u00a0Tate<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale<\/mark><\/strong> Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale\u00a0Nora Razian<\/strong>, head of exhibitions and programs at Art Jameel in Dubai and Jeddah, and\u00a0Sabih Ahmed<\/strong>, project adviser for Dubai\u2019s Ishara Art Foundation, have been named as the artistic directors of the third\u00a0Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(due Jan\u2013April 2026). Both have experience\u00a0of curating large-scale exhibitions, with particular strengths around climate change and contested histories\u00a0…<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bubbling over<\/mark><\/strong>\u00a0Bloomberg<\/strong>\u00a0says\u00a0Dubai’s job market is being overwhelmed<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0by an influx of foreigners \u2013 more than 400,000 expats have arrived since the pandemic \u2013 dragging down salaries and benefits and leading to a surge in population, rents, and traffic. Dubai is now the Middle East\u2019s most expensive city for international employees, and the 15th globally,\u00a0according to consultancy Mercer<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(Abu Dhabi is a much more attractive No.43 out of the 276 cities listed)\u00a0…<\/p>\n\n\n\n China leads art market slippage<\/mark><\/strong><\/strong>\u00a0Artprice<\/strong>\u00a0has just released its\u00a02024 global art market report<\/strong><\/a>, and at first sight it\u2019s pretty gloomy \u2013 total value of sales was $9.9 billion, the lowest since 2009. The biggest fall was in the Chinese market, down 63%. But there\u2019s good news for buyers (nearly half the works sold were priced below $600) and for new\/young artists (the number of artists figuring in sales increased 6% year on year). We\u2019ll have more details in our upcoming feature, but you can read it for yourself\u00a0here<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0…<\/p>\n\n\n\n More public art in Dubai<\/mark><\/strong>\u00a0Dubai Culture<\/strong>\u00a0has signed an extended agreement with\u00a0Dubai Municipality<\/strong>\u00a0on public artworks. There are no specifics, but it looks as though Dubai will be getting more public art and on a set schedule; the MoU says Dubai Culture will decide how many works will be installed, the Municipality will propose\u00a0sites and arrange the necessary approvals\u00a0…<\/p>\n\n\n\n Architecture awards for AUS<\/mark><\/strong>\u00a0The\u00a0World Architecture Community Awards<\/strong>\u00a0announced a few weeks ago had two American University of Sharjah teams among the ten winners for Student Awards \u2013\u00a0Abdul Mateen and Rouqaya Al-Mufti<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0for a proposed research centre in Nizwa, Oman;\u00a0Lamya Ahmed and Rawan Khedr<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0for a similar project in Old Cairo. We\u2019ll be writing more about these, but there are good reasons why AUS has the top architecture school in the region\u00a0…<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not in The National<\/mark><\/strong>\u00a0Sudan<\/strong>\u00a0has\u00a0filed a case at the International Court of Justice<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0claiming the\u00a0UAE<\/strong>\u00a0has been arming the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in the country\u2019s vicious civil war and by extension is \u201ccomplicit in genocide\u201d of the Masalit community in West Darfur. The UAE is of course seeking the\u00a0dismissal of the case, calling it a “cynical publicity stunt”\u00a0…<\/p>\n\n\n\n Driving revenues<\/mark><\/strong>\u00a0\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200bLooks like Dubai\u2019s love affair with the car can be good business. Salik<\/strong> saw 2024 revenues of\u00a0AED 2.3bn<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(fines were up 15% to contribute AED 62m of that); and\u00a0Parkin<\/strong>, the city\u2019s parking monopoly, made\u00a0AED 249m<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u2013 up by a third (and Parkin reckons there will be another 25% of parking violations this year, accounting for nearly half its total projected revenue for 2025)\u00a0…<\/p>\n\n\n\n Something for the weekend<\/mark><\/strong> With Bracket City you start typing words to solve crossword-like clues in brackets that are nested within other clues (and often nested within nests).\u00a0Try it\u00a0here<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0…<\/p>\n\n\n\n Things we didn\u2019t know no.94<\/mark><\/strong> One in three cats is not affected by catnip (that sometimes euphoric reaction is hereditary).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Earworm of the week<\/mark><\/strong> Les N\u00e9gresses Vertes : Face \u00e0 la mer (Massive Attack Remix)<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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