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CONTENTS / NOVEMBER 2013
32
Emirates Melbourne Cup: the race that stops a nation
42
Dubai International Financial Centre is about more than just money
50
67 55
Icelandic singer Ásgeir The latest shares his films, books favourite tracks and albums
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58
Dining with chef Shannon Bennett
OPEN SKIES / NOVEMBER 2013
61
A guide to Warsaw, “the new Berlin”
The story of movies before the movies at Dubai Moving Image Museum
contents / noveMber 2013
114
The New Breed
Front (27) Calendar The Grid The Question The Street Skypod The Room
29 38 40 42 50 52
Consume BLD Mapped Local Knowledge Column
Main (79) Joining The Club Dubai Obsessions Our Woman In Mirrored City The New Breed Too Tough To Die
55 58 61 67 73
brieFing (133) 81 88 98 104 114 125
News Comfort Visa & Stats Route Map Fleet Last Look
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134 142 144 146 152 154
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EDITOR’S LETTER
W Gareth Rees, Editor
“DUBAI OFFERS BOTH A FOLDUP BICYCLE SOCIETY AND A SWING DANCING CLUB, A VINYL COLLECTOR AND A PROFESSIONAL EMBROIDERER WHO HAS WORKED FOR ROYALTY”
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elcome to the annual Dubai issue of Open Skies. This magazine is on every single one of Emirates’ flights, so to say it is an international title is an understatement – it is truly global. But Dubai is the city that we, and Emirates, call home. It’s where we produce Open Skies, even though the words, photography and illustration on our pages come from all over the world. No matter where I travel in the name of this magazine, my chair is in our office in Dubai Media City. It is Dubai that inspires me and the team. So when we set out to create this issue, we didn’t want to commission talent from outside of Dubai to create the content. We didn’t necessarily want to work with professionals at all. We wanted this issue to be inspired and created by residents of Dubai – people who live here, people who have an insider’s perspective of a city that is often grossly stereotyped and misrepresented in the international media. In order to source ideas and contributors for this issue, then, we created a hashtag , #ProjectDXB, and held an event at The Magazine Shop in Media City – a location that not only represented one of the many niche interests in Dubai, i.e. independent magazines, but was uniquely suited to the hosting of such a free-for-all of ideas. The residents of Dubai did not disappoint. From that one night came Jimmy Dawson’s exploration of the Dubai punk scene – yes, I said punk and Dubai in the same sentence – which you can read on page 125. Speaking to some of the people who turned up – each of them passionate about the city they have chosen to call home – what struck me was the diversity of the city. And I’m not talking about the much heralded ‘melting pot’ of nationalities – though that is something to celebrate – but the splendid array of interests, pastimes, hobbies and professions to be found in Dubai. These conversations inspired the Dubai
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ON THE COVER / It’s not easy to create a Dubai cover that defies international stereotypes of the city, but I spotted a close up image of the side of a building in a magazine at the #ProjectDXB event we held for this annual Dubai issue, and instantly wanted something similar. When our art director, Olga, stumbled across Niall Cotton’s Mirrored Cities series, we knew we had it. There is something mesmerising about the patterns Niall creates with his photographs.
Obsessions feature; if you turn to page 88, you will discover that Dubai offers both a fold-up bicycle society and a swing dancing club, a vinyl collector and a professional embroiderer who has worked for royalty. With the help of some very talented photographers, we put together our feature on “The New Breed” (p114); seven residents who, despite the fact that they are yet to turn 40, represent a Dubai to be proud of. The list of individuals we photographed included a young mother leading the organic, locally grown food revolution in this desert city, an Emirati filmmaker and an Iranian boxer, but they all have one thing in common: they call Dubai home. They represent the desire to achieve and belief that anything is possible shared by many who live here. I am very happy that I live in the same city as they do. Elsewhere, James Montague – Middle East football expert, author of When Friday Comes and former Dubai resident – charts the rise of UAE club football (p81), and we bring you six befuddling but beautiful images of Dubai from photographer Niall Cotton (104). Enjoy the issue.
CONTRIBUTORS
MEET THE RESIDENTS WHO HELPED CREATE OUR ANNUAL DUBAI ISSUE
JULIET DUNNE
Photographer Juliet Dunne has worked in the Middle East, India, Hong Kong and London. Raised in Dubai, she studied photography at college and university in the UK. Her work has been published in a number of international titles. In this issue, Juliet photographed Emirati filmmaker Nayla Al Khaja. “This was my first shoot for Open Skies, and I am delighted that my subject was the talented Emirati filmmaker Nayla Al Khaja,” she says. “Nayla was comfortable in front of the camera, and even more so in a cinema auditorium.”
JIMMY DAWSON
Jimmy Dawson is a freelance writer living in Dubai. Originally from Austin, Texas, he grew up harbouring a love for wailing and distortion and the antics of music’s social outcasts. In this issue, Jimmy jumped head first into nascent Dubai’s punk scene. “Most people wouldn’t associate punk rock with the UAE, and the scene isn’t huge, but once I started digging I found several bands that were recording music and performing regularly,” he says. “I was amazed. I hope writing about these guys for Open Skies will encourage them to keep playing and recording music here in Dubai.”
TRACY GRAY
A Dubai resident since 2002, Tracy has been a contributing editor for Dubaibased architecture and design magazine WTD since its launch in 2011. For this issue, Tracy wrote about Dubai’s Index Tower. “The ground is still bare here — you can build something like Index in the middle of downtown,” she says. “You couldn’t do that anywhere else in the world, the possibilities are literally endless.”
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AIMEE HEDLEY
Aimee is a drama teacher at Dubai International Academy and a member of Dubai Drama Group, for which she recently directed A Midsummer Nights Dream. Currently directing Steven Berkoff’s adaptation of Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, she makes her journalistic debut in this issue writing about amateur theatre. “Theatre is my life, so to be asked to write about my experiences as an actor and director was very exciting,” she says. “Amateur dramatics is thriving in Dubai, and I have worked with some extremely talented actors here.”
JESSICA ALDRED
Jessica is a British designer and embroiderer. After graduating from the Royal School of Needlework (RSN) she went on to work in costume at the Royal Opera House. She later returned to the RSN, where she was a member of the team that produced the embroidery for the Duchess of Cambridge’s wedding dress and veil. Jessica’s first book, Adventures in Needlework, was published in 2011. In this issue, Jessica wrote about her love of embroidery. “Writing about my passion (obsession!) is always a pleasure, and I was thrilled to work with Open Skies.”
#ProjectDXB We asked dubai residents to attend an event at the Magazine shop in Media City With ideas for our annual dubai issue. the City’s Creative fraternity didn’t let us doWn
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Life On Film The story of visual entertrainment at Dubai Moving Image Museum
(67)
front dubai: Exploring the stores, restaurants and galleries in Dubai International Financial Centre Melbourne: One of Australia’s leading chefs shares where he eats his breakfast, lunch and dinner dubai: How the amateur theatre scene looks from the director’s chair
42 58 73
November
CALENDAR November 1, Surin, Thailand
Surin Elephant Round-Up Known as the “Land of elephants”, the Surin province of Thailand has been hosting this elephantine extravaganza for more than 50 years. The festival begins with the ever-popular elephant breakfast, which sees more than 300 pachyderms parade through the city’s streets and sample a trunk-full of fruit and nuts from the tables lining the route. Once fed and watered, the elephants show off with football matches, training demonstrations, log-pulling events, ancient battle re-enactments and a tug of war competition against 70 soldiers. TATNEWS.ORG
November 3 to November 7, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
November 2, Tunisia
INterCoNtINeNtal rally
This exclusive off-road rally will test the skills of 30 participants in a 10day tour of Tunisia. Organised by the Intercontinental Rally team, the noncompetitive journey will give the drivers the opportunity to spend seven days in the Jebil National Park, following traditional Bedouin traders’ routes across the undulating dunes. The team will be on hand to offer expert coaching and advice during a journey that starts and finishes in Genoa, Italy. The event will allow participants to prepare for the Intercontinental Rally 2014, which starts on January 20, 2014, and runs from Almeria to Dakar. INTERCONTINENTALRALLY.COM
IPC PowerlIftINg asIaN oPeN ChamPIoNshIPs
These IPC Powerlifting Asian Open Championships, hosted by the Asian Paralympic Committee and the Malaysian Powerlifting Para-Association, will see150 athletes from 20 countries compete in the Titiwangsa Stadium in the hope of breaking new super-strength records. Some of the world’s strongest power-lifters will be hoping to achieve the required standard to enter the 2014 IPC Powerlifting World Championships, which will be held in Dubai. The current World Record in the men’s over-107kg category was set this year by Faris Al Ajeeli from Iraq, who lifted 240kg. PARALYMPIC.ORG
November 3, Mumbai, India
Diwali
The Hindu festival of light is steeped in tradition and marks the end of the harvest and the start of the new financial year. Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity, is said to grant good fortune to all worshippers in the coming New Year. Light plays a main role in the festivities, from the handmade, clay Diwali lanterns that adorn the doors of houses and shops, to the fireworks that light up the city from Marine Drive. Take a trip to Crawford Market to visit Essa Bhai’s Fireworks, Mumbai’s oldest and most-famous firework shop, and join in the traditions of food-sharing and gift-giving throughout the city.
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NOVEMBER
CALENDAR
November 19 to April 27, 2014, Madrid, Spain
November 6 to November 10, New York, USA
NATURAL HISTORIES
New York Comedy Festival
MUSEODELPRADO.ES/EN
Now in its ninth year, New York Comedy Festival is a weeklong celebration of humour that attracts some of the biggest names in comedy. This year’s festival welcomes Wanda Sykes, Kathy Griffin and Bill Maher, as well as several stand-up newcomers. The festival also presents Stand Up For Heroes, a comedy and music spectacular benefiting injured service personnel. Bruce Springsteen, Jerry Seinfeld and many others will be filling The Theater at Madison Square Garden with lyrics and laughs this year.
Museo Nacional del Prado was originally constructed to house the Natural History Collection, commissioned by Carlos III. Artist Miguel Ángel Blanco has chosen 21 pieces of art to display among the museum’s permanent collections, paying homage to the building’s eclectic history.
NYCOMEDYFESTIVAL.COM
November 7 to November 15, Milan, Italy
L’HISTOIRE DE MANON
Teatro alla Scala is once again presenting a season of music and dance, including the ballet, L’histoire de Manon. With music by Jules Massenet and choreography by Sir Kenneth MacMillan, the story follows Manon, a woman unable to resist the pleasures life has to offer regardless of the consequences, even drawing her besotted lover, Des Grieux, into her immoral and corrupt world.
November 14 to November 17, Shanghai, China
Shanghai Art Fair Shanghai Art Fair brings together collectors, agencies, galleries and art aficionados from all over the world. The event, held at Shanghai Mart, attracts both domestic and overseas collectors who vie for creations from the masters of the art world including Picasso, Renoir, Monet and Dalí. In the past 17 years, the fair has seen its share of big sales, including Rodin’s The Thinker, which sold for US$1 million back in the year 2000.
TEATROALLASCALA.ORG/EN
SARTFAIR.COM
Skypod 30
Ásgeir page 50
OPEN SKIES / NOVEMBER 2013
MODERN. CONTEMPORARY. ABU DHABI ART. 20 - 23 November 2013 UAE Pavilion and Manarat Al Saadiyat Saadiyat Cultural District Abu Dhabi, UAE abudhabiart.ae
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Calendar
November 5, 2013, Melbourne, Australia
Emirates Melbourne Cup
Victoria Racing Club’s chief executive officer, David Courtney, is responsible for managing the team that puts on the Emirates Melbourne Cup – “the race that stops a nation”
What is the Emirates Melbourne Cup? First run at Flemington racecourse in 1861, the Emirates Melbourne Cup has grown to more than just a horse race – it is a 152-year-old social and cultural tradition that brings Australia to a standstill. The AUD$6.2 million (US$ 5.8 million) Emirates Melbourne Cup is the world’s richest turf race (although currency fluctuations sometimes gives that mantle to the JPY521,000,000 Japan Cup) and the second richest race after the US$10 million Dubai World Cup. However, the Emirates Melbourne Cup is unrivalled as the world’s richest handicap and richest 3,200m race, drawing competitors from across the globe with the annual invasion of northern hemisphere-trained stayers making it a truly international event.
The Melbourne Cup Carnival creates a celebratory atmosphere unparalleled at any other Australian sporting event, and combines the very best of what Melbourne has to offer: food, wine, sport, business, social interaction and fashion – all connected by a four-day racing event.
Royal occasion / Prince Charles peering through his binoculars at the Emirates Melbourne Cup in 2012
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What distinguishes the Emirates Melbourne Cup from other racing events? The Emirates Melbourne Cup is unique in terms of its immense public following and magnificent ambiance. It is famous for being “the race that stops a nation”, and visitors are amazed to find that statement really is true – it brings the whole of Australia to a complete standstill. Initiatives such as the Emirates Melbourne Cup Parade, held in the centre of the city the day before the great race, and the Emirates Melbourne Cup Tour, which takes the famous trophy to different regional centres around Australia, have made this trophy the ‘people’s cup’, which leads an electrifying atmosphere guests are unlikely to find at any other race meeting. Melbourne Cup Day is even a public holiday in its home city, and if the Australian parliament is sitting, the government suspends proceedings to watch the race. What can visitors to the Emirates Melbourne Cup expect? While most of Australia stops to watch or listen to the race, there’s nothing like being there among the 100,000-plus crowd to experience this unique event. It is hard to convey the sheer scale of Emirates Melbourne Cup Day to someone who has not witnessed it before. It is an exciting and exhilarating event where you can experience the pulse of Australia in just one day. Who comes along to watch the Emirates Melbourne Cup? The Melbourne Cup Carnival is Australia’s original major event, with more than 100,000 people attending Flemington on Cup Day as early as 1880, when the population of Melbourne was only 290,000. The Melbourne Cup Carnival routinely draws more than 350,000 racegoers to Flemington over the four days, with the biggest growth coming from overseas. melbournecup.com
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November
CALENDAR
November 15 to march 2, 2014, London, UK
Hello my Name is paul smiTH
From a humble shop in Nottingham to one of the world’s premier fashion brands, designer Paul Smith has been in the fashion game for almost 50 years. As a celebration of his sartorial achievements, the Design Museum, London is presenting a retrospective of Smith’s work and design inspiration in its exhibition, Hello My Name Is Paul Smith. DESIGNMUSEUM.ORG
November 17 to November22, Pushkar, India
Pushkar Camel Fair
Imagine a desert area the size of New York’s Central Park covered with 20,000 camels and more than 300,000 people, and you’ll have an idea of the Pushkar Camel Fair. Held in the small town of Pushkar, among the Aravalli Hills of Rajasthan, the colourful spectacle attracts farmers, traders and visitors from all over to congregate under the full moon. With many of the camel owners attending in bright and extravagant traditional dress, this is a once-in-a-lifetime snapshot of northern India. Expect competitions, camel races and culinary bazaars in and around the white-tented camps. PUSHKARCAMELFAIR.COM
November 18, Warsaw, Poland
Electric Light Orchestra The former members of the veteran British rock band perform live at the Sala Kongresowa, Warsaw, for a concert of their biggest hits. Originally from Birmingham, the band has sold more than 50 million records worldwide, releasing 13 studio albums and more than 35 compilation albums, and remain one of British rock’s most-loved groups. Their unusual name is a pun derived from their electric instruments and the light orchestras popular in 1960s Britain. Tickets are available from as little as US$25.
November 17, Osaka, Japan
KyuaNji Temple maple FesTival
You might think Canada is the only place to see the rich red leaves of the maple tree, but Osaka certainly holds its own with this maple festival. At this time of year, the sacred grounds of the Kyuanji Temple are awash with the bright reds and golds of the Momiji (Japanese maple tree). The imposing Romon Gate is a great spot to admire the intricate architecture and scenery on offer. OSAKA-INFO.JP/EN
KONGRESOWA.PL
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Warsaw page 61
Open skies / nOvember 2013
NoveMber
CALENDAR
November 23 to July 27, 2014, Sydney, Australia
tyraNNosaurus – Meet the faMily
November 21 to January 7, 2014, Australia
This new, interactive exhibition at the Australian Museum features real-life tyrannosaur skeletons from China and North America and aims to enlighten visitors with a close study of the Tyrannosaurus family, from the diminutive Dilong to the mighty T Rex. The exhibition promises full-scale models, museum sleepovers for children and special no kids events.
The Ashes
Old rivals England and Australia go head-to-head once again, just a few months after England retained the famous urn in the UK this summer. England have won the last three Ashes series, making them firm favourites, but Australian captain Michael Clarke and his men with be keen to secure a victory on home soil. LORDS.ORG
AUSTRALIANMUSEUM.NET.AU
November 24, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Brazilian F1 Grand Prix
November 29 to December 1, Hong Kong
CloCkeNflap MusiC aND arts festival
Hong Kong’s Clockenflap Music and Arts Festival will boast a total of seven performance stages, dedicated children’s areas, cabaret, an art village, a film tent and a silent disco. This year’s headline acts include Ireland’s Two Door Cinema Club, the UK’s Franz Ferdinand and Hong Kong’s very own G.E.M. The organisers predict that 30,000 festivalgoers will be attending this year. CLOCKENFLAP.COM
Held at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace, a 4.309km circuit, which includes the tricky Bico de Pato bend, the Formula 1 Grande Prêmio Petrobras Do Brasil 2013 is the final race on the FIA Formula One calendar. McLaren’s Jenson Button was last year’s winner, closely followed by Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso. The Interlagos course will challenge the drivers and their cars with its tricky anti-clockwise racing direction and its high altitude, which affects the car engines. FORMULA1.COM
Amateur dramatics page 73 37
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Open skies / nOvember 2013
the grid November 6 to 9 Mike Tyson Undisputed Truth Dubai, UAE ‘The baddest man on the planet’ brings his Spike Lee directed one-man stage show to Dubai for four nights. miketysondxb.com
November 28 to 30, Dubai, UAE
Emirates Dubai Rugby Sevens
Donal Kilalea is commercial and operations director for Emirates Dubai Rugby Sevens
November 14 to 17 DP World Tour Championship 2013 Dubai, UAE
November 20 to 23 Abu Dhabi Art Abu Dhabi, UAE
The climax of The Race To Dubai will see the world’s best golfer’s compete on Jumeirah Golf Estates’ Earth course for US$11.75 million of prize money. jumeirahgolfestates.com
The biggest event on the Abu Dhabi art calendar, held at the UAE Pavilion and Manarat Al Saadiyat, will feature exhibitions of contemporary work, performing arts, design, workshops and discussion panels. abudhabiartfair.ae
What is the Emirates Dubai Rugby Sevens? It’s an annual festival of sevens rugby, which has, after 43 years, established itself as Dubai’s most colourful sporting extravaganza of the year. We attract more than 90,000 visitors. Who will play? The tournament includes the men’s HSBC Sevens World Series, the IRB Women’s Sevens World Series and our Invitation Tournament, which involves more than 200 teams in 14 sections, ranging from veterans to juniors, local to international. What is different about this year’s sevens? This year we are really looking after visitors who come as a family. We have a designated family entrance. We also have 2,000 designated family seats in
the Air BP stand. The children never get bored, either: the HSBC World of Sport gives them a chance to try new activities, and there’s also ‘meet the mascots’, face painting, bouncy castles and much more. What teams will compete, and who are the favourites? There are 15 core teams in the HSBC Sevens World Series: Argentina, Australia, Canada, England, Fiji, France, Kenya, New Zealand, Portugal, Samoa, Scotland, South Africa, Spain, USA, and Wales. Russia complete the 16-team line-up. The favourites have to be New Zealand – they’ve won the overall series title in 11 of the 14 years of the HSBC Sevens World Series. They also won the IRB Sevens World Cup this summer.
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dubairugby7s.com
the question
WHY DO PEOPLE LIKE TO SLEEP SO MUCH? Barack Obama hits the hay at 1am and is woken by his White House secretary at 7am. Sir Isaac Newton slept for just two hours a night, greatly improving his odds of being hit on the head by an apple and thus discovering gravity. But most of us try and get the recommended six to eight hours a night. We like to sleep. We sleep in 90 to 110 minute recurring cycles, and there are two types of sleep: REM (Rapid Eye Movement) and non-REM. REM starts around 90 minutes after you fall asleep, and you experience between three and five phases of REM sleep per night. During REM your body is paralysed but your blood pressure and breathing rate rise, and you dream. Non-REM sleep is split into three stages: light sleep, during which you are half awake; true sleep, during which the heart and breathing slow down; and deep sleep, during which breathing and heart rate
are at their lowest levels. It’s not nice to be woken up during deep sleep. You will feel a bit wobbly. None of that helps, but it’s interesting, right? If you don’t sleep, your brain will not function properly. You lose concentration, and your ability to make rational judgements is impaired. The scientists also believe that lack of sleep can cause stress and high blood pressure, and that it can make you fat; the chemicals required to control appetite and weight gain are released during sleep, they say. Randy Gardner went 11 days without sleep in 1965 – a record – while a python likes to sleep for 18 hours a day. How much sleep do you need? Recent research, published in the journal Sleep, and based on 16 studies involving 1.3 million over 25 years, suggests that sleeping less than six hours a night can lower life expectancy, as can sleeping more than nine hours a night.
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TWITTER Q&A
@dangreenpeace explains his connection to Sandance Dubai in 140 characters or less
@OpenSkiesMag: We understand that you are involved with @SandanceDubai. Have time for a Twitter interview for our November issue? @dangreenpeace: Sure thing – you know how to reach me :-) @OpenSkiesMag: Hi Dan, what is your involvement with the @SandanceDubai events? @dangreenpeace: I’m the talent booker for the event. I’ve booked the majority of the artists since Sandance began. @OpenSkiesMag: Who have you booked to play Sandance during your time working as a talent booker for the event? @dangreenpeace: Florence & The Machine, David Guetta, Faithless, Example, Calvin Harris, Snow Patrol, Dizzee Rascal, Chic & Nile Rodgers… @OpenSkiesMag: Chic featuring Nile Rodgers is in November, right? Nile Rodgers has had quite a year. Is he looking forward to playing in DXB? @dangreenpeace: He seems very excited about it. His music spans 5 decades and he’s as relevant and cool as he’s ever been. An amazing talent. @OpenSkiesMag: Agreed. Who else do you have lined up for the November 15 Sandance Dubai? @dangreenpeace: November will be a vintage Sandance. We have Basement Jaxx with full live band, the incredible Rudimental live and Jamiroquai. @OpenSkiesMag: Who do you have in mind for future Sandance events? @dangreenpeace: We seem to raise the bar every time, that’s part of the fun. We have to keep our plans secret but NYE will be pretty special. @OpenSkiesMag: Thank you. That should do it. @dangreenpeace: Nice one.
the street
DIFC, Dubai
Words by Tahira Yaqoob and images by Farooq Salik
A decade after it first opened, Dubai International Financial Centre – better known as DIFC – has evolved into more than simply a hotbed of commerce and trade. Originally intended as Dubai’s answer to London’s Canary Wharf or New York’s Wall Street, it has unexpectedly become a place to work, eat and play – and not just for the city’s money men and women, either. Home to a number of popular
restaurants, bars and art galleries, it is increasingly becoming a draw for the rest of Dubai’s population, as well as savvy tourists. Now its regulars are as likely to sip on a cocktail or invest in a piece of art as they are to shake hands on a deal. That might seem improbable for a location that boasts neither sea views, like its beachside neighbours, nor the spectacular landscapes visible from Dubai’s skyscrapers.
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But there is an undeniable buzz about this intriguing eighbourhood, less a street, more a complex of buildings linked by a central courtyard. It might be within a stone’s throw of Dubai Mall, but the quirky boutiques, galleries and restaurants that have set up shop in DIFC are unlike any others you will find in the city. It is little wonder those who operate here fondly refer to it as “the village”.
INVEST IN REMARKABLE
Large and growing domestic market. Abundant natural resources. Young and productive workforce. Macro-economically stable. Indonesia is the country you can’t afford to miss. There has never been a better time to invest in Indonesia. The country’s GDP is targeted grew by 6.3% to 1.2 trillion in 2013, the largest in Southeast Asia. With the population of 240 million, Indonesia has become the indispensable growth center in Asia, along with centers in East and South Asia. With sound fundamentals, Indonesia is primed for economic take-off. Debt to GDP ratio is at low 23%. The country recently regained its investment grade status from rating agencies. Foreign direct investment surged by 27.2% in Quarter 1 2013. We invite you to be part of our success story.
the street
The Cobbler Setting foot in The Cobbler, in the Gate Building, is like taking a step into the era of 19th century gentleman’s clubs, thick with cigar smoke and businessmen nursing ports and pipes. Resplendent with lavish green velvet drapes, chequerboard tiles and a rich mahogany interior, this is not just somewhere you drop off shoes to be repaired before dashing off to complete errands – this place makes you want to linger. Repairing footwear for both sexes is just one aspect of what they do. All the leather handmade men’s shoes on display on the billiards table are for sale, and its master cobblers, trained in Paris at Les Compagnons du Devoir, a renowned organisation of craftsmen and artisans, craft bespoke shoes in an on-site workshop, a process that takes six months and costs more than US$16,000, but includes lasting wooden moulds for individual customers. “I wanted to create an atmosphere of a bygone era and offer shoes of the highest quality to people who want something special,” says managing director Sibylle Arnold. cobbler.ae
The Magazine Shop A favourite with city suits and bohemian types, this pop-up style shop with WiFi, in the heart of Gate Village, has become a magnet for those wanting an alternative to coffee shop chains. Its extensive range of drinks using Colombian, Ethiopian and Guatemalan blends includes inventive names like the Heart Starter (iced coffee with date syrup) and the Slingshot (with chocolate and honey), but it is the vast range of offbeat magazines on display that are the biggest draw. Want to know about plant life or underground Canadian bands, or learn how to stage an intimate gathering? You’ll find it
here with indie titles such as The Carton, Oh Comely, Frankie and Kinfolk on sale. Owned by Emirati brothers Ahmed and Rashid Bin Shabib, who are also the founders
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of Brownbook arts magazine and owners of The Archive and The Pavilion, The Magazine Shop has a sister site in Dubai’s Media City. themagazineshop.me
the street
Andrew Martin Walking into this quirky furniture store is like stepping into the home of an eccentric collector. This often bizarre, but always intriguing, Aladdin’s Cave has treasures such as plaster casts of Superman and a Second World War fighter jet suspended above tin robots, old-fashioned writing desks, antique ceramics and vintage film posters. Part of an international chain founded in the UK, goods are sourced at auction and from private collections. Its loot recently included a US$28,000 miniature scale Titanic used in the 1953 film of the same name, starring Robert Wagner and Barbara Stanwyck, which was snapped up by an Iranian businessman.
The Empty Quarter The crown in DIFC’s jewel is its abundance of art galleries, giving first-time and regular collectors a chance to invest in an affordable piece of regional art. The Empty Quarter, co-run by Saudi Arabian artist Reem Al Faisal and Emirati Safa Al Hamed, focuses solely on photography and opened in 2007, long before other art galleries realised the potential for wealthy new patrons. The pair champion photography as an art form, embracing an ethos that is as educational as it is commercial, taking time to explain the work on display in a series of ever-changing exhibitions. “We want this to be a global gallery where we talk one language,” says Safa. November’s exhibitions feature work by Austrian Andreas Bitesnich, who photographed his travels around the world, and a compelling show called Faces Of Africa.
andrewmartin.co.uk
theemptyquarter.com
Momentum Dubai From the outside, Momentum Dubai, in the Gate Building, looks like any other high-end watch shop, its wares draped on cushions in glass cases like rare jewels. Which, in a sense, they are: for peer a little closer and most of its bounty consists of classic and vintage watches you will be hard-pushed to find anywhere else in the city. There are ladies’ Rolex watches from the 1970s, produced during a period when the watchmaker dabbled with coloured enamel dials. Unpopular at the time in the Middle East, they are now enjoying a resurgence, because of their exclusivity. There is also an impressive collection of Bucherer hand-painted necklace watches and century-old men’s pocket watches, including a 19th century Audemars Freres chronograph encased in 14-carat gold on sale for $12,500. momentum-dubai.com
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the street
Flowers By Contempo A rare spot of leafy tranquillity in the epicentre of Dubai’s financial district, blink and you could easily miss this florist, accessible only by a stairway near Gate Village Building 5 leading you deeper into greenery. Resembling a horticulturalist’s garden patio, stairs lined with potted plants and trailing foliage lead you into a shop with tall glass vases bursting with spectacular arrangements, from Ecuadorian roses and Dutch lilies to cymbidium and Thai orchids. Contempo offers individual bouquets tied with raffia ribbon and hand-delivered, but its speciality is large-scale events, from weddings and conferences to product launches. The florist partners with its sister events management company to supply fresh flowers to its clients.
La Petite Maison To the refined strains of jazz, the doors of award-winning restaurant La Petite Maison swing open onto a little oasis in the middle of DIFC. With its motto ‘everyone is a celebrity here’, it regularly appears in the San Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants lists, and it is not hard to see why, with its blend of French Mediterranean cuisine, impeccable service and convivial
air. There are fresh lemons and tomatoes decorating each linen-laid table, glass jars laden with fruit and vegetables on the counter and paintings from local galleries on the walls. By day, it draws a business crowd holding meetings; at night, it is always full with loyal diners, who spill out onto its pretty latticebordered terrace.
contempodubai.com
lpmdubai.ae
Zuma Zuma is to La Petite Maison what New York is to Washington, DC: its younger, slightly brasher cousin who prefers life on the wild side and likes to party hard. No matter what day of the week, Zuma (another regular in the San Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants list) is always packed to the rafters with an eclectic crowd, who come not just to feast on exquisite sushi and teppanyaki, but to see and be seen. Downstairs, diners pack tables in a lofty, airy space decorated with bamboo, but it is at the low-lit upper-floor bar and tables that the serious people watching takes place. The central square bar, lit up with hundreds of Japanese glass bottles, is like a flame to moths, and is always heaving with a gathering of Dubai’s beautiful people. zumarestaurant.com
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SKYPOD
ÁSGEIR GENRE: Electro-pop AGE: 21 VILLAGE: Laugarbakki
Icelandic singer Ásgeir’s album, Dýrð í dauðaþögn, is Iceland’s biggest-selling debut album ever. He shares his favourite tracks
01.
02. 03. 04.
Atoms For Peace Default
The Bad Plus Anthem For The Earnest
James Blake Overgrown
Cody ChesnuTT That’s Still Mama
I loved his first album, and the second is just as good. It’s totally haunting music. He knows how to use space in a really emotional way, and his lyrics seem really alive and true.
Cody is a soul singer, from Atlanta, originally. He’s on the same label as me, One Little Indian, and I’ve been playing his album Landing On A Hundred a lot.
05. 06. 07.
08.
Half Moon Run Full Circle
Mount Kimbie Before I Move Off
King Krule The Noose Of Jah City
I recently found out about this post-dubstep group from London. I like the sort of cut-up effect. At first it sounds really disjointed. But I like the way they combine acoustic and electronic sounds – something I’m very much interested in myself.
This song is from an upcoming British artist, Archy Marshall. This song is so sparse, but there’s so much colour to it. It’s a mixture of indie rock, darkwave and electronic, and he has great lyrics, too.
This is Thom Yorke’s new supergroup with Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers. This is from their album Amok. I saw them at Pohoda Festival in Slovakia in July last year, and they blew me away.
This is an indie-rock group from Montreal, Canada. I heard them because we both supported the Icelandic group Of Monsters And Men. This is a song from their debut album Dark Eyes.
Jazz-rock fusion isn’t the kind of thing I would usually listen to. But I liked this immediately. It really speeds along, with all these strange time changes.
The Tallest Man On Earth Love Is All I fell in love with this Swedish artist as soon as I heard this song. He does amazing things just with voice and guitar.
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asgeirmusic.com
the Room
TExT: MARk EvANS iMAgES: THE LOWRY HOTEL
ROOM 307
THE LOWRY HOTEL, MANCHESTER
If you’re looking to sum up Manchester, then The Lowry Hotel is a pretty good place to start. Hip, cool and aware, yet still very much grounded in its roots, thanks to its urban riverside location, The Lowry, like the city itself, has a distinct air of renaissance about it. Industrial Manchester is in the past; now there’s a vibrancy that says things are happening here, get with it. Manchester’s first five-star hotel brings with it exactly the clientele you’d expect, including a host of English Premier League footballers, pop stars and celebrities of all shapes and sizes, no doubt enticed by the lure of the luxurious Charles Forte penthouse suite, arguably one of the city’s most glamorous stays. Family rooms, while perhaps not as grand, still manage to impress, with floor to ceiling windows, acres of space and sleek, modern fixtures and fittings. The Riverside Bar overlooking, not unsurprisingly, the river – the Irwell, in point of fact – is a great place to hang out, both for watching the city drift by outside, and the custom within in (we sat next to no less than Jay Z and Beyoncé on our first visit), while the slightly less starry, but no less fun social hub of Deansgate is a short walk across the Trinity Bridge.
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INTERNET SPEED: 100MB PILLLOWS: 6 BED SIZE: 182cm x 182cm CLUB SANDWICH DELIVERY TIME: 16 minutes COMPLEMENTARY SNACKS: Fruit, chocolates, mineral water TOILETRY BRAND: REN EXTRAS: Nespresso machine TV CHANNELS: 32 VIEW: 3/5 RATE: US$270 to US$880
THREE NEW HOTEL OPENINGS
ACE HOTEL LONDON London, UK
Boutique chain Ace Hotel has opened its first property outside the US in London’s Shoreditch. Ace Hotel London embraces the neighbourhood’s hipster credentials, with rooms featuring turntables by Rega and radios by Revo, both British brands, curated radio stations and original artwork. acehotel.com/London
CONRAD DUBAI Dubai, UAE
Conrad Hotels & Resorts has opened the 555-room Conrad Dubai. The property, which boasts a 5,500sqm pool, an outdoor yoga pavilion, a spa, Izel nightclub, Cave wine bar, Marco Pierre White Grill and Sicilian chef Massimo Mantarro’s Ballaro, is located on Sheikh Zayed Road in close proximity to Dubai International Financial Centre, Dubai World Trade Centre and Downtown Dubai and Burj Khalifa. conradhotels3.hilton.com
THOMPSON CHICAGO Chicago, USA
Thompson Hotels has opened Thompson Chicago in the Golf Coast neighbourhood of the Windy City. The 247-room property offers views of Lake Michigan and the city skyline and was designed by British designer Tara Bernerd. thompsonhotels.com
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consume albums
FIlms
THE MARSHALL MATHERS LP 2 Eminem
Rap Eminem’s eighth studio album, the follow-up to 2000’s The Marshall Mathers LP, the fastest-selling studio album in American music history.
ART POP Lady Gaga
Pop The third album from the idiosyncratic pop star, featuring the electro pop hit Applause, is her first since 2011’s Born This Way.
CONFECTION Sebastien Tellier
Electronica French singer-songwriter Sebastien Tellier reunites with Philippe Zdar and Tony Allen, both of whom featured on his successful 2004 album, Politics.
THE WOLF OF WALL STREET Martin Scorsese
Drama Martin Scorsese’s tale of corruption on Wall Street in the 1990s stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill, with Jon Favreau and Matthew McConaughey – currently enjoying a resurgence – also putting in appearances.
NEBRASKA Alexander Payne Drama
With critically acclaimed movies such as Election, About Schmidt, Sideways and The Descendants on his CV, expectations are high for alexander Payne’s latest, which centres on a dipsomaniac father and his estranged son on a road trip from montana to Nebraska.
MANDELA: LONG WALK TO FREEDOM Justin Chadwick biopic
an actor on the rise, Idris Elba (The Wire’s stringer bell) takes on the role of Nelson mandela in Justin Chadwick’s movie based on the apartheid leader and former south african president’s 1994 autobiography.
books
YOU HEARD ME! Colin Cowherd
sports Popular and outspoken ESPN Radio and ESPNU sports host Colin Cowherd presents his own unique, candid and comical perspective on the world of American sport.
THE CIRCLE Dave Eggers
Fiction McSweeney’s founder Dave Eggers’ latest focuses on a woman who joins a suspiciously Google-like Internet giant in California, and becomes ensnared in its cult-like social activities.
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ONE SUMMER Bill Bryson
Non-fiction Best-selling non-fiction writer Bill Bryson’s latest tells the story of America in 1927 – a year that saw Charles Lindbergh become the first man to cross the Atlantic by plane nonstop.
consume THE CINEMA
Bio Rio
Stockholm, Sweden Questions: Andrew Birbeck / Answers: Co-founder and director of Bio Rio, Katja Uneborg
biorio.se
ImAgeS: BIo RIo
CLASSIC CINEMA/ Stockholm’s Bio Rio cinema originally opened in the 1940s
What turned you on to movies? Well, I’m a biochemist, so I never thought I’d end up running a cinema. But I always loved music and theatre. After graduating, I organised festivals for about three years but had hardly any time off. I’d decided to move on, when [cultural initiative] Folket Hus Parker called to ask if I was interested in re-launching and managing an old 1940s cinema. What was your initial reaction? I was very unsure. Then I thought, why not take a look? I asked my friend Ellen Tejle to come along for a second opinion. Were you shocked at what you found? Absolutely. The interior was in a terrible state. We thought it was a joke and couldn’t stop laughing. In the end Ellen and I saw the potential for something really special. How did you re-imagine the space and get Bio Rio ready? Good friends, such as the designer Kristoffer Sundin, came to the rescue and worked for free. Without them we couldn’t have done it. What makes Bio Rio unique? We wanted to create a cultural centre for the whole community. One of our original ideas, Baby-Bio, really took off. Every Tuesday the place is packed with mums, dads and baby-buggies. What kind of audience are you targeting? Everybody. One day we could be screening opera from the New York Met, the next The Stone Roses documentary. Then on Sunday mornings we have Movie Breakfasts (Filmfrukost). Salon 4 and Bio Bar have been a great success too. Movie Breakfasts? People can meet friends, have breakfast at the café and hang around after the show. We don’t want anybody to feel like they’re being rushed in and out. Salon 4 sounds intriguing. What’s it all about? It’s separate to the main cinema, just a couple of doors away. We’ve set up a small screening room where you can relax in comfort, catch a film and have a drink or two. It’s quite decadent but in a good way. Afterwards you can wander upstairs and grab a fantastic meal at Bistro Barbro. So you work with local businesses to offer something different? This is a buzzing area, lots of terrific cafés, bars and restaurants. It made perfect sense to link in with what’s here. How about foreign visitors? Tourists seem to really like what we do and, of course, films here aren’t dubbed, which helps a lot. What’s been your biggest success? Film and food. We even tie our food in with what’s on. If it’s a Bollywood evening we serve Indian, for example. And we were the first digital 3-D cinema in Stockholm, which was quite a coup.
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BLD
Melbourne
IMageS: HarVard Wang
Shannon Bennett, head chef of Vue de Monde, shares his favourite places to eat in Melbourne
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B
l
d
BREAKFAST
LUNCH
DINNER
If you are looking for a great example of what a café breakfast can be then you should definitely try Top Paddock. Our good friends at Five Senses coffee supply the beans, and they are expertly handled to produce a perfect coffee. What I love best about Top Paddock is that the provenance of the food is clearly stated on the menu, which is a collection of timeless breakfast classics and modern produce-driven dishes. It is also a café with an impressive fit-out, and on those clear Melbourne days the design allows for the room to become awash with welcome sunlight.
Even I am not immune to the allure of a good souvlaki once in a while, and when it happens, I head straight to Gazi. If you really have a hankering for Greek street food, this is the place to scratch that itch. As a kick-off, I particularly enjoy the white taramasalata alongside the outstanding pita. The succulent souvlaki is also a highlight, and to find the chips inside the souvlaki almost makes me think I am on a Greek vacation, even though it was wet and windy outside the last time I went. Smart potted ceiling features and pacey service combine to make Gazi a great place for a Melbourne lunch on the go.
I like having my dinner made for me by Philippe Mouchel, and that is why I go to PM24. He is a fantastic [Paul] Bocuse-trained chef who makes delicious meals. The dining room seems almost silky, like strolling into the foyer of a splendid hotel staffed with welcoming people. The focus is on modern, stylish French cuisine, and from start to finish it’s a seamless meal made with great produce and accompanied by a superb wine list. I also gain a lot of pleasure from venues that present their cheeses in peak condition.
Top Paddock 658 Church St Richmond VIC 3121 Tel: +61 (3) 94294332 toppaddockcafe.com
Gazi 2 Exhibition Street, Melbourne VIC 3000 Tel: +61 (3) 9207 7444 gazirestaurant.com.au
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PM24 24 Russell Street, Melbourne VIC 3000 Tel: +61 (3) 9207 7424 pm24.com.au
HEALTHY AND DELICIOUS DINING - THAI STYLE Thai food has rapidly grown in popularity among casual dinners and gourmets alike, earning it a status as one of the world’s most popular cuisines.
The popular Thai menus can be found in Thai Restaurants worldwide. For a proper Thai culinary experience, look for the Thai Select Logo; a sign of Authentic Thai Cuisine worldwide. www.thaifoodrestaurant.com
mapped SEDAWATTA
01 WARSAW NEW TOWN TARGOWA
SINGHAPURA
03 13
LESZNO
10
MIROW
07
POWISLE
11
08 15
CZYSTE
04 12
09 05
WARSAW PARK UJAZDOWSKI
02
06 06
RAKOWIECKA
Warsaw
Hotels 1. Mamaison Hotel Le Regina (52.253686 , 21.007572)
Restaurants 5. Butchery and Wine (52.228605 , 21.015626)
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Bars 9. Bufet Centralny (52.228293 , 21.013642)
Warsaw will surprise you. Since Poland joined the EU in 2004, the once off-the-radar city has
Galleries 13. Zachęta National Gallery of Art (52.239367 , 21.011916)
2. Hotel Rialto 6. Atelier Amaro 10. Drink Bar at Jasna 24 14. Lookout Gallery evolved, with many visitors touting it as ‘the new Berlin.’ But from the bohemian Praga neighbourhood to (52.217208 , 21.03663) (52.236338 , 21.010498) (52.206686 , 21.022843) (52.223162 , 21.007998)
the city’s flourishing gallery scene, Warsaw’s transformation has a distinctly Polish flavour. While you can
15.borscht, Le Guern 3. Hotel Bristol 7. Kuchnia Funkcjonalna 11. Foksal XVIIImilk bars for pierogi and still marvel at Soviet Bloc-era brutalist architecture and visit traditional (52.242109 , 21.015773) (52.236961 , 21.048494) (52.233679 , 21.019886) (52.231538 , 21.015181)
Warsaw’s electric new pulse puts it right at the cutting edge of European culture.
4. Polonia Palace (52.229369 , 21.01063)
12. Panorama Bar (52.227661 , 21.00425)
8. Platter by Karol Okrasa (52.232307 , 21.002544)
16. Poster Museum (52.165127 , 21.086787)
HOteLs
restaurants
bars
GaLLerIes
01. Mamaison Hotel Le regina 02. Hotel rialto 03. Hotel bristol 04. Polonia Palace
05. butchery and Wine 06. atelier amaro 07. Kuchnia Funkcjonalna 08. Platter by Karol Okrasa
09. bufet Centralny 10. Drink bar at Jasna 24 11. Foksal XVIII 12. Panorama bar
13. Zachęta national Gallery Of art 14. Lookout Gallery 15. Le Guern 16. Poster Museum
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mapped HOTELS 01 Mamaison Hotel Le Regina Regarded by many as Warsaw’s most stylish boutique hotel, Le Regina is located in the picturesque Old Town and occupies the Mokrowski Palace, an elegant Gothic structure that once housed the US embassy. 02 Hotel Rialto The Art Deco-inspired Hotel Rialto is a striking boutique number. Decked out in wood parquet floors, one-of-a-kind antique furnishings and Tamara de Lempicka paintings, it’s at once a tribute to Poland’s past and a testament to its trendy present. 03
Hotel Bristol From its French doors, balconies, and plush furnishings to its landmark status, the Hotel Bristol is unabashedly opulent. The 110-yearold beauty boasts a luxe private garden, and was the setting for Alan Furst’s classic spy novels. 04 Polonia Palace The chosen location for President Eisenhower’s victory banquet, the Polonia Palace, which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year, has a storied place in Warsaw history. One of the only buildings to survive the Second World War unscathed, the hotel has lately been scrubbed up and modernised.
city centRe / Having joined the EU in 2004, Warsaw is a city on the rise
rESTauranTS 05 Butchery And Wine Butchery And Wine offers diners an exceptionally good reinterpretation of classic Polish fare. In a dark, sleek dining room, cabbage transforms into kohlrabi salad, while meat, from Châteaubriand to rack of lamb, gets the gourmet treatment. 06
Atelier Amaro After earning Warsaw’s first Michelin star this year, Atelier Amaro has certified its status as one of the city’s finest eateries. Under the guidance of Chef Amaro, diners
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04
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explore upscale Polish dishes like venison with blueberries and juniper. 07 Kuchnia Funkcjonalna A compelling combination of industrial fixtures and homely atmosphere, Kuchnia Funkcjonalna is led by chef Bartosz Polak, who puts an emphasis on seasonality. Set in the former studios of sculptor Mieczysław Lubelski, the restaurant serves elegantly rustic and locally sourced fare. 08 Platter By Karol Okrasa One of the leading lights in the New Polish culinary movement, chef Karol Okrasa has made Platter – installed within the Intercontinental Hotel – one of Warsaw’s favourite dining destinations. Try the goose dumplings with blackberry sauce and carrot purée.
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bars 09 Bufet Centralny The city’s coolest denizens flock to Bufet Centralny for dinner, though its commendable cocktail programme, one of the best in a city that has yet to get on board with serious mixology, makes it a real winner. 10 Drink Bar At Jasna 24 Sidle past the ground floor diners and head to Jasna 24’s lower level, where an elegant drinks bar keeps visitors well watered. Saturday is an especially good time to attend, as guest DJs come to spin lounge, house, and chill-out music. 11 Foksal XVIII The newly opened Foksal XVIII has fast become one of Warsaw’s most popular nightlife destinations. The basement bar and club blends edgy and elegant design, and welcomes a crowd of A-list types to mingle on the spacious dance floor. 12
Panorama Bar Teetering on the 40th floor of the Warsaw Marriott Hotel, Panorama Bar is not just the highest bar in the city but in all of Poland. Admire the views with the company of a cocktail, like the bittersweet Pink Salty Dog.
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OLD tOwN/ Castle Square in Warsaw’s old town, a Unesco World Heritage site
GaLLErIEs 13 Zachęta National Gallery Of Art One of Poland’s top destinations for contemporary art lovers, Zachęta has, since the 19th century, collected works from leading Polish luminaries. Today its permanent collection melds with the international focus of its temporary exhibitions. 14 Lookout Gallery Inside a charming Neo-Baroque building, Lookout Gallery dedicates its exhibition space to rising photographers in Poland and abroad.
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Founded last year, the gallery represents a diverse range of artists working within the medium. 15 Le Guern With dual aims of promoting young artists and showcasing challenging and contemporary works, Le Guern gallery is at the very forefront of Warsaw’s art scene. Past exhibitions have covered everything from photography and installations to neon light sculpture. 16 Poster Museum This fascinating and unusual museum, situated in the stables of the Wilanow Palace, has one of the world’s largest art poster collections, spanning 55,000 works. The historical and political posters from Poland’s history are particularly engaging.
Discover
Presented by Doha Film Institute
Ajyal Youth Film Festival
Katara Cultural Village ajyalf ilmfestival.com @ Ajyal Film @ Ajyal Film Ajyal Film
26–30 November
2013 Focus on Anime
LOCAL KNOwLEDGE
the inventor/ Alhazen is often credited as the inventor of the first camera obscura, or pinhole camera
Dubai Moving Image Museum
A curious balance of science and whimsy that immediately appeals to all: history buffs, creatives, art enthusiasts, photographers and children, large and small Words by Harry Tanner / Images by Farooq Salik
T
here is something magical about the Dubai Moving Image Museum (DMIM). Perhaps it’s the ghostly cutouts in the Shadows section, or the rowdy scenes depicted in the rarity show boxes, where multi-layered illustrations form the first examples of 3D imagery. Maybe
it’s the names: phenakistiscopes, zoetropes and the magnificent Kaiser panorama. It sounds more like a science exhibition than an antique collection, and in many respects, that’s exactly what the early study of the moving image was – one big science experiment. “It was through these experiments that much of what we know about light and the way we see it was
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discovered,” says Mandy Aridi, the effervescent museum manager, who talks passionately about the collection. And with good reason, the story of the moving image, or to be precise, the pre-history of cinema, is as wonderful as it is long. The story begins 30,000 years ago, when early man drew scenes depicting hunting, farming and other rituals on the walls of caves. This
LOCAL KNOwLEDGE was the first time that mankind had attempted to capture an image of a moment in time. The next big step was the development and refinement of the camera obscura – the earliest form of pinhole camera – by the Arab scientist Alhazen in the 11th century. The collection, and the prehistory of cinema, ends with the advent of the moving video image, when the Lumiere brothers unveiled their first movie clip in the Grand Café on the Boulevard des Capucines in Paris on December 28, 1895. After that day, the marvellous machines that once captivated adults and children alike became obsolete – relics of the past. Fortunately, there are those who treasure those relics. Like the earliest breakthroughs in the history of the moving image, the collection is the result of one fanatical enthusiast. For the past 30 years, Akram Miknas has been collecting paraphernalia relating to the moving image. His obsession with the world of sound and movement is no surprise. Akram is the chairman of MCN Holdings, one of the largest creative conglomerates in the Middle East. He was born in Lebanon, where he set up his first company, Fortune Promoseven, in Beirut, in 1968, when the city was enjoying its heyday as the ‘Paris Of The Middle East’. The collection began when Akram bought a zoetrope in London’s Portobello Market – a cylindrical spinning top, with images and slits on the outside through which one can glimpse what appears to be a moving image.
Since then his passion has taken him all over the world looking for new additions to his collection, which also includes clocks, music boxes and toys. “I once heard about a piece in Holland. At the time, searching on the internet was not an option, so the only way for me to see and inspect the item was to visit Holland and to check it [out] myself,” he recalls. “The whole experience cost three times the price of the actual item. This was about 27 years ago, in my early years of collecting.” The collection has grown and grown ever since, leading Akram to the decision to open the museum. “I like to share what I’ve got with people. I think it’s important for people to understand the value of the image and its contribution to humanity. It would be unfair to keep it to myself,” he says. “I really want to contribute to education, and I want our youth to be able to see that tablets like the iPad and Sony were the result of thousands of years of
The collecTion, and The prehisTory of cinema, ends wiTh The advenT of The moving video image 68
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perspective view / The Vue d’optique, or perspective view (above), was popular during the 18th and early 19th centuries
developments. I cannot predict what the future will hold, but I will not be surprised with whatever it is.” The building that houses the museum is known as the MCN Hive, and the buzz of activity in the lobby level leaves no doubt as to why. Built by Akram as a home base for his many creative agencies, the new building in Dubai’s Tecom neighbourhood is a hotbed of creativity. The museum has already been booked out for several corporate events, school visits and even yoga classes, and there was perhaps no better endorsement of the vitality of the space than when a rival creative agency tried to book it for a function. “It’s a space that triggers creativity,” says Mandy, as we wander through the lobby, past a trio of beautiful 19th century chairs from a Parisian theatre. “The collection is a combination of visual
LOCAL KNOwLEDGE communication and the media industry. The two are parallel and intertwined.” DMIM is one of three such collections in the world. Every object in the collection represents a relevant step in the evolution of the moving image from cave paintings to cinema. Light, and the absence of it, are perhaps the fundamental ingredients in the evolution of the moving image; it’s that split second of “non-light” in between different moving images or frames that gives the impression of movement. The most impressive items are the three vast Magic Lanterns, the earliest form of image projector. Within a large black box, an oil lamp would shine light through a cylindrical tunnel on to glass slides, on which images were hand drawn. By adding more tunnels, the operators could create complex images that combined the pictures from two or three different slides. It was the birth of animation. As the popularity of the moving image grew, the devices became smaller. One of the most prized possessions in the collection is the 19th century German toy Magic Lantern made in the shape of an Ottoman Palace, with designs based on 1001 Arabian Nights, one of only three surviving specimens. In another nook, four Mutoscopes look like mailboxes with handles on the side. One shows an original Charlie Chaplin animated sequence,
It’s Important for people to understand the value of the Image and Its contrIbutIon to humanIty and using it feels unbelievably nostalgic. As well as providing entertainment for visitors, these devices were early perpetuators of celebrity. “They allowed people like Charlie Chaplin to become well known all over the world in an age before the internet and IMDB. They were fame-enablers,” says Mandy. Another favourite item is a black and white photo of a young Walt Disney playing with a praxinoscope, a 19th century animation device that resembles a bedside lamp. This revolutionary invention played a fundamental role in improving early understanding of the moving image. Without it, Walt Disney would never have brought joy to the world with his motion pictures, and we would not have blockbuster 3D movies. The DMIM is a fundamental experience for anyone with an interest in media forms, from still photography and the 3D images of peep show books to the wondrous world of Magic Lanterns, and one of a number of new cultural institutions that reflect the growing
latest model / The museum’s exhibits chart the history of the moving image, and include early cameras
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long history / The history of the moving image began long before the first movies were shown in cinemas
interest in the arts in Dubai. “I think it’s a natural progression for Dubai. Up until now, the art has mainly been for commercial purposes. I’m happy that now this museum can offer a non-materialistic objective to culture,” Akram reflects. “In every country I learn something different and unique because I believe every culture has something unique to it. To be truthful, I found one common factor in humanity and that is the love of discovering and learning. Whatever the methods applied, the objectives were always the same. The curiosity of mankind is something that never ceases to impress me.” Visit DMIM and you will acquire a renewed appreciation of the world of motion pictures. dubaimovingimagemuseum.com
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COLUMN
AMATEUR DRAMATICS
Aimée Hedley trained to become a drama teacher at Goldsmiths University in the UK. She now teaches at Dubai International Academy, and is a member of the Dubai Drama Group, for which she recently directed Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She is currently directing her second play, Metamorphosis. This is what the world of Dubai amateur dramatics looks like from the director’s chair Words by Aimée Hedley / Images Dubai Drama Group
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y love affair with theatre started when I was 15. I was a lead in one of the school plays, and I realised what I wanted to do with my career. I then went to study performing arts at a local college in the heart of the North East of England. It was there that I started to develop my ‘craft’. My lecturers inspired me; I loved their passion and was constantly amazed at how they helped me to see my own potential. After graduating from Coventry University in the UK, I moved to the bright lights of London to train to become a
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drama teacher at Goldsmiths University. During my first teaching post I learned a lot, at times, I thought, more than the students I was teaching. It was there that I realised how I could incorporate the two things I am most passionate about, teaching and drama. I am now in my fifth year of teaching, my third year here in Dubai, where I am a
COLUMN
OPENING NIGHT / Hedley’s directorial debut was a version of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream set in the 1950s
secondary drama teacher at Dubai YOU CREATE International Academy. A REAL When moving to a new country, the first people that you create a bond with BOND WITH are the people you work with. You see THE PEOPLE them everyday, and they become your support network. This was certainly YOU ARE true for me. During a discussion with a WORKING PE teacher at my school, she mentioned WITH Dubai Drama Group (DDG). They had auditions for New Developments, the DDG short play festival for local writers, which takes place annually. I went along, and that was it, I was cast in two short plays and became a member of DDG. I was hooked. Being part of a theatre group is a great way to make friends in a very transient environment. The other members share your passion but their day jobs are something completely different, so you are provided the opportunity to socialise with people from all walks of life. In theatre you create a strong bond with the people that you’re working with. After taking to the boards, I made my directorial debut for DDG with William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream last year. I had spent years studying the text as part of my course,
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and it was a great experience working with such a talented cast and crew to bring all of our ideas to life. It was also a huge amount of fun. This year I am directing Metamorphosis, which will be performed in NovemberDecember at The JamJar. Originally written by Franz Kafka, the play is an adaptation of Kafka’s story by Steven Berkoff, created for the stage in 1969. As an actor and director I love physical theatre, and this play is written specifically for that style. It’s an ensemble performance, and very stylised. I think that it will challenge people’s perceptions of theatre. All theatre focuses on themes and issues that are relevant to an audience, and Metamorphosis is no exception. The story centres on Gregor, who wakes one day to find that he has transformed into a beetle. The play looks at the relationships within the family and how sudden changes and circumstances within a family can change behaviours, and ultimately relationships, both negatively and positively. As a director, actor and a teacher, I believe that performance can be a tool to educate and
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provoke. It’s about encouraging your audience to talk about things. That’s what’s exciting about theatre. The sign of a good performance is when people come out and they are discussing and debating what they have seen. DDG is incredibly supportive and always looks for people to suggest possible projects. When considering whether you want to direct a play or, indeed, take part, you need to feel fully invested in the text. When I pick up a text, I often have a general idea of how it will look and feel when it’s onstage. If I had to describe it, imagine you are replaying a memory. The one thing I have learned is that you have to have the passion for that project. You as the director are the one that will carry it through and lead your team to that first night. We see a lot of different people each time we hold auditions, but there are always familiar faces. For Metamorphosis, myself and the other director held a workshop instead of a typical audition. We wanted to see our actors working collaboratively with each other and, because it’s a very physical play, we wanted to see how they moved. Working with another director or a co-director is a great experience. You work with somebody so closely that you often instinctively know what you want to try, or how something should look. I love that feeling when you turn to each other, particularly if you have just started working together, and have that moment when you say, ‘I was just thinking exactly that’. Then you know that you are headed in the right direction. This year I decided that it was time to try to step back onto the
boards, so I recently auditioned for another local drama group. I hadn’t auditioned for a long time, although you never forget being on the other side of the desk is petrifying. From a director’s perspective, you have to be 100 per cent sure of who you cast for a role. I don’t look for the finished product, often a person will do something that taps into the essence of the character, and you just have to have them. People often say to brides, “you’ll know when you find the right wedding dress”. It’s the same when casting a play, there will be a moment when you know that an actor is the person you want for a certain role. I love that moment in rehearsals, looking at the cast and being excited about what you are seeing come to life in front of you – it’s exhilarating. The Dubai theatre scene is small, but there are a few different theatre groups, each adding something unique to the mix. We all support each other, and many actors will work on two shows with different companies. For example, this season I am directing for DDG but will be in a play for Danú Theatre Group in January. We all know how important it is to support each other, because it’s more beneficial for everyone. After all we are creating theatre because we love it. There are certain steps that, as in professional theatre, we have to go through here. There are certain legal processes, and of course you need to be sensitive about the content of what you are doing. In all productions we have to respect the cultural values and customs of the audience. It makes it interesting being able to choose a play and work on ensuring that it is suitably adapted and relevant to the audience. dubaidramagroup.com breaking bard / Hedley puts Shakespeare’s popularity down to the fact that he was an actor who wrote for the people
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The New Breed Seven individuals under 40 who are helping to build Dubai’s future
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DUBAI OBSESSIONS: When you think of Dubai, do you think of fold-up bicycles? OUr WOmAN IN: Artist Gillian Wearing’s life in London mIrrOrED cIty: Dubai through the looking glass
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JOINING THE CLUB
Middle East football writer James Montague charts the rise of UAE club football
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t’s September 2005. Winfried Schafer greets me in his underpants. The German coach of Dubai’s second most decorated football club, Al Ahli, is standing in the home team’s dressing room at the Al Rashid Stadium close to the Sharjah border, completely oblivious to his near nakedness. He has a shock of white-blond hair cut into the style of a lion’s mane. He has just taken training and his kit is soaked through with sweat. The intense summer heat is only now starting to fade, but Schafer has a new season to prepare for. “Come in, come in,” he urges, as if he is wearing a business suit and tie, shaking my hand with a pneumatic grip. I try not to look down. “It is a hot day,” he smiles. “But we had a good session today. Come sit down.” Schafer sits down on one of the benches in the white tiled locker room, and urges me to follow. I sit next to him, me in my jacket, him in his jockstrap. Schafer, like me, has only recently arrived in the United Arab Emirates. His last job was a roller coaster ride with the Cameroon national team, one from which a young Samuel Eto’o would emerge on to the world stage. With Schafer in charge, they had won the 2002 Africa Cup of Nations and qualified for the World Cup in Japan and South Korea in the same year. They were unlucky, drawing with Ireland and beating Saudi Arabia before losing to Germany. They only narrowly missed out on a place in the knock out phase. The
We have some excellent players, who have the ability to play for European teams. I am talking about Ali Karimi
star coach / Former Cameroon coach Windried Shafer came to the UAE to work at Al Ahli in 2005
following year they reached the final of the Confederations Cup, beating Brazil on the way. A year later, Schafer was finally fired, as is the destiny of almost every coach bar Pep Guardiola or Sir Alex Ferguson, before being offered the coaching position at Al Ahli. “It is a little more relaxed here,” he laughs. The stadium outside is quiet. Al Ahli’s crowds are small. A few thousand for a big match. By any standard the league is something of a backwater of Asian football, too small to appear on the radar of European players, coaches and journalists alike. Schafer likes that. He cannot read Arabic, so doesn’t know what the press is writing about him. “We have some excellent players, who have [the] ability [to play] for European teams. I am talking about Ali Karimi,” he says, highlighting Al Ahli’s finest squad member by far. There had been speculation that the mercurial Iranian midfielder, nicknamed the Asian Maradona for his incredible close ball skills and dribbling ability, would move
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to a big European club in Germany. But he, like Schafer, chose to come to Dubai instead, to a league that is semi-amateur at best. It moves at a somnambulant pace. Some players, Schafer tells me, earn no more than Dhs10,000 (US$2,700) a month. Karimi, as one of the team’s allocated foreign players, will earn much more, of course. But no one in Europe could understand it. Karimi could walk into most clubs on the continent. In Iran he was accused of a lack of ambition. But Schafer could see why. It is close to home, he tells me, and Dubai is everywhere in the world’s media at the moment. The city is booming. And football in the UAE will inevitably follow suit. Schafer was right. Something was about to change. Dubai was my first experience of the Middle East. I had moved to the Emirates in 2004 after being offered a job on a local magazine. I didn’t really know where Dubai was on the map nor anything about the culture. But I loved football and Dubai loved football too. As with Winfried Schafer it was a familiar compass to navigate an alien environment. Language, climate and homesickness had all been challenges to overcome. But I had put my faith in football to provide a soft landing. In the beginning, to appease my longing for home, I would walk to my local shisha café to watch English Premier League matches. More often than not the Egyptian manager would show only Tottenham games, no matter who else was on, given that the Egyptian international Mido was playing for them at the time. But soon I started to pick up the little threads of local football stories. There was the the 2006 World Cup qualifier where the United Arab Emirates took on the mysterious North Korean national team. Several thousand North Korean fans turned up at the same Al Rashid Stadium, where I had met Winfired Schafer, wearing traditional clothing, before leaving on buses with barred windows. No
star players / When German coach Winfried Schafer joined Al Ahli in 2005, Ali Karimi (left) was his star player. Arsenal FC’s ground was renamed The Emirates (below), following a sponsorship deal with Emirates Airline
one knew where they had come from or where they were headed next. There was the explosion of joy that followed Ismail Matar’s last minute goal to defeat Saudi Arabia in the semi-final of the Gulf Cup. The stadium was a sea of celebrating white dish-dashas, except for an equally raucous section in one corner of the stadium shrouded in black: the women’s only end. The black came from the ubiquitous abaya.
Football had offered me a window into Emirati culture, but it had also mirrored the extraordinary economic boom that the country had been experiencing. Dubai was at the forefront, promoting itself to the rest of the world, and using football as its vehicle. Emirates airline became a main sponsor of the 2006 World Cup. Its name was now on the shirts of England’s Chelsea FC and France’s Paris Saint-Germain. Dubai’s ruling family tried, but narrowly failed, to purchase one of world football’s biggest clubs: Liverpool FC. But the most spectacular deal was struck with Arsenal to rename its stadium The Emirates for a cool £100 million. It provided an early blueprint to others in the region, not least the future 2022 World Cup hosts Qatar. Football was a perfect way to promote yourself to a global audience. At home, however, the league was still something of an afterthought. But that was soon to change. It’s September 2008. Dr Sulaiman Al Fahim has unexpectedly become one of the most famous men in the world. He has arrived at the Dubai Cityscape exhibition, then the largest real estate show in the world. Dubai is booming, and the men in suits talk of a global shortage of highrise cranes thanks to the sheer number of developments under way. A month previously Al Fahim was the face of a takeover that would change football forever. It was he who brokered the purchase of Manchester City by Sheikh Mansour, a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family. Manchester City is now the richest club in the world. When City’s shellshocked fans arrived at their Eastlands stadium for their first home game after the purchase, many waved wads of freshly minted fake £20 notes, the Queen’s face replaced by Al Fahim’s, the number 20 replaced by 500 billion. In those crazy, whirlwind few days, Al Fahim was the embodiment of football’s new world order. “I always feel like I’m a kind of bull-
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dozer, a fully insured bulldozer,” he said shortly after the deal that saw the club change hands. “If nobody likes it, it starts moving – even if there are cars in its way, it has to crush the cars and move. I can’t stop. If I have an idea, I have to do it.” Al Fahim has moved on now. He was there solely to seal the deal, but he has now become something of a celebrity in the UK. “I like the British media when they exaggerate and add words,” he laughs wearing a blue kandoorah and white headscarf. He sits down to talk about his time at the centre of a global whirlwind. “I was the one who did the deal, I was the one who closed the deal,” he says. “I find myself as chairman, as owner, even our official press release said I was the owner. It was nice, I like it. I like it when they put my picture in the news.” That is certainly true. Al Fahim is almost a living example of the media stereotype of a wealthy Dubai businessman. By the time he was 30 he was driving around in a Lamborghini, having made his first billion dollars heading up the fastest growing real estate company in the UAE. He counts Hollywood actors among his friends. Piers Morgan would later glowingly profile him for a TV programme about Dubai. He also fronted the Middle East’s version of The Apprentice. “Man City is one of those clubs that has real big fans in the UK. It’s not just about buying the best club, [the]most profitable club, football is [a] passion but you have to buy a club people will really love.
Dubai was at the forefront, promoting itself to the rest of the world, and using football as its vehicle
And then you need to make a plan to get it into the top five,” he says. Yet Manchester City wasn’t his first team – that was reserved for a club closer to home. “In the UAE I am a supporter of Al Ain club,” he ex plains proudly. While Sheikh Mansour’s mo ney was being spent on the likes of Robinho and the talk was of City breaking into UEFA Champions League contention, back in Dubai and Abu Dhabi a smaller but no less important football revolution was taking place. Like for Al Fahim, Manchester City isn’t Sheikh Man sour’s first football love. That place is Abu Dhabi club Al Jazira. And as the UAE’s money is be ing poured in to the English game, it is decided that more has to be done to pro fessionalise the local league. After meeting Al Fahim I head for Dubai’s Al Maktoum Stadium. A stream of brandnew 4X4s line up to get in to the car park. The floodlights buzz through the hu mid early evening in preparation for that night’s entertainment, a Friday cup match between Dubai rivals Al Nasr and Al Ahli. Young boys in long white dish dashsas walk past in groups as the call to prayer cries out. They were not talking to each other, but talking into the hands free mic connected to their expensive mobile phones. The only thing that differ entiates the groups is a slash of col our from their club scarves: blue for Nasr, red for Ahli. This season the royal families of the UAE haven’t just pumped millions into football clubs in foreign lands. For the first time the UAE’s league had gone pro to try to flex its muscle a little close to home.
It is not just about buying the best club, the most profitable club, football is a passion, but you have to buy a club people will really love “I got the call telling me about what was happening, so I joined them, as there is little opportunity in the modern age for something like this,’ said the UAE Pro League’s new chief executive officer, Romy Gai. Gai was previously a commercial director at Juventus for 14 years but received a
money matters / Abu Dhabi’s HH Sheikh Mansour bought Premiere League side Manchester City in 2008
call out of the blue earlier in the year. He was offered an urgent brief. The UAE football league needed to be re formed or it would not eligible to play in the Asian Football Confederation’s top continental club tournaments. It had to go fully pro. “It was difficult at first,” he says as the two teams train in front of us. “With the heat and then with Ramadan. But then the AFC came for an inspection and said we were the benchmarks for Asia.”
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Even by the UAE’s standards the turnaround was remarkable. In four months they had formed a profes sional league, refurbished all 12 sta diums and persuaded the television networks to go from paying nothing to paying 12 million euros (US$16.2) a year. Some clubs even started flashing their cash in the transfer market. Sheikh Mansour him self sanctioned the purchase of Brazilian Rafael Sobis from Real Betis for Al Jazira. Still, the change may have come too quickly for some. Only 100 fans line the stands waiting for kick off. “Football is the country’s sport,” Gai insists. “The locals love it. If a European club is bought [by a UAE royal family] then international football offers us lots of opportunities. This is a country that has told us that dreams can become reality.” It’s July 2010. Fa bio Cannavaro cuts a dapper figure in black suit, white shirt and a thin black tie at his grand unveiling. The world’s media are here to see Al Ahli of Dubai unveil its latest, and most prestigious, acquisition in the club’s history. Cannavaro is a former Italy captain and, remarkably for a de fender, onetime winner of the FIFA World Player of the Year award. It is a huge coup for Al Ahli. The club has been professionalised at every level, from the players all the way up to the directors, poached from English Premier League clubs.
It’s professional, with monster contracts for the best players. The stadiums are world class. The league has gone through another rebrand Cannavaro will only last one season in Dubai as a player. A persistent knee injury means he needs to stop playing. But, in a sense, his work is done. Other big name players and coaches follow him to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Al Ain. The league is now a very different place than it was in 2005. It’s professional, with monster contracts for the best players. The stadiums are world class. The league has gone through another re-brand. From this season it is to be known as the Arabian Gulf League. It’s full of internationals from Brazil, Chile, Argentina and beyond. Players who could expect to walk into a top European club choose to play here too, like striker Ricardo Oliveira and Al Ain’s Ghanaian forward Asamoah Gyan. Al Ahli has been transformed. Its current team features former Inter Milan and Chile international Luis Jimenez, Portugal’s Hugo Viana and Brazil’s Grafite. Cannavaro has remained in a technical role. Now the club is run like any in Serie A, La Liga or the English Premier League. It is a far cry from that day, just eight years ago, when I sat with a near naked Winfried Schafer in the dressing room of the Al Rashid Stadium to talk about his career in African football and his jump into the then unknown waters of the UAE league. Yet for all the money spent at Al Ahli since the UAE’s football revolution, Cannavaro did not lift the championship for the club.
But in 2006, eight months after our meeting, Schafer managed that feat in his first season in charge. I watched as he led a parade of expensive cars along with his players after winning the trophy down Al Ittihad road past my appartment. Ahli’s fans were hanging out of the windows of their cars, horns permanently blaring, red scarves held aloft in pride. I left Dubai in 2006. One of my last evenings was July 9, the day of the 2006 World Cup final between France and Italy. Italy won. The man who lifted the World Cup was Fabio Cannavaro. Winfried Schafer, in his two seasons at Al Ahli, could see that changes were coming. But, on that night, not even Schafer could have forseen what was about to come. Today, one facet of UAE football, however, remains the same after all these years. Its attendances remain stubbornly low, perhaps just a few hundred for some of the lesser games. The league has tried everything. Free tickets, pay per view television, even a Dhs1 million (US$270,000) a game Ferrari give away. But, like with most things in the UAE, football is a reflection of where the country is. It is a small country in terms of population. Barely 10 per cent is made up of nationals who will have deeper roots with the clubs they grow up next too. The other 90 per cent are
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a transient migrant population, unlikely to invest in a club allegiance for long enough to make a difference. Of that 90 per cent, the vast majority are from the Indian subcontinent. Cricket rules there, with football coming a distant second. Perhaps the UAE league will never have the large attendances they aspire to. It certainly won’t compete with the huge crowds that attend matches in England or even Saudi Arabia. But neither should it. In a small space of time the beautiful game has been revolutionised in the UAE, leading to greater success with the national team, too. Worldclass players like 21-year-old striker Omar Abdulrahman have emerged as potential targets for the likes of Arsenal and even Barcelona. The health of the national team is the ultimate barometer of a national league. And although the team failed to emulate the great side of the late 1980s that qualified for the 1990 World Cup finals in Italy, the UAE won its second ever title when it clinched the Gulf Cup on home soil earlier this year. And who could forget the UAE’s qualification and magnificent cameo at the 2012 London Olympics. international trio / Al Ahli signed Chile international Luis Jimenez, Portugal’s Hugo Viana and Brazil’s Grafite
seveN duBai rEsideNts
Dubai
PastiMes oR proFess
wIth hObbies,
obSessionS
ioNs thAt hiGhlighT The ciTy’S divErsitY
Beth Hopper
Chaat
Beth is always on the look out for Dubai’s best Indian street food Chaat is an Indian dish that has it all. All the elements of a successful street food are there: it’s saucy, it’s spicy, it has fried bits, it’s topped with fresh coriander and, best of all, it’s cheap. What more could you want? There are endless varieties, and I love every last one of them. You have your pani puri, hollow, fried balls of crispy dough with a watery, spicy sauce; dahi puri, those same balls, stuffed with chickpeas, sev (fried noodle pieces), chutney and yogurt; and various other piled up concoctions of spicy potatoes, masala chickpeas, chopped onions and fried crunchy things of all shapes and sizes, always smothered in tamarind chutney and yogurt. Once you start shovelling that whole party of textures into your mouth, you won’t be able to stop. I’ve long harboured the ambition of travelling to India, but the huge Indian population in the UAE
means that you can sample some brilliant and authentic offerings right here on the streets of Dubai. Take a walk around Karama, Bur Dubai or Deira, and you’ll come across tonnes of Indian restaurants, many of which will have some version of chaat on their lengthy menus. I’m guessing there is some competition; I’ve seen queues winding down roads outside some places. Now, I’m no expert, just a hungry enthusiast, but Karama’s Bombay Chowpatty will never let you down. These guys have branches across the city, and are a saviour if you ever find yourself hungry in a mall. Out on the streets, though, and some of the best in town can be found at Lassi King in Bur Dubai, Rangoli in Meena Bazaar and Chowk Ki Chaat or Bikanervala in Karama. But wherever you find it, that combination of sweet, fresh, sour and hot flavours is unlike anything else, and chaat had my heart from the first mouthful.
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Bong Micu
Fold-up bicycles Bong prefers foldable transport
When I arrived in Dubai in 1996, I bought a mountain bike, which I used until I sustained a leg injury playing basketball. I sold that bike five years ago, and I started using a fold-up bicycle. I cycle to work during winter at least twice a week. The folding bicycle is very convenient. I can fold it and bring it into the office. You can bring it into a café. You can fold it and put it in your car. I do a night ride from my home in Al Quoz to Deira, fold my bike up and take the last Metro home. It takes less than 30 seconds to fold. My bicycle has two gears, which is plenty here in Dubai, where it’s flat. We have a good road infrastructure. You just need to dress properly, ensure that you are visible and respect the rules of the road. We are starting a campaign to encourage drivers to be more respectful to bikers. There is a big cycling tribe here, but the knowledge of drivers is not very good. The basic message is ‘share the road’. I started the Folding Bike Society UAE
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last year, and we now have 25 members. We go out as a group, stopping for coffee. We usually have 15 to 20 people come along with folding bikes for a 30km casual ride. Anybody who owns a fold-up bicycle really loves it. I have a Brompton, which is a highly sought after British brand, especially in Dubai. It’s the S2L, the lightest Brompton model at 10.5kg. It’s a stylish bicycle, it has a unique look and I appreciate the design and the engineering. I am the creative director at an advertising agency, so I appreciate the look of the Brompton. I bought it from an Emirati man who had been to the UK to study and bought a bicycle to get around. When he returned, he didn’t have time to ride it, so he posted it on [local online marketplace] Dubizzle. Fortunately I was the one who got there first. I am an avid collector, and I have five fold-up bicycles. I have display shelves at home for them. facebook.com/FoldingSocietyUae
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Joe Mortimer
Off-roading
Joe is more comfortable driving on sand than on tarmac Buying a 4x4 is just the start of a long and costly adventure. The other drivers in the UAE Offroaders club, the ones with turbocharged, jacked-up vehicles that look like they’re ready to drive up Kilimanjaro, will tell you on your first outing that your new Jeep is all you need for an off-road adventure. When you inch your way into the sand for the first time, tyres deflated, traction control off, wheels sliding about, it certainly feels the business. But the guy in front has chunky desert tyres and a four-inch lift kit. When you stop for a Red Bull and a cigarette, neither of which you partake of in your civilian life, you ask about the wheels, and he says you don’t need them. A few minutes after you set off again you become stuck in some soft, terracotta sand on the crest of a near-vertical slope. That settles it. You decide you need the kit. After a minute of intense effort, teasing the wheels left and right, murmuring obscenities through mouth-
fuls of sand flying in through the open window, you free yourself from the trap You’re the best driver in the world. T.E. Lawrence? Forget about it, you’re the new king of the desert. By now the shadows are long, every ripple in the sand dramatically defined against the next. You head to base camp, where you’ll swap war stories with other drivers around the campfire. UAE Offroaders founder Lee Khalfan Al Romaithi, started the club in 2009. “We once found a little girl on a motorbike all on her own,” he says in a thick South Wales accent. The other drivers also have adventures to share. There are Brits, Emiratis, Indians, Americans, Lebanese. It’s an international convoy, the United Nations of desert driving. Your brief tangle with the sand earlier pales in comparison to the other stories, but you suspect there will be plenty more to come.
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Lewis Calderwood and Maria Novak
Swing dancing
Lewis and Maria like to dance to music from the 1920s I grew up in New Zealand listening to the music from the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. My mum was a jazz vocal coach, so that style of music was always playing in the house. I loved the music and the era that it came from, but I never really knew that you could dance to it. Much later in my 20s, I saw a bunch of people dancing to it, and I couldn’t believe it. Once I saw that, that was it, I had to do it. I have been coming to Dubai since 2007. I work as a rigger in the entertainment industry, doing special effects. In 2012 I met Maria [Novak, co-founder of Lindy-hop Dubai], and once we had met each other and had a dance, we decided to start [swing music group] Lindy-hop Dubai. The more we advertised it and talked about it, the more people we brought in, and now we have a fairly solid core of people who have danced before and a regular stream of beginners.
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We are at the stage now that we’re about to start holding intermediate dance classes, because the people that were beginners to start with are improving so much. Holding the classes every Sunday night [in Speakeasy Bar & Restaurant in Ramada Plaza, JBR], we have even had people sitting at the bar come and join in and become regulars. We try and follow the Abu Dhabi Big Band as much as we can; they play exactly what we want to dance to. We also go to Jazz@PizzaExpress and Blue Bar in the Novotel in Dubai World Trade Centre – anywhere that we can find music that we think is going to be danceable. The Fridge in Al Serkal Avenue, Dubai’s gallery district, also puts on some pretty cool stuff, and one of our regulars, Lakshmi Ramirez, plays bass in a band called The Gypsy Swing Project. facebook.com/LindyHopDubai
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James De Valera AKA Break DJ Lobito
Vinyl
James is one of the few DJs in Dubai still committed to using vinyl I’m originally Spanish, and growing up we always had records around the house. My dad was a jazz fanatic and my mum into classical. I remember putting on records from a very young age. My collection started when I was about 15 or 16 and I started buying LPs for myself. I’ve been collecting for 15 years or so, and my total collection exceeds 20,000. I love the feel of vinyl, how it works, the artwork and liner notes. As a tool that I use to scratch and do turntablist tricks with it’s still unbeatable. Even with all the CDJ, controller technologies out there, the technical side of using the turntable and vinyl as a musical instrument is unbeaten. I collect all sorts, but mostly I funk, soul, Latin, Brazilian, jazz, breaks, reggae, mashups, good hip hop (most of it these days is bad pop), psychedelia, funk rock, world music, Bollywood, bass and anything that has good beats. When I came here six years ago, a couple of
people had made attempts at record shops, but it was very basic and not really good enough, and to this day it’s hard to find records. It’s a format that is only now starting to attract interest. I set up Deep Crates Cartel as a collective of “diggers”, or vinyl fanatics turned DJs, a few years ago for those who were into multiple genres of music and our crew has 10 DJs who collect vinyl, as well as street artists and b-boys who also collect records. There’s a new generation who are keen on preserving the art form of digging, as well as turntablism and scratching, with new guys starting all the time. One of our crew is a Yemeni vinyl collector living in Saudi, so there’s interest across the region among youth who are growing in the culture. facebook.com/breakdjlobito mixcloud.com/Lobito facebook.com/DeepCratesCartel
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Tracy Gray
Architecture
Tracy is fascinated by Sir Norman Foster’s Index Tower The last few years have seen a collection of beautifully realised spaces appear in Dubai, to the joyous adulation of those of us waiting in the wings for them. The object of my most recent fascination is Index Tower. Though situated on the metaphorical “wrong side” of the downtown divide, which separates Downtown Dubai from its less-hyped neighbours, this building boasts architectural gravitas. Designed by Foster and Partners, and completed in 2010, it is 80 storeys high and stands exactly astride the east-west axis. This one simple calculation allows the building’s concrete cores to provide shade to each of its 80 floors. Foster and Partners also incorporated sunshades along the façade, greatly limiting interior exposure to direct sunlight and allowing the ambient temperature on the inside of the building to remain unusually low, right around 28°C.
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The importance of these features to the overall success of the design cannot be overstated; this high level of consideration for the climatic challenges faced in the Gulf is almost comically unheard of in building projects here. And it isn’t just the nuts and bolts that are intriguing, however interesting I may find them. There is an almost ceremonial feel as you approach the entrance. It isn’t just another structure; it fully occupies the land it stands on. Surrounded by a slightly incongruous sand lot, once at its base the overall size and presence of the building really strike you. Without the usual glitter of glass and steel, the façade seems bare, but cleverly infused within the building are gorgeous water features and landscaping – a nod to the local tradition of the courtyard house, which keeps its true aesthetics hidden from prying eyes.
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Jessica Aldred
Embroidery
Embroidery was never meant to be my profession. What sort of person even considers embroidery as a viable career path? But then I came across the Royal School of Needlework (RSN), world renowned for keeping the art of hand embroidery alive, and I knew I’d found my calling. Upon graduating I landed my dream job in costume at the Royal Opera House and spent my days surrounded by opera singers, dancers, crystals and beads. I later returned to the RSN where the unbelievable happened – we were commissioned to produce the embroidery for Catherine Middleton’s (now Duchess of Cambridge) wedding dress and veil. That year I also co-authored my first book, Adventures In Needlework. Never in my wildest dreams could I have predicted that I would be published before the age of thirty, and that I would work on THE royal wedding dress. The following year I moved to Dubai. I was ready for
a fresh start and to see if I could make my way out in the big wide world with my off the wall career. I’ve often said that living in Dubai is like travelling the world without moving, and as much as it can be challenging, I love the vibrant mix of people and cultures. I now teach embroidery both at a local shop and privately at my studio, as well as creating bespoke commissions and collaborating with other designers. Being here is also giving me the chance to develop a new body of work that reflects my particular area of interest – embroidery for fashion. I live and breathe for what I do. Unfortunately many people still associate embroidery with flowers and prettiness, but my strong design background has allowed me to produce contemporary art embroidery that breaks those perceptions. Who knows where my humble needle and thread may take me next, but in Dubai, the land of opportunity, it seems the possibilities are endless. jessicaaldred.co.uk
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images: Rem
Jessica believes that embroidery can be art
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GILLIAN WEARING Conceptual artist, 50
OUR WOMAN IN…
London
The Turner Prize-winning British artist was born and raised in Birmingham, but now calls London her home
W
hen I first moved to London I wasn’t much of a talker. Now I can articulate myself much more. I only realised when I was 17 that I didn’t speak coherently, when working as an office junior on an opportunities scheme in Birmingham. The staff kept asking me to go to the counter and serve people. They would then find it funny when I couldn’t string a sentence together. I have somewhat improved over the years, but put me in a room with lots of people all listening to me, and I can revert quite easily to mumbling and inarticulacy. I am a listener, and always have been. I prefer hearing from other people and easily get bored of my own voice. My art has an element of the document, of people talking or writing about themselves. Everyone has a voice but so many people go unheard. As I always considered myself a listener I came to the idea of presenting other people’s stories. I feel that I am a portrait artist. When I left college I really wanted to do filming, particularly documentary. I was interested in people saying things that perhaps weren’t represented on television or in the media at the time. The video didn’t work out, so I moved on to photography and asked people to write anything they wanted on a piece of paper. That’s how the The Signs
series came along. And it is now an idea that has been much copied and mediated, because it was a simple idea that worked. Like a talking picture, you can see the person and also get a moment of their thoughts. I was at a great point in my career when I received the Turner Prize so, although it was a surprise that I was nominated, I had been recognised quite widely in the art world and had many exhibitions coming up. So the Turner Prize was a seal of approval in a way. When I came to London from Birmingham, the city felt huge, it was really exciting. I lived everywhere from the West, South to East London. My friends and I stayed in a hostel in South Kensington to start with. I loved the grandeur of the area but I soon discovered that I could only afford living in a hostel there. I think I lived in 15 different places before actually settling for a long period of time in East London. But when you are young and just getting by, London is about improvising and moving around. You can never truly get a sense of London: it’s constantly changing because of redevelopment. If I went back to the places I used to live, things would have moved on – with so many new shops and restaurants. East London in particular has grown until it’s almost unrecognisable. This happened after artists moved
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local pub/ The Golden Heart in Shoreditch is her favourite pub contemporary art / Wearing says that Hayward Gallery is one of London’s finest for contemporary work fancy dinner/ If Wearing is in the mood for a “sophisticated eventing”, she books a table at Scott’s in London’s Mayfair
into warehouses that were no longer habitable for business and then warehouse living became cool. Now a lot of those warehouses are flats or some have reverted back to businesses again. The great thing about London is that it doesn’t feel like a city that judges. It is also a place – because it is so vast – that lets you disappear within it, and gives you the space to concentrate on your work. And, of course, it also has all the amenities that an artist needs. For instance, as I work in film and photography, I can get the best quality developing and printing done right here. London also offers such an amazing variety of places to go out and enjoy city living. If I want an exclusive and sophisticated evening I love to go to Scott’s restaurant in Mayfair, Shoreditch House roof garden, or the Royal China Club, and if I feel like something a little more relaxed, the Golden Heart in Shoreditch is my favourite local pub. East London has a great history of artists living there. When I moved here with my partner – Michael Landy, also an artist – in the 1990s we totally fell in love with the atmosphere. It is hard to put my finger on what that is, apart from the fact the area feels right for us. There are so many studio spaces available, and we have lot of friends living close by. There is a sense of community here, which makes it feel like a place you can call home. In the 1990s I could count venues on my hand, now London is one of the best places in the world to view contemporary art. We have the Tate Modern or The National Gallery, which give you a great sense of what’s going
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on in the art world. Apart from that there are lots of great contemporary galleries such as the Whitechapel, Hayward and The Serpentine, as well as hundreds of public and commercial galleries too. I struggled to get a job in my hometown, Birmingham, apart from government schemes. I don’t know whether it’s still true, but I found London to have a lot of opportunities that weren’t available elsewhere at the time. I had been working as a personal assistant in an animation company and felt I wanted to do something creative. So I had to leave a reasonably well-paid job to become a student for five years. I went to art school thinking I would try and specialise in graphic design or animation, but a teacher there told me I had a fine art sensibility, which was a huge compliment. After three years in London I enroled on an art course at Chelsea, and then Goldsmiths. I had a fantastic education. [The fine art course] was by far the best course in the UK; it had more mature students than anywhere else. The year above me the average age was 28, and I think this gave the course a slightly more mature outlook. Goldsmiths in particular was probably the most progressive art school in the UK at the time. It didn’t have separate departments for sculpture, painting or performance, etc. Everything and anything could be explored as art. And as artists we were encouraged to be experimental. I had friends that were at other art schools who really felt repressed by the definitions of which art department they were in. EaST SIDE/ Wearing moved to East The course really made London in the 1990s. us think on our feet and Brick Lane (pictured) realise that it is hard to is at the heart of the be an artist full time, but neighbourhood’s creative and social life that it is possible. After art school it took me many gallEry lIfE/ years to realise, “Yes, I am Wearing says that large an artist.” London galleries, such as Tate Modern (pictured) I’m currently creating a film made from views of people’s rooms. The idea is very “give you a great sense of simple, and that is to film either the curtains, blinds or shutters closed, and then open what’s going on in the them to reveal the view from your window. I have received many views from all over the art world” world, and some have recently been shown on Channel 4 in the UK. I’m now working on THaMES VIEW / a long form of this film to show at film festivals and galleries. London’s Tate Modern The website for the work is yourviewsfilm.com; anyone who sends a view overlook the River Thames, will receive a short film containing their view, and will, of course, will be credited. the longest river in England When the advert went out earlier this year, it was amazing how many people, very swiftly, sent their views in, and so many were beautifully shot and well thought out. And that is what inspires me about people: you can never imagine how another person thinks or approaches the world, and it’s projects like this that make you think wow – how amazing people are.
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WWW.THEDOMAINHOTELS.COM The Domain, Diplomatic Area, Manama, Bahrain Tel: +973 16 000 000 /thedomainbahrain
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mirrored city Awardwinning photographer Niall Cotton’s unique images of Dubai
InfInIty tower
PHOTOGRAPHER
NIALL COTTON AGE: 61 LOCATION: Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England and Edinburgh, Scotland SERIES: a selection of six images from the Mirrored Cities series
How long have you been taking pictures? I took my first pictures with a Kodak instamatic at age 16. I had my first published picture on the front page of the Glasgow Herald when I was 17. What turned you on to photography? Life magazine, a life-long friend – a photographer – who loaned me a Zorki camera loaded with TriX on our first meeting and showed me how to process and print it the following week and 2001 A Space Odyssey. I was also a fan of early Soviet propaganda films. Whose work inspired you when you first started? Don McCullin, Larry Burrows, David Bailey, Bill Brandt, Man Ray, Irving Penn, Arnold Newman, Winston Link and many more. In Mirrored Cities you focus on architecture. Is architectural photography a genre that you are particularly interested in? To me architects are the artists and all I am doing is pointing the camera and pressing a button. I do like and enjoy photographing architecture; being an architect is one of the things I would like to be when I grow up. It’s a nice subject to photograph since it doesn’t move – it just changes with the light.
What else do you photograph? Helicopters, oilrigs, whisky distilleries and other big boys toys. What is the story behind the Mirrored Cities series? My best friend at school was a great philosopher and artist, and he introduced me to the work of Victor Vassarely, Paul Klee, Friedensreich Hundervasser and other artists. I used to experiment with overexposed transparencies of textures and sandwich them to see what it looked like. When I took a picture of an office block in Sydney, I created four prints, two of them flipped, to see how it looked. I did this a few times with other geometric prime images. When Photoshop came along, I would take images and practise my Photoshop ‘skills’ by cutting and flipping bits – often producing results that were pleasing to the eye. The series features images of other cities, but most of the images were shot in Dubai. What particularly inspired you when you visited? The forms, colours, shapes and details of the buildings – it was a bit like being in a futuristic movie. The city also reminded me of one of my favourite art films, Koyannisqatsi. I was on holiday visiting my daughter and not
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under any pressure. It was relaxing to do my own thing, quite the opposite from my earlier, ‘gritty’ work – everything sharp and very geometric. When I returned, I watched a documentary on Islamic art, which inspired me. Traditional Islamic work did not feature people, it featured architecture, patterns, symmetry and calligraphy, and colours were predominantly blue and gold. How did you produce the images in Mirrored Cities? I took the shots with a paste-up in mind and tried to capture elements that would work. When I get the chance or inspiration, I can sit for hours listening to music and just moving frames or crops around. I create duplicates – flip them and butt them up as layers in Photoshop. What project are you currently working on? I am making a movie featuring my dog and cat. niallcotton.com behance.net/niallcotton
SHEIKH ZAYED ROAD
dubai marina
hilton hotel
jumeirah 111
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Jumeirah lake towers
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MEET THE NEW BREED, SEVEN DUBAI-
BASED MOVERS AND SHAKERS YET TO CELEBRATE THEIR 40TH BIRTHDAYS. THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH HAVING SPENT MORE THAN FOUR DECADES ON THE PLANET, OF COURSE. IN FACT, WISDOM OFTEN COMES WITH AGE, AND MANY OF DUBAI’S GREATEST ACHIEVEMENTS HAVE COME TO FRUITION BECAUSE OF PEOPLE WHO BLEW OUT MORE THAN 40 CANDLES ON THEIR LAST BIRTHDAY CAKE. BUT THE FUTURE OF THE CITY, AND THE WORLD, IS IN THE HANDS OF THE YOUTH – THOSE INDUSTRIOUS FEW JUST STARTING TO MAKE THEIR MARK, BUILD THEIR BUSINESSES OR FORGE THEIR CAREERS. THE FOLLOWING PAGES ARE DEDICATED TO THE YOUNG PEOPLE WHO ARE DOING JUST THAT. DUBAI IS STILL A CITY ON THE RISE, AND IT ALWAYS WILL BE. IT GREW OUT OF THE SAND, AND IT WILL CONTINUE TO GROW AND DEVELOP, THANKS TO BOTH A GENERATION OF EMIRATIS PASSIONATE ABOUT THEIR CITY AND A THRIVING COMMUNITY OF INDIVIDUALS FROM ACROSS THE GLOBE WHO ARE PROUD TO CALL DUBAI THEIR HOME AND ARE KEEN TO BE A PART OF ITS FUTURE. WHEN WE STARTED THIS FEATURE WE HAD SO MANY CANDIDATES THAT IT TOOK US WEEKS TO CHOOSE THE FINAL SEVEN. WE HAD ENOUGH TO FILL A BOOK OR MAKE A MOVIE. BUT, IN THE END, WE CHOSE THESE SEVEN, A CROSS-SECTION OF THE TALENT THAT RESIDES IN DUBAI, TO SHOW THE WORLD THE INTRIGUING MIX OF PEOPLE AND CULTURES WHO WILL HELP
BUILD THE CITY’S FUTURE. WE HAVEN’T COVERED EVERY FIELD OF BUSINESS. WE HAVE PURPOSEFULLY AVOIDED THE WORLD OF FINANCE AND HOSPITALITY, BOTH SO IMPORTANT TO DUBAI’S SUCCESS BUT AL READY CELEBRATED. WE HAVE CHOSEN PEOPLE WHO PERHAPS DON’T RECEIVE RECOGNITION OFTEN ENOUGH FOR THEIR ENDEAVOURS. WHO INJECT NOT JUST PASSION BUT CREATIVITY INTO THEIR CHOSEN PURSUITS. WE’RE NOT TALKING ABOUT ART, THOUGH SOME OF OUR CHOSEN FEW ARE ARTISTS. WE ARE TALKING ABOUT THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX. SO, OVER THE PAGE, YOU WILL MEET A CHAMPION BOXER WHO HAS HAD MORE FIGHTS THAN HE HAS HAD BIRTH DAYS, THE FOUNDER OF A COMPANY DEDICATED TO LOCALLY GROWN ORGANIC PRODUCE (DID YOU KNOW VEGETABLES WERE GROWN IN THE UAE?), TWO EMIRATI BROTHERS USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO FILM A TRAVEL SHOW THAT AIMS TO BREAK DOWN INTERNA TIONAL BOUNDARIES, A MUSIC NUT WHO OPENED A VINYL RECORD STORE A DECADE AGO AND IS NOW RE SPONSIBLE FOR BOOKING A LOT OF THE INTERNA TIONAL MUSICAL TALENT THAT PASSES THROUGH THE UAE, A YOUNG MOTHER WHO HAS JUST LAUNCHED HER FIRST COLLECTION OF CLOTHING, TWO FOODIES COMMITTED TO BRINGING PEOPLE TOGETHER OVER A GOOD MEAL, VIA THE INTERNET, AND A YOUNG EMIRATI FILMMAKER. THESE SEVEN INDIVIDUALS REPRE SENT DUBAI AT ITS BEST. words by Gareth rees
“As the show Progresses we hoPe the viewer forgets how different we look And insteAd stArts to see us for how siMilArly we think. while the internAtionAl MediA CAn de-huMAnise CertAin PeoPles, we AiM to do the oPPosite through this originAl And entertAining show.”
MohaMed ParhaM al awadhi and PeyMan ParhaM al awadhi
Co-founders, executive producers and hosts, Peeta Planet Mohamed 39, Peyman 36
Peeta Planet is a reality travel show about two Emiratis, travelling the world, dressed in kandoora (the UAE national dress), meeting with young 25- to 35-year-old trendsetters in the fields of food, culture and entrepreneurship. The entire production is posted on social media sites so that viewers can follow Mohamed and Peyman on their journey across the world. Peeta Planet started off as a hashtag, when, in 2009, Mohamed and Peyman took a spontaneous three-day trip to Sri Lanka, where they used their social media ‘followship’ to help plan the trip. youtube.com/peetaplanet
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“Not Able to juggle 15-houR dAys iN the offiCe with motheRhood, i deCided to woRk oN somethiNg fRom home thAt i Could do At my owN pACe, while still doiNg eveRythiNg foR my ChildReN. i feel thAt womeN iN dubAi ARe veRy opeN-miNded wheN it Comes to fAshioN, ANd they ARe AlwAys oN the lookout foR somethiNg New.”
Reema mukhi
Creative director, Reema Ameer, 34
Reema Ameer is a new ready-to-wear fashion brand, launched in October 2013 with a focus on luxury, contemporary basics. Creating a modern silhouette from traditional Indian fabrics, the label aims to further merge the divide between western and eastern fashion. Reema worked as a journalist before leaving work to start a family in 2011. She is currently planning her next collection for January 2014. She has had several requests from buyers to put her collection in their stores, but says she hasn’t decided which path to take yet. reemaameer.com
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“OHM was started as a selfisH passiOn prOject tO fuel Our addictiOn fOr quality Music, events and lifestyle, wHicH was lacking at tHat tiMe in dubai. sOOn after we realised tHat tHOusands Of OtHer peOple in tHis regiOn sHared Our passiOn.”
Satyen ChokSi
Managing partner, OHM, 36
Satyen Choksi moved to Dubai from the USA in 1999 to work for his family’s gold and jewellery trading business. He started Ohm with partner Nik Lall, who shared his belief that “life is too short for boring music”, in 2003 as a specialist vinyl record store. The company has since expanded into events, working with corporate clients, including Nokia, Red Bull, Philips, National Geographic, Heineken and Philip Morris. Ohm has also created successful concepts such as Chill Out Festival, Stereo by Nokia, the award-winning iLL Communcations club night and the Uplugged sessions at Dubai’s Madinat Jumeirah. Ohm also acts as a talent booking agency and social media and digital marketing consultancy. ohmevents.com
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“My baCkgROund is in MaRketing, but i wanted tO dO sOMething i was passiOnate abOut. My husband was wORking On a big agRiCuLtuRaL pROjeCt, saw a gap in the MaRket and suggested i staRt a LOCaL FOOd MaRket wORking with aLL OF the LOCaL ORganiC FaRMs. sO i did.”
Becky Balderstone
Founder, Ripe – Local & Organic Fruit and Vegetable Company, 32
Ripe is a local provider of fresh organic fruit and vegetables, but also sells chicken, eggs, milk, cheese and bread, as well as a full list of pantry items. The business was founded in 2011, with the aim of making organic fruit and vegetables easily accessible and affordable to the residents of the UAE. Ripe’s fruit and veg comes from a handpicked selection of farms chosen for their organic farming techniques, eco-friendly operating systems and local and international organic certifications. Produce is picked within 48 hours of being sold to ensure taste and freshness is never compromised. Ripe offers online orders, home deliveries, a retail store in Al Manara, corporate orders, a Raising With Ripe schools programme and food and craft markets – two in Dubai and two in Abu Dhabi. ripeme.com
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“I waS StereotyPeD aS beIng SPoIlt anD unrelIable, So I haD to gaIn the truSt of My ClIentS by DelIverIng exCePtIonal work on tIMe. the latter haPPeneD wIth the SuPPort of My teaM. beIng a woMan In the fIlM buSIneSS waS alSo ChallengIng. there aren’t Many woMen DIreCtorS/ProDuCerS. In the enD, none of thIS MatterS – the reSultS SPeak for theMSelveS. I aM lIvIng the DreaM.”
Nayla al Khaja
Chief executive officer, D-Seven Motion Pictures, 35
Having studied film at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada, Nayla set up D-Seven Motion Pictures in 2005. D-Seven produces high-end TV commercials, ‘webisodes’ and virals, has created work for brands such as Nike, BMW and Nivea and worked with celebrities including Roger Federer and Paris Hilton. The company is also venturing in the feature film arena, which it aims to focus on in the future. D-Seven is currently producing its first feature film, 3, as well as two TV shows. d-seven.com
“ResTRonauT addResses a posT-modeRn diLemma: as iT becomes incReasingLy easy To connecT wiTh peopLe oveR The inTeRneT who shaRe ouR inTeResTs and passions, iT aLso geTs moRe diFFicuLT To connecT and meeT wiTh ReaL peopLe in ReaL LiFe. so we cReaTed a pLaTFoRm FoR meeTing new and inTeResTing peopLe oveR The mosT sociaL oF oFFLine expeRiences – dinneR.”
Tala Soubra and leiTh MaTThewS Founders, Restronaut.me Tala 28, Leith 32
Restronaut is a social dining platform, set up in March 2013, which connects people over dinners at Dubai’s best restaurants. The business has grown from hosting a few tables per month to hosting a few per week. Restronaut has partnered with many of the city’s most popular restaurants and is growing a great number of new users each month. Tala and Leith aim to establish a presence in major cities throughout the region. restronaut.me
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MohaMMad ali Bayat Boxer, 24
Born in Iran, Mo Ali moved to Dubai at 16. He took up boxing to lose weight and soon started winning fights by KO. He has been winning ever since, and at just 24 he is already the WBC Champion (Asia Continental), WKBF World Champion (Kick Boxing) and WKBF Pan Asia Champion (Kick Boxing). He trains twice a day, five times a week. He is also a boxing coach at Platform 3 Fitness in Dubai. p3dubai.com
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IMAges: OlgA PetrOFF, JulIet Dunne, reM
“I eat a lot of pIneapple, But otherwIse I eat what I lIke. I have no specIal dIet. people always joke, ‘where Is your sIx-pack?’ But what use Is a sIx-pack In the rIng? a sIx-pack Is not goIng to wIn me the fIght.”
TOO TOUGH TO DIE
THERE SHOULDN’T BE A PUNK SCENE IN DUBAI... BUT THERE IS. JIMMY DAWSON INVESTIGATES
I
t was not 1970s New York, California or London. There was no CBGBs, Whisky a Go Go or 100 Club. It was 2010, in Dubai, and there was just the backyard of some dude’s parent’s villa – it would have to do. The tiled slab of the back porch acted as a stage, and the young Filipinos, Brits and other displaced kids from across the globe gathered on the lawn, listening politely to Gandhi’s Cookbook, Lipslide, Public Refuse, Tsinelaz and Gopilot – now mostly defunct – until the neighbours complained and the authorities put an end to the performance. This legendary gig, condensed into a short documentary by Abu Dhabi’s The National newspaper, which, uploaded by local punk band Grand Hotel Paradox, under the title DIY In Dubai: A Short Film About A Punk Show In the UAE, is available to view on YouTube. Here was evidence of a punk scene in Dubai, its unveiling and an idea of where it fit within the city’s paradigm. Underground doesn’t quite cut it. Everywhere you went in the city, you could find music. It was all over the place. The hotel lounges were up to their empties bins in elevator ‘jazz’ combos and cover bands; while patrons at the larger venues were entertained by international acts. But hardcore punk and metal barely existed in Dubai, and it certainly wasn’t visible, or accessible, to the average Joe on the street. One of the problems, if you ask anyone who’s been around the scene long enough, is the issue of a legitimate venue, a rallying point, some territory to claim and plunge a flag into. There was something romantic about the way the musicians in the early-1970s honed their craft in these artistic safe havens, places that seemed,
in hindsight anyway, to exist more for the music than anything else. These were all-ages venues, and the young audiences were a reflection of the music played. The disenchanted youth fuelled punk’s restlessness in these haunts, after all, not 40-year-old yuppies sipping cocktails at a bar. At one time a place did exist for the under-21 crowd in Dubai. To the best of anyone’s recollection it began around 2000, give or take a year. Back then the only place anybody can remember original music being available was an annual Battle Of The Bands competition organised by Dubai College. Adham Ghanem, who now plays for the band Dead Shakes, was attending American University In Dubai (AUD) at the time. “I thought, this is great, but it would be nice if bands, like everywhere else, had a platform and could just play their original music,” he said. “It wasn’t rocket science. Something was missing, and
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BRACE YOURSELF / Dubai punk band The Victims are one of several bands that regularly perform live in Dubai
we wanted to provide a different opportunity.” When Ghanem says “we” he means himself and Michael Fillon
“Hardcore punk and metal barely existed in dubai, and it certainly wasn’t visible, or accessible, to tHe average joe on tHe street”
UndergroUnd scene / The Victims play Club Mint at Manhattan Hotel in Bur Dubai in August 2013
of Sandwash, a groovecore band long embedded in Dubai’s music scene, and still playing to this day. Fillon had been around longer than Ghanem and had already been thinking the same thing. So, in 2001, the two started a music club at AUD called Sound Society. Not only did the club support musicians but it also provided a hub for aspiring event organisers, songwriters, sound engineers and anyone else involved in music production. More importantly, though, it catalysed an annual all-ages event called Turbulence. “Turbulence was the first show of its kind where bands were performing and it wasn’t a competition,” says Ghanem. “It was a success. We brought out 400 people.” By its third year the event boosted its attendance numbers substantially, from 1,000 to 3,000, depending on whom you ask. It felt as if things were moving forward. “We thought the music scene would grow,” says Fillon. “At that
point you’d have kids coming to the shows who actually knew the lyrics to the songs. You’d even have these factions starting up fights; the punk kids versus the metal kids. It was fun. It felt like a music scene.” The festival would finish for good a year later. “Ultimately, the budget requirements for a large local event exclusively showcasing local talent in Dubai were too high,” he says. “Bear in mind that Turbulence wasn’t a high ticket price event and mostly attracted an under-21 audience.” Ghanem would start up other endeavours to promote the local scene. A company called Ignite Events was one. Under this banner, The Assembly, a bi-monthly concert series for the under-21 crowd was created along with Vol.11 for those over 21. The latter he had set up with Paul Kelly, who runs a website promoting music in the Middle East called TripleW. But these series would disappear as well, following difficulties with venues. TripleW’s Paul Kelly recalls how Dubai during its upswing,
“There are plenTy of bands now, jusT as There have always been, Trying To gain a liTTle TracTion in The scene” 128
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years before the financial crisis, was “booming”. The lucrative “formula”, as he calls it, of bars hiring DJs and cover bands, gave the bars less incentives to take a chance with original bands. But giving bands a platform on which to perform wasn’t the only hurdle. The city’s transient population posed an even greater obstacle. The conundrum was, and still is, how do you build onto a foundation when the foundation keeps shifting? As a result, the young fan-base is in constant upheaval, which means the scene itself continually and awkwardly starts, stops and sputters. Then repeats. Within the cycles of migration the audience moves on, the musicians move on, then a couple years later the promise of another movement; and for those musicians who stick around, the headache of trying to build back a following. There are plenty of bands now, just as there have always been, trying to gain a little traction in the scene. Names you’ve probably never heard, such as Fighting Superheroes, Goddamn Electric and an Abu Dhabi grindcore group called Maticrust who spend most of their time in Dubai. One of the foremost bands on the scene are Grand Hotel Paradox (GHP): guitarist and vocalist Chris Ryan, bassist Mike Priest and drummer Michael Sydenham. GHP released two EPs, Louder Than Lyrics and First World Problems, in 2011, and an album, Rust in 2012. Ryan moved to Belfast a couple of years ago to attend university, but he has plans to come back and record a second GHP album. The Victims – guitarist and vocalist Igme, guitarist Sisa, drummer Kulot and bassist Mariang Sili – are another band representing a DIY ethos harking back to the days when band fliers created a patchwork on the telephone polls and kiosks of
Official Newspaper
college campuses. The band digitally manipulates old posters from Sci-Fi B-movies, black-and-white banD MaTES / Dead Shakes: Adam Carr, Adham Ghanem and Mike Priest
horror flicks and scenes from popular culture (Julie Andrews in the Sound Of Music playing her acoustic guitar to a group of punk children clad in leather and vests emblazoned with the band’s logo, for example). The result is a fitting supplement to their low-fi Ramones-influenced sound.
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STUDIO TIME / The Victims recording at Abu Dhabi’s White Cube Studios on August 10, 2013
These types of bands have always given music its energy, with their cross-country road trips and self-designed logos and band paraphernalia. The Victims have released four singles: Mork & Mindy (2012), Weekends Alone (2013), Duckie (2013) and Your Mom’s Scandal (2013) . The band only formed in 2012, so the fact that they have released so much material and play regular gigs at venues across the city is a positive sign for the future local punk scene. Sandwash’s Michael Fillon adds that Dubai is a great place for musicians to cut their teeth, to become acquainted with their instrument under the radar and eventually open for international players. He should know, Sandwash has shared the stage with international acts such as 30 Seconds to Mars and Megadeth. “The scene is what you make of it, right?” says Grand Hotel Paradox’s bassist Mike Priest. “If I go to the shows and have fun and enjoy the bands I’m watching, whether it’s five people or 3,000 people, I don’t care, because I know the people there are having fun.”
iMAGeS: rizMAn.M AnD The ViCTiMS
“If I go to the shows and have fun and enjoy the bands I’m watchIng, whether It’s fIve people or 3,ooo people, I don’t care”
Emirates Dubai Rugby Sevens Emirates sponsors one of the biggest events on the Dubai sporting calendar
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briefing Dubai airshow: The Middle East's leading aerospace event melbourne cup carnival: The race that stops a nation routemap: Discover the world as connected by Emirates
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briefing
news Dubai airshow 2013
the Dubai airshow, supporteD by emirates airline, will take place from november 17 to 21.
The biennial airshow, which is the Middle East’s leading aerospace event, will bring together buyers, sellers and trade professionals. In 2011, the order book for the show closed at a staggering US$63 billion. Nearly 1,000 exhibitors are expected to attend the five-day event at its new home, Dubai World Central in the Jebel Ali region of Dubai.
Returning to the Dubai Airshow this year is ‘Futures Day’, an initiative that aims to inspire young people to join the aerospace industry in the future, which takes place on the final day of the show, and the Middle East’s dedicated training event for the aviation industry, the Gulf Aviation Training Event (GATE), taking place 18-19 November. dubaiairshow.aero
For our interview with Sharief Fahmy, CEO of F&E Aerospace, organisers of the Dubai Airshow, turn to page 138.
Perfect timing Don’t miss your next Emirates flight. Make sure you get to your boarding gate on time. Boarding starts 45 minutes before your flight and gates close 20 minutes before departure. If you report late we will not be able to accept you for travel. Thank you for your cooperation.
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briefing
news EmiratEs Dubai rugby sEvEns morE than 100,000 spEctators chEEring on 200 intErnational tEams, on seven different pitches over
three days can only mean one thing: Emirates Dubai Rugby Sevens is back. In its 44th year celebrating the very best of international rugby at the impressive, purpose-built 7he Sevens Stadium, this year’s event will see 16 teams compete in the HSBC Sevens World Series, including the reigning champions, Samoa. In the first round of the IRB Women’s Sevens World Series, 12 teams from around the globe will be in action hoping to lift the winners trophy. The event is not just for rugby fans either. The Rugby Village and the Rugby Rock concerts provide entertainment for all ages. The event runs from November 28 to 30, and tickets are available online and at dedicated retailers throughout Dubai. dubairugby7s.com
For our interview with Donal Kilalea, commercial and operations director of Emirates Dubai Rugby Sevens, turn to page 38.
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briefing
news
Dubai aiRshow Interviewee: Chief executive officer, F&E Aerospace, organisers of the Dubai Airshow, Sharief Fahmy
What is the Dubai Airshow and when is it taking place? Running from November 17 to 21 at Dubai World Central (DWC), Dubai Airshow is the Middle East’s largest aerospace event. How many people visit Dubai Airshow? The Dubai Airshow is a biennial event and the last show took place in 2011 with 960 exhibitors and 56,548 attendees. This November we are expecting up to 60,000 attendees and 1,000 exhibitors. How is this year’s Dubai Airshow an improvement on the last Dubai Airshow? This year the Dubai Airshow moves to a new venue at Dubai World Central (DWC), Jebel Ali, Dubai. We are preparing for the 13th edition of the Dubai Airshow to be the biggest yet – making the move to the new venue
particularly well timed, as the exhibition space and footprint will now total 645,000sqm in size, making it more than double the size of the old site. The purpose built show site will offer a larger static park where up to 150 aircraft will be displayed, we will also have greater flexibility with the flying display itself as there are fewer flying restrictions, there will be improved media and catering facilities; along with three times more parking spaces than at the previous site. The venue is also very accessible as it is just 20 to 30 minutes’ drive from most key locations in Dubai, and 30 minutes from Abu Dhabi International Airport – thus making it truly central between both cities. What can visitors expect from the Dubai Airshow? The Dubai Airshow prides itself on providing the ideal platform and opportunity for the aerospace industry to meet
and connect with all the right people in one location. If you want to do business in the Middle East, and specifically in the aerospace industry, this show takes place once every two years, so it is an event not to be missed. Every sector of the industry is represented at the show and it provides unparalleled networking opportunities. Visitor registration is now open on our website: dubaiairshow.aero/register. Dubai Airshow has launched a dedicated area for the public called Skyview. Can you tell us more about that? Skyview will give families, enthusiasts and tourists the opportunity to enjoy the show’s world class flying display for the very first time. It will be held in a dedicated area next to the Dubai Airshow trade event from November 18 to 21, between 12pm and 6pm at Dubai World Central (DWC), Jebel Ali, Dubai. skyview.aero
Racing season begins The Racing season is upon us with Dubai Racing Club kicking off the racing calendar on November 7. Held at Meydan Grandstand and Racecourse, the season will see nine Thursday Races and 11 Dubai World Cup Carnival Races between November 2013 and March 2014, as preparation for the exciting Dubai World Cup on March 29, 2014. The events will showcase not only upcoming talent from the UAE and beyond but will also feature some of the finest horses, trainers and jockeys from around the world. The style stakes will also be high with the 60,000 spectators all stepping out in their smartest attire. dubaiworldcup.com
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villa romana_os PRINT.pdf
briefing
news mElbournE cup carnival
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EmiratEs airlinE is proud to bE thE principal partnEr of thE world-rEnownEd mElbournE cup.
Taking place on November 5, the Emirates Melbourne Cup is known as “the race that stops a nation” and is a public bank holiday in the Australian city. Held at the Flemington Racecourse, the event, which attracts crowds of more than 100,000 racegoers, is one of the world’s best-regarded thoroughbred races and always delivers an exhilarating spectacle for those watching. Fashion also plays a major role in the event with extravagant hats and eye-catching outfits. Tickets are available online from Ticketek from as little as AUS $74. For our interview with Victoria Racing Club’s chief executive officer, David Courtney, turn to page 30. melbournecup.com
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briefing
news NEW ROUTE: KIEV for pilgrims. The site itself contains many beautiful churches with glimmering gold domes and an intricate labyrinth of caves and tunnels that house the mummified bodies of monks of the Orthodox order.
KIEV fUNICUlaR RaIlWay
as ONE Of THE OlDEsT CITIEs IN EasTERN EUROPE, Kiev (officially
known as Kyiv) affords a heady mix of tradition and progress. The city offers clues to its harrowing history of kings and conquests and boasts resplendent modernity in its vibrant arts culture and diverse nightlife. Visitors won’t be lost for photo opportunities as the city’s many architectural styles deliver a feast for the eyes, from ornate churches to modernist ironwork statues.
KIEV PERCHERsK laVRa This monastery is one of one four lavra (most holy place) that remain in Ukraine. It is a World Heritage Site and is a popular destination
Connecting Mykhailivska Square in the historic old town to the newer Podil neighbourhood at the foot of the hill, the Kiev Funicular Railway was constructed in 1905 to carry passengers up and down the steep Volodymyrska Hill. While the journey may not be the most comfortable, the nostalgia and views of the city are definitely worth the trip and the 150-kopeck charge.
myKOla syaDRIsTy mICROmINIaTUREs mUsEUm A museum with a difference, this permanent display of work by the celebrated artist Mykola Sydristy is one to challenge your mind. All his artworks are in miniature form and this collection includes a gold chessboard created on the head of a pin and a rose inside a piece of human hair. The inconceivable artworks are viewed through microscopes to allow you to witness their exquisite detail.
maIDaN NEzalEzHNOsTI The capital’s main square is at the heart of Kiev life. It has numerous fountains and monuments and is the interchange of many main roads, creating a unique if chaotic meeting place. It would be hard to miss the statues dedicated to Kiev’s protectors as they tower over the square. The historic defender of the city, the Archangel Michael stands at one end and the modern female protector, the Slavic goddess Berehynia at the other.
HIDROPaRK Located on Venetian and Dolobetsk islands, this recreational park gives life to Kiev’s city beaches. Locals and visitors can enjoy water attractions, tennis courts, an outdoor gym and many other leisure facilities on the banks of the Dnieper River. For the more nocturnal, the beach boasts a nightclub and casino as well as a plethora of restaurants and cafes.
NEW ROUTES:
Sialkot: from November 5, 2013 Kabul: from December 4, 2013 Kiev: from January 16, 2014 Taipei: from February 10, 2014 Boston: from March 10, 2014
POPUlaTION: 2,847,200 laNgUagE: Ukrainian and Russian are widely spoken CURRENCy: Ukrainian Hryvnia ClImaTE: Humid continental HIsTORICal faCT: The world’s first constitution was created in Kiev in 1710, called Pacts and Constitutions of Rights and Freedoms of the Zaporizhian Army mOsT famOUs CITIzEN: Milla Jovovich, model and actress known for films The Fifth Element and Resident Evil WHaT Is KIEV famOUs fOR? Ukraine is rich in manganese ore, about 11% of all the deposits on earth DID yOU KNOW? Kievans are very reserved and it is impolite to chat loudly, point or wave one’s hands frenetically sTRaNgE faCT: The third most visited McDonald’s restaurant in the world is located near Kiev railway station Dubai to Kiev service from January 16, 2014
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briefing
Comfort
Wellness in the air
To help you arrive at your destination feeling relaxed and refreshed, Emirates has developed this collection of helpful travel tips. Regardless of whether you need to rejuvenate for your holiday or be effective at achieving your goals on a business trip, these simple tips will help you to enjoy your journey and time on board with Emirates today.
smart traveller
Drink plentY of Water Rehydrate with water or juices frequently. Drink tea and coffee in moderation.
travel lightlY Carry only the essential items that you will need during your flight.
Before Your JourneY Consult your doctor before travelling if you have any medical concerns about making a long journey, or if you suffer from a respiratory or cardiovascular condition. Plan for the destination – will you need any vaccinations or special medications? Get a good night’s rest before the flight. Eat lightly and sensibly.
Wear glasses Cabin air is drier than normal, therefore swap your contact lenses for glasses.
at the airport Allow yourself plenty of time for check-in. Avoid carrying heavy bags through the airport and onto the flight as this can place the body under considerable stress. Once through to departures try and relax as much as possible.
use skin moisturiser Apply a good quality moisturiser to ensure your skin doesn’t dry out.
keep moving exercise your lower legs and calf muscles. This encourages blood flow.
During the flight Chewing and swallowing will help equalise your ear pressure during ascent and descent. Babies and young passengers may suffer more acutely with popping ears, therefore consider providing a dummy. Get as comfortable as possible when resting and turn frequently. Avoid sleeping for long periods in the same position.
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make Yourself comfortaBle Loosen clothing, remove jacket and avoid anything pressing against your body.
When You arrive Try some light exercise, or read if you can’t sleep after arrival.
briefing
VISA & STATS Guide to us customs & immiGration Whether you’re travelling to, or through, the United States today, this simple guide to completing the US customs form will help to ensure that your journey is as hassle free as possible.
CUSTomS DEClArATIon Form
electronic system for travel authorisation (esta) If you are an international traveller wishing to enter the United States under the Visa Waiver Programme, You must apply for electronic authorisation (ESTA) up to 72 hours prior to your departure.
esta facts:
All passengers arriving into the US need to complete a Customs Declaration Form. If you are travelling as a family this should be completed by one member only. The form must be completed in English, in capital letters, and must be signed where indicated.
Children and infants require an individual ESTA. The online ESTA system will inform you whether your application has been authorised, not authorised or if authorisation is pending. A successful ESTA application is valid for two years, however this may be revoked or will expire along with your passport.
apply online at www.cbp.Gov/esta nationalities eliGible for the visa waiver*: Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Czech republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, latvia, liechtenstein, lithuania, luxemburg, malta, monaco, The netherlands, new Zealand, norway, Portugal, San marino, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom**
* subject to chanGe ** only british citizens qualify under the visa waiver proGramme.
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ROUTE MAP
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NEW ROUTES:
Sialkot: from November 5, 2013 Kabul: from December 4, 2013 Kiev: from January 16, 2014 Taipei: from February 10, 2014 Boston: from March 10, 2014
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route map
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DUBAI EMIRATES TOWERS, 14TH FLOOR, SHEIKH ZAYED ROAD P.O. BOX: 9055, DUBAI, UAE TEL: +971 4 330 4343 | FAX: +971 4 330 3993 contact@emiratesadvocates.com | www.emiratesadvocates.com ABU DHABI Tel: +971 2 6394446 auh@emiratesadvocates.com
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DIFC Tel: +971 4 4019562 difc@emiratesadvocates.com
WITH AFFILIATE OFFICES IN SAUDI ARABIA, QATAR, BAHRAIN, KUWAIT AND OMAN
FOR 24 HOUR LEGAL ASSISTANCE, PLEASE CALL +971 (50) 328 99 99
route map
Africa
Algiers Casablanca
Malta
Tunis
Tripoli
+5hrs
Larnaca +3.5hrs
Cairo
Dubai
+2hrs
+4hrs
GMT 0hrs
Dakar
Khartoum Kano
Conakry Abidjan
Djibouti Addis Ababa
Lagos Accra
Nairobi Entebbe ret o d l E +3hrs Luanda
Dar es Salaam
-3hrs
Lusaka +1hrs
Lilongwe
Harare
+3hrs
GMT +2hrs
Johannesburg
Cape Town
151
+4.5hrs
+3hrs
+1hrs
Durban
Open skies / nOvember 2013
+8hrs
+5hrs
+5.5hrs
the FLeet
Our fleet contains 209 planes made up of 197 passenger planes and 12 cargo planes
Boeing 777-300eR
Number of Aircraft: 90 Capacity: 354-442 Range: 14,594km Length: 73.9m Wingspan: 64.8m
Boeing 777-300
Number of Aircraft: 12 Capacity: 364 Range: 11,029km Length: 73.9m Wingspan: 60.9m
Boeing 777-200LR
Number of Aircraft: 10 Capacity: 266 Range: 17,446km Length: 63.7m Wingspan: 64.8m
Boeing 777-200
Number of Aircraft: 9 Capacity: 274-346 Range: 9,649km Length: 63.7m Wingspan: 60.9m
Boeing 777F
Number of Aircraft: 10 Range: 9,260km Length: 63.7m Wingspan: 64.8m For more information: emirates.com/ourfleet
152
Open skies / nOvember 2013
Airbus A380-800
Number of Aircraft: 40 Capacity: 489-517 Range: 15,000km Length: 72.7m Wingspan: 79.8m
Airbus A340-500
Number of Aircraft: 9 Capacity: 258 Range: 16,050km Length: 67.9m Wingspan: 63.4m
Airbus A340-300
Number of Aircraft: 4 Capacity: 267 Range: 13,350km Length: 63.6m Wingspan: 60.3m
Airbus A330-200
Number of Aircraft: 23 Capacity: 237-278 Range: 12,200km Length: 58.8m Wingspan: 60.3m
boeing 747-400erF
Number of Aircraft: 2 Range:9,204km Length: 70.6m Wingspan: 64.4m Aircraft numbers as of November 2013
153
Open skies / nOvember 2013
last look
Dubai
Emily Noorollahi 29, CrEativE DirECtor, EDDiE haNDmaDE, Dubai
I have lived in Dubai for seven years. I really appreciate the diversity – it opens your mind to new ideas and new ways of living. I come through Satwa a lot to pick up sample fabrics and tools. I love this area because you really can find anything here – and I mean anything. The shop owners are so friendly and helpful, and they all speak three to four languages, which I think is very cool. The area is also part of the original city, when it was still small, so you tend to find very old buildings and alleyways that you don’t necessary see in the more developed areas. I would say that there is a strong sense of androgyny in anything I wear. I love clean lines, structure and tailored pieces.
image: streetdxb.com
eddiehandmade.com
178
Open skies / august 2013
Discover Luxury
The largest selection of 19th Century French antiques in the region, 19th Century Antiques specializes in rare furniture, bronzes, paintings, clock sets, and vases of exceptional quality and taste.
JUMEIRAH EMIRATES TOWERS, BOULEVARD | DUBAI, UAE TEL: +971 4 3887000 FAX: +971 4 3887111 | WWW.19CENTURYANTIQUES.COM
cartier.com
calibre de cartier ChronogrAph 1904-Ch mC thE 1904-Ch mC, thE nEw AUtomAtiC winding ChronogrAph movEmEnt, wAs ConCEivEd, dEvElopEd And AssEmblEd by thE CArtiEr mAnUFACtUrE in thE grEAtEst wAtChmAking trAdition. this movEmEnt is EqUippEd with ingEnioUs systEms For Utmost prECision: A ColUmn whEEl to CoordinAtE All thE ChronogrAph FUnCtions, A vErtiCAl ClUtCh dEsignEd to improvE thE ACCUrACy oF stArting And stopping thE timing FUnCtion, A linEAr rEsEt FUnCtion, And A doUblE bArrEl to EnsUrE UnrivAllEd timEkEEping. 18k pink gold 42 mm CAsE, mEChAniCAl mAnUFACtUrE ChronogrAph movEmEnt, sElF-winding, CAlibrE 1904-Ch mC (35 jEwEls, 28,800 vibrAtions pEr hoUr, ApproximAtEly 48 hoUr powEr rEsErvE), CAlEndAr ApErtUrE At 6 o’CloCk, 18k pink gold oCtAgonAl Crown, silvEr opAlinE snAilEd diAl, gold FinishEd ChAmFErs. AlligAtor strAp.
From UAE: 800 CArtiEr (800-227 8437) oUtsidE UAE: +971 4 236 8345