quint magazine | issue 6 by quint

CONTENTS

DESIGN

MASTHEAD CONTRIBUTOR HIGHLIGHTS NEWS&PRODUCTS

ON IDEALISM AND DESIGN EDUCATION TEDx RAMALLAH - WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT TAYLOR DAVID AKA TWENTYONESQUARES THE WORK OF SAM GIBBONS RAFA JENN RAPHAËL VICENZI - MY DEAD PONY YAROSLAVA KLEPIKOVA PHOTOGRAPHY OBSERVING AYLA HIBRI ERICA SIMONE - INDIA JUSSI HELLSTEN ALI TAPTIK FILM THE DECLINE OF HOLLYWOOD POETRY, POLITICS & THE STAGE EVEN IF IT BLEEDS, WE STILL CAN’T KILL IT FASHION MENAGERIE IT ALL STARTED IN 1994 SNEAKERS OF THE MONTH IS FASHION ART? Le PRINTemps MUSIC JAZZY INTERVIEW ALL ABOUT WRIGGLY SCOTT MIXTAPE OLD&NEW ALBUM REVIEWS DOKKEN - BACK FOR THE ATTACK JAZZ SERIES JUNE RELEASES LITERATURE OF WORKSHOPS AND FICTION WRITING BIRTHDAYS I FELL TODAY AND SO WHEN EVEN YOUR SOUL HATES YOU DUMBDAY READING LIST EVENTS ADIDAS ORIGINALS DENIM LAUNCH ABSOLUT ARTICULATION EVENT REVIEWS & LISTINGS CHILL OUT FESTIVAL LAST CALL WHAT HAS BECOME OF IT

ARTWORK BY SAM GIBBONS

4 5 6 10 12 14 24 32 38 48 56 68 80 88 92 94 96 100 106 108 109 110 122 128 132 134 135 136 138 140 142 144 145 146 147 148 150 152 154 156 158

OUR NOTE FIRST AND FOREMOST, THANK YOU. YOU, ARE OUR READERS, OUR CONTRIBUTORS, OUR FAMILY, OUR FRIENDS, HAVE SUPPORTED QUINT MAGAZINE SINCE DAY ONE, AND WE ARE INCREDIBLY EXCITED TO SHARE WITH YOU OUR FIRST PRINT ISSUE. WE HOPE YOU WILL CONTINUE TO READ OUR MAGAZINE, CONTRIBUTE YOUR IDEAS, AND GRACE OUR PAGES. THE PAST FEW MONTHS HAVE BEEN A WHIRLWIND. WE WON A BRONZE AWARD AT DUBAI LYNX IN THE DESIGN CATEGORY; AN INCREDIBLE ACCOMPLISHMENT, ESPECIALLY CONSIDERING IT WAS OUR FIRST YEAR TO ENTER AND WE WERE COMPETING AMONGST THE BIGGEST AND BEST PLAYERS IN THE INDUSTRY. WE ALSO HAVE ACHIEVED SOMETHING WE’VE LOOKED FORWARD TO SINCE DAY ONE, AND THAT IS BRINGING YOU QUINT MAGAZINE IN PRINT.

quint magazine | issue 6 | June 2011 Editor in Chief Zaina Shreidi zaina@quintdubai.com Creative Director Gyula Deák gyula@quintdubai.com Designers Ritu Arya, Eszter Laki Photographers Pratha&Saty, Gyula Deak, Erica Simone, Ayla Hibri, Jussi Hellsten, Ali Taptik,Simone Sebastian, Sofia Byttebier Contributors Prank Moody, Trevor Bundus, Mohamed El Amin,Fares BouNassif, Wael X, Simone Sebastian, Zoya Pasha, Aya Atoui, Nabil Rashid, Siham Salloum This production and its entire contents are protected by copyright. No use or reprint (including disclosure) may be made of all or any part of this publication in any manner or form whatsoever without the prior written consent of quint. Views expressed in quint magazine do not necessarily represent the opinions of the editors or parent company. quint is published by and a trademark of quint FZ LLC.

SO, THANK YOU FOR INSPIRING US, AND THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING US.

Circulation: 10,000 Printed by:

ZAINA SHREIDI & GYULA DEAK

Distribution by

EDITOR IN CHIEF

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Partners

Contact hi@quintdubai.com Advertising advertising@quintmagazine.com quint HQ Suite 306, Tiffany Tower, Jumeirah Lakes Towers Dubai, UAE T: +971 4 447 5354

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CONTRIBUTOR HIGHLIGHTS

FARES BOUNASSIF

WAEL X

RITU ARYA

TREVOR BUNDUS

Fares writes so that he can stop itching to write, so that he can have something to look back to that reminds him of the path he took, the way things change. Spitting out little letters in a carefully designed process that culminates in a cacophony of words that could possibly create a symphony while maintaining the utter simplicity necessary for the youngest minds to enjoy.

Obsessed. That’s the best word to describe the 26-year-old Lebanese fashionista and music enthusiast. Wael’s love for music, fashion, arts and beauty is his primary drive in life and for all of his accomplishments. His journalistic ventures began at the age of 18 writing for a local Lebanese publication where he was in charge of the entertainment section. Being heavily involved in media, Wael also co-produced radio show segments in both Lebanon and New York and did representation for various artists. His fan website for the late Aaliyah (which ran from 2003 until 2007), was used by MTV as an official fan site and ranked at number 3 in the UK website listing at the time.

Ritu Arya draws inspiration from film, television, fashion, music, colours and people for her illustration and design work. Due to her hatred of the outdoors and sports, Ritu drew and danced since she was a wee child, and the former has brought her into the world of design and branding. Graduating with a degree in Visual Communications from AUS, Ritu drifted for a few months until landing a position at quint where her work and enthusiasm has been very well received. Her obsession with television shows and music will certainly cement her presence here. Keep an eye out for her work in quint magazine, and beyond.

Trevor is drawn to the stranger things of life, and prefers to champion objective individualism, through the spirit of man and brain. You can hear his preaching on all things musicical and poetic. He has no awards to date, no accomplishments, no humour and no character as he finds them too mainstream. You may find him in the dark alleys and dank stairwells hangin’ with his jin and tonic.

PRATHA & SATY

ZOYA PASHA

PRANK MOODY

Zoya is a Dubai-based British-Pakistani girl who woke up one morning and found herself in the midst of the PR world and living the Dubai lifestyle. An experienced writer for an award winning newspaper during her time at university she became editor of her own section. Quirky and slightly eccentric, she is a publicist with a flair for fashion and a dash of geekiness. Zoya is fast establishing herself within the Dubai scene with many projects in the pipeline. Follow her on Twitter @KeepingUpwithZ

Jim Jarmusch. Arrested Development. Miles Davis. Zepplin. Hendrix. The Wire. David Lynch. Tapas. Arsenal. Park Chan Woo. 70s DeNiro. Grunge. Muddy Waters. Pink Floyd. Vonnegut. Bukowski. Mary Jane. Woodstock 69. 69. Single Malt. Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. The Way of the Gun. Tarantino. Godard. Fellini. Audiard. 80’s John Woo. Palahniuk. Nietzsche. Californication. Saul Williams. Kurosawa. Takashi Miike. Joe Pesci. Jebneh ou Jambon. Natalie Portman. Nouvelle Vague. Blaxploitation. Twin Peaks. The Sopranos. Taquito. The Roots. My Peeps. Mi Familia. Film Noir. The Black Keys. Infinite Mayhem. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

And sometimes, occasionally, some of what he writes looks like it’s something someone else might want to know about.

SIMONE SEBASTIAN discoballbreaker (www.discoballbreaker. com) is the musical alter-ego of Simone Sebastian. Simone is a Dubai-based promoter, writer and culture vulture. If she isn’t thinking about music or art, she’s most probably thinking about wine. Follow her on Twitter (www.twitter.com/discobb)

Saty + Pratha: Saty Namvar and Pratha Samyrajah are photographers based in London. They work primarily in the fields of fashion and advertising, but have a great affinity for documentary photography. They are curious about the way people live their lives, are generally optimistic, and try never to turn down travel-related work.

MOHAMED EL AMIN

AYA ATOUI

NABIL RASHID

SIHAM SALLOUM

Mohamed El Amin is a grumpy 60yr old man trapped in the body of a 25yr old boy. Moe spends his time split between fantasizing about Captain America’s golden locks, Batman’s dreamy blue eyes, and cursing his future self for not sending his younger self a time machine so he could finally bugger off to Greenwich Village to hang out on 42nd street, and listen to Bob Dylan.

Born and raised in Dubai, on the 7th of March 1989, Aya Atoui, Lebanese and disgruntled, becomes a happy, happy photographer. Photographs aren’t just paper in the wind to her. No they are not. She spends her time thinking of all things nonsensical, like cottonballs, geese, windows and double rainbows. She knows for a fact that if she were to be involved in an unhappy casualty, she would very much like to reincarnate into one of the above four. But most preferably the happy absorbent puff we all know as the cottonball because it was what she wanted to be for Halloween last year. She is trying to keep it real, it seems to be working for her.

Growing up Nabil had one aim in life: to become a Ninja Turtle. Realizing it required grueling physical prowess to master nunchucks, he took to writing instead. On walls, carpets, the occasional dog, and sleeping siblings. Today he resorts to notepads. Many say it has gone downhill since then. You can follow him here: twitter.com/heyMojo and at heyymojo.tumblr.com

A food writer, an active blogger, a recent tweeter and a restaurant nitpicker - this adrenaline junkie and challenge scavenger graduated from one of Paris’ notorious culinary schools and forged through a slavery contract for the kitchen of a Michelin Star. She authored the blog thekitchenslave. wordpress.com, and as a corporate citizen, continues to market the culinary arts during the daytime.

news&products Hyper-Realistic NYC Street Scene Canal Street Cross-Section NYC down to a T. Incredibly patient artist Alan Wolfson constructed an insanely detailed miniature replica of Canal Street in NYC. If you’re a fellow detail, design, and Manhattan obsessed homosapien, these sculptures will have you constantly reacting to the wicked amount of attention he puts into every tiny detail in these mini-Manhattan wonderlands! Alan Wolfson has a great sensibility not just for recreating this commercial craze of a district, but also for providing his spectators with a certain sensation of isolation. Rendering commercially renowned districts isolated? Sounds like something you guys should be eyeballing for yourselves. www.alanwolfson.net

Haroshi Skateboard decks This dude doesn’t just deal with recyclables but also has his talent recycling itself to produce the same sheer talent with each of his sculptures over and over again! Haroshi is his name and recycled skateboard decks are his game. This selftaught artist stacks up the recycled boards into layers and meticulously carves each structure by hand. These sculptures will most definitely have you doing a double take! Especially since Haroshi had been inspired by the streets of New York to make full-scale sculptures and put them on the street as site specific art pieces. We are endlessly inspired by him, and his trippy recycled artwork. www.haroshi.com

DUCTAC Rotational Gallery

Metal Asylum

Metronomy: The English Riviera

DUCTAC, the Dubai Community and Arts Centre, is a very well known focus for Dubai’s artistic community. It ranges from offering classes on painting, free-hand drawing, sculpture and pottery to looking for new and upcoming artists. For any artists out in Dubai who are really keen on making their mark in the art scene, this is an interesting little hub you should be looking into. Which leads us to our headliner right here, the Rotational Gallery. This gallery is a new space that just launched at DUCTAC for the star artists of tomorrow to be given a chance to exhibit and sell their work. An amazing outreach to young talent from the great people at DUCTAC. www.ductac.org

Rockers galore! Metal Asylum just celebrated the launch of their second compilation on the 27th of May. Oh yes, f’real. It was bigger and better than ever! This earth shattering compilation gave the UAE’s growing musicians and bands a fair chance to have their music heard without any of the expense of paying for mixing. We were also very excited to hear that it was the first time that anyone has done a two CD compilation that featured only UAE and Middle Eastern underground rock and metal bands. Metal Asylum and their metallic opportunities never cease to impress. Needless to say, rock on! www.myspace.com/ metal_asylum_uae

In other flabbergasting news, Metronomy released a new album on the 14th of April entitled The English Riviera. What? Yes! If you haven’t treated yourself to this band’s senseless sounds you better get on it! The album, although much different than their previous ones, revolves around a very fantastical approach in portraying the English Riviera through Joseph Mount’s perceptiveness for groove and melancholia. Simply beautiful. We promise that this sorrowful and idyllic album will not fail you. The first time we heard it, our hearts plummeted and we had waves of pretty gushing all through us like a thousand fractals that were eating up our atoms until we ceased to exist. Intense.

www.metronomy.co.uk

Incase for Andy Warhol You’ve got Warhol on your case! Nothing defines pop culture more than mashing up today’s Macintosh craze with the perceptive Mr. Warhol’s artwork. Incase and the Andy Warhol Foundation have collaborated to give you super awesome cases and bags for your Macbooks, iPhones and iPads! An interesting comment on art as a consumer item? We think so! www.goincase.com/collections/andy-warhol

The Typescreen For all you hipsters trying to reconcile your fondness for Apple with your nostalgia, The Typescreen is your saving grace. Be tech-trendy and yet a far cry from the mainstream. This playful gadget has got us ooo-ing and aaa-ing at its multifunctional intention from texting and web browsing to just a plain and simple provided sense of remembering things that we miss. It is whimsical, nostalgic and oh so obscure. I mean what better feeling is there than to be just that much chicer than everyone else with their iPads at Starbucks? Exactly. www.spinninghat.com/product/typescreen

Maison Binoclette Spruce up your Apple with these little spectacles. Fanetter Gilloud and Alexis Facca joined forces to craft these happy little sticker glasses to give the little apple on your Mac a nerd-chic style of its very own. Maison Binoclette has styles that vary in shape, design, and colour so your Apple can be a chic little fashionista one day and a classic Buddy Holly the next! Not only will you be able to reflect your style as an individual but your little Apple will do it for you when you’re not around.

Are you a total gamer geek? Want to prep up your style in the kitchen while holding a super hot tray of let’s say, mac and cheese? Then you should be sinking your hands into these pixilated oven mitts. These super cool mitts are as functional as they are awesome, and will protect your gamer hands against the harshest kitchen dangers. Also, talk about fiddling with your perception of reality, pixilated hands on a real-life body. A fly geek with a fashion statement and a hot tray of readymade yumsicles! Why not? www.perpetualkid.com/ pixel-oven-mitts.aspx

www.maisonbinoclette.com

Sagemcom Sixty Cordless Rotary Phone This wacky little item right here is a rotary phone… gone digital! With super modern design and technology, the Sagemcom Sixty Cordless Rotary Phone is pretty, sleek and a true win-win! It’s got a variety of 10 flippin’ ringtones, a wireless handset and a range of up to 300 metres. On the flipside, it’s also still got its retro kinks. The dial-up buttons have that comforting click we all may (or may not) remember. Yes, techsavvy and nostalgic all at once. www.sagemcom.com/

QT Van (Carbon Neutral Caravan) We are design geeks. We admit it, we embrace it. And so it should come as no surprise that this is on every one of our ever-growing wishlists. Some day you will hear of the quint team cruising down SZR on our Vespas and these babies attached to the back. Yep, it’s the world’s smallest carbon neutral caravan. Do you see just how amazing this is? It’s like a house, but small, really small, and light enough to hook to the backs of scooteres. Not only that, but it’s carbon neutral. See? Mother Earth needs for us to have these! www.eta.co.uk

news&products find them in

Moshi Moshi Pop Phones Moshi Moshi! Yes, is this Native Union? Yeah we would really love to place an order for your colour assortment of the Moshi Moshi Pop Phone that you so willingly made for our iPads™, iPhones™, BlackBerrys®, Macs and really any crazy gizmo we possess! This Pop Phone makes us happy because of its classic look with a contemporary edge. It also has a gorgeous soft textured finish to it. With a little adaptor for the many, many different types of phones you possess Pop Phones keep you comfortable and stylish while chatting on Skype using any of your little gadgets. Yet again, nostalgia and technology have come together, and the result is oh-so-cute. www.nativeunion.com/hk/ wiredproducts/popphone.html

500 XL The 500XL is a whimsical little idea for taking the puny, original earphones you use for your iPods and making them 500 times the size for your computer! And there’s more to it… After all, these speakers aren’t this huge, only to produce silly, puny sounds. The 500XL includes a built-in amp and 3-way power! It also connects to your computer via a USB cord, or can even run on batteries. These babies are bigger, better, louder and are designed to inject some fun into your day as you blast your music from a much more powerful set of “earphones”. Sometimes it’s true that bigger is better. www.worldwidefred.com/500xl.htm

MOGO Charm These young lady bracelets can be personalised with cute little letter charms that hold on for dear life to your magnetic bracelet. Each charm-band has 8 magnetic placeholders. The best part is you can match your accessories with your mood every day! Play around with the colours and shapes, and never get bored with this fun take on accessorizing. www.mogocharm.com

Oclock Watches We love these bright, colourful time-telling wrist huggers! Manufactured in Italy, these little guys come in an overwhelming mishmash of colors, from your gorgeous pastel shades to shades with more “pop”, not to mention that they are also water-resistant. The round faces have a modern kick to them because of their white on white hour and minute hands. We wouldn’t mind watching the century turn on this little helper! And the best part is they come in all the quint colours! Pick up a bunch at your favourite Virgin Megastore. www.oclock-usa.com

Jambox by Jawbone We are into anything stylish and compact that holds a punch. The Jambox speaker from Jawbone will definitely transform your space into one fit for a party. The sound flowing out of this baby is one to be described as nothing short of mind (ear?) blowing. Great right? But that’s not all… This isn’t just any speaker, it’s wireless and yes, it has Bluetooth! Jambox also has two tweeters and one woofer to give you the healthy, happy dose of woofing subs that you would like to experience in one compact, and quite stylish, package. www.jawbone.com

DESIGN

THIS IS NOT A BOOK REVIEW. THE REVIEW YOU CAN FIND IN OUR READING LIST. IT IS NOT ABOUT A BOOK EITHER.THIS IS ABOUT THE CENTRAL THEMES OF THE BOOK, AND HOW I RELATE TO THEM. IN A SENSE, THIS IS A COMMENTARY ON THE TITLE AND THESES OF THAT BOOK.

The book is The World Must Change: Graphic Design and Idealism. That it was published by the Sandberg Institute in the Netherlands gives away much of why it is Dutch-centric, but that is no disadvantage to the work: Dutch design was in fact central to the evolution of the discipline. Education springs up prominently in the breadth of the book, alongside economic, social, and political history, giving birth to the writings of everyone who interacted heavily and regularly with the artistic movements, especially those centred in Holland. Giving a bird’s eye view and a personal account on how and why people did what they did, using excerpts from interviews or otherwise interacting directly with the individuals, the bulk of the text examines the reasoning behind how (and why) the ideal was such a driving force for the designer; how, in some cases, the designer embodied the idea – the movement was the ideal. Understanding such intensities brings us to understand how and why the marriage of the two eventually fades. But that’s not what’s essential here. The third and last essay is entitled “An Ideal Design Is Not Yet”. Explaining how the mass culture industry of production and manufacturing kills the precepts of modernism, destroys the original product, replacing it with the original reproduction. It brings about the need for the reversal of roles, for the designer to bring about a more astute activity, and create a designed world that is more tangible, more effective, and more concerned. (Self-)criticism and a desire to reconnect, not just decorate, information for/with an audience is essential for this to succeed. Here is where the ultimate deficiency in design education surfaces. Designers are taught to decorate, with purpose. They are taught that function comes before form, but form is equally important (am I the only one that sees the paradox in that statement?). These are fine and good starts to an education in design. But then, they are taught to conceptualise a problem, not connect with it. They are taught expedience, not efficiency. And on and on it drags, until criticism flies out the window and thoughtfulness takes a back seat, bringing back vagueness (not just ambiguousness) into design. This is where education should be reformed: to bring together the idea that the designer must know the material as well as the editor knows his writers’ work, for that is what the designer does: he edits the message to bring it to the public, to the masses.

To find that synergy between writer and designer and define it as a discipline of its own: to give education to the role of the designer as editor and the design writer who is not primarily a designer; this would enhance, re-idealise design and would expand the message, define it, and allow it to be seen. It would take a step further from designer as author, since the designer is not really an author. Yes, designers can speak with a voice of their own and deliver a message, but they are, in fact, only redressing and improving the message that they have been asked to deliver (even if the asker is their own alter ego). And thus educational models mould into failed experiments and thoughts on design bring about the idealism of the beginnings of the last century. Only then can true intellectual experimentation come back into design and allow for something exceptional to happen. Then again, the idea here is not to separate the designer from the design theorist: they are one and the same. The designer has a set of acquired skills that allow her to develop an idea that she had, while wearing her theorist hat, composed and connected. Or maybe it was her creative director who was the theorist and she developed the idea. And criticised it, or gave it to other creatives for scrutiny. Mostly, what comes to mind is much larger than educational restructuring, since that would not completely rectify the death of the idea. There is a tension that is unmistakably tangible between the designer and the theorist, a tension as vivid as that found in the work of Wim Crouwel and Massimo Vignelli. It is that tension that must be satisfied, somehow someway. The potential of the graphic theorist to enhance the work of the graphic artisan is beyond recognisable, while the tendency of the designer to dismiss the idea is all too common; pretending that designers always find a concept to base their work on is optimistic at best. Giving in to the rush of producing work for a client that has no idea is acceptable, at times. Depending on the context and the nature of the work. But forgiving it as part of the job and making it a permissible form of behaviour is the problem today. It is the inconsistency in comprehending the lack of idealism in graphic design that I crave to dismantle and compensate for, and that a book like The World Must Change inspires one to ponder.

DESIGN

Ramallah

Ready. Aim. Inspire TEDxRamallah & quint are very proud to announce LANA JUDEH as the winner of the Palestine Stories Art & Design Competition! The Palestine Stories & Design Competition invited talented designers, illustrators, filmmakers and animators from all over the world to showcase their perspectives on our Palestine Stories embodied in visual context. Thank you Lana for your involvement and your beautiful artwork! We look forward to working with TEDxRamallah and the very talented artists in the region again very soon! 12

WINNER

ANNOUNCEMENT

DESIGN

What is twentyonesquares™ and what is your role in it? twentyonesquares™ is my freelance alias. It’s my full time company that any creative work gets filtered under. I came up with the name in college and it has evolved many times throughout the years. I was 21 years old when I birthed the name (also my favourite number) and as for ‘squares’ well I see that as the basic building block for good grid design. So not much to it actually. twentyonesquares™ - our moonwalk approach to organic creative communication spreads ideas for environmental awareness. We use green design to create beautiful artwork to generate a socially and ecologically responsible message. How does nature influence your work? I love the ocean, beach and sea life. I’m huge into wildlife. I don’t know what it is about it that drives me but I feel very connected to it. When the opportunity arises that I can incorporate that into my work, the final product becomes effortless. What is your specialty? (ie. Print design, Illustration, Branding, Typography, etc.) I love all of the above. I can’t really decide between them what my speciality is. I think I’m equally well rounded as a creative designer and artist.

Do you see a future in print design or do you think everything will become digital eventually? I think with the launch of the iPad things are really going to start shifting. Print will still be around for a while and will always be around to a degree. But because companies are going green and more people are earth conscious, it will come to the point where everything is digital. There will still be a need for some print, but things like high volume publications such as magazines and newspapers will definitely be digital. Doing it this way can also introduce motion graphics, live news casts and commercial ads into the pages. What is your approach to get new clients in? A lot is referral and word of mouth. I haven’t advertised. My site gets a lot of attention and I can usually pull in new business just from that alone. But I’ve had web presence for about 7 or 8 years now. So that is also key.

How did you get into design?

Do your clients understand your work? Do you have a hard time with them?

I studied illustration & design in college. After having graduated I started taking small design jobs and then started my own business. I eventually took my skill abroad and worked in Australia where my style and skill really matured.

For the most part its easy but every now and then you’ll come across a client that just doesn’t get it and is difficult to work with. So you have to come up with creative and clever ways to work your vision but at the same time make them

happy. The last thing you want to do is cave and do exactly what they want, when you know that what they want is completely wrong. You don’t want to compromise your skill and reputation just because your client wants to art direct. You’ll have to pull some savvy and etiquette to bring your client gracefully in the direction you know is correct. Do you have the time to work on your own projects, or is it only commissioned work? I haven’t done anything for myself in a long time. I have all these ideas and plans but never get around to it. Once I get a larger studio work space I know I’ll find the time and motivation. Your favourite piece of work? Don’t have one. Each one carries different baggage. It is very tough to choose from my favourites. Its like asking parents which of their kids they like the best. Any last words? Making things beautiful since 1980. www.21squares.com www.twentyonesquares.com www.taylordavid.ca

DESIGN

DESIGN Sam Gibbons grew up with an infatuation with cartoons and comic books. His work is as sumptuous as it is whimsical. The level of dedication and talent is apparent in every piece, and draws you in time and again. Returning to his work and finding something new every time is exhilarating. The themes he explores, the very uniqueness of his technique, and the nostalgic emotions the work evokes ensures Sam’s incredible work is arresting, and incredibly entertaining, all at once. How long have you been an artist, and how has your work developed over time? I have always had an interest in cartoons, art, and comics. From a young age I thought that I wanted to be a comic book artist or an animator. Once I entered college I began to see the possibilities of cartooning in fine art. I guess professionally speaking though I began my career as an artist once I graduated from grad school in 2006. It seems my work has always utilized cartoons in some way. As a young person I would copy images from comics or try to draw my own comics. As I got older and became more interested in art I would tend to emulate artists that I admired like Philip Guston, Peter Saul, and Takashi Murakami. Over the duration of my time in school I began to cultivate my own style of painting--largely using cartoonlike characters, landscapes, and objects. What is your process for these magnificent 3D works? I always start off with a drawing on paper. I will then transfer the outline of the finished drawing to a larger piece of wood panel. The outline of the drawing is cut out of the wood panel using a jigsaw. The panel is primed and prepared for painting. Once I transfer the drawing to the larger panel I then begin the painting process. Tell us about your technique. Is your work hand-made or digital, or a mix? Everything is hand made. The initial drawing for the piece is done freehand. When I get to the painting part of the process I use multiple thin layers of acrylic paint so that the piece maintains a smooth surface. What sort of materials and tools do you use? I use acrylic paints. Round and liner brushes. ¾ inch wood panels with wood mounting braces. Mechanical jigsaw. What do you draw inspiration from? The ideas for paintings can be influenced by a number of things including: art history, animated cartoons, comics, literature, personal history, politics, etc. I have always had a love for Looney Tunes episodes directed by Chuck Jones. At the same time though I am a big fan of the etchings of Francisco Goya. I also enjoy graphic novels by people such as Daniel Clowes, Peter Bagge, and Charles Burns. What influences you? There seem to be a lot of themes of psychedelia and even some social statements in your work... is that true and was that what you meant to communicate? I have always had an appreciation for psychedelic rock posters and I think that has stayed with me over the years. The kaleidoscopic effect of some of my paintings is obviously reminiscent of some of the ideas in psychedelic art. I do enjoy the ideas involved with that culture and the playful quality of the art. The social commentary in some of my paintings stems from some of the places where I draw my influence. Politics, personal history, and societal ideas all impact my life and a lot of the time I find them influencing my work. It is hard to live in our current world without society having some impact on what you create. I generally don’t set out to make large grandiose social statements but if you look at the catalog of my work you would definitely see some that could be considered as making comments on society. What is your connection to old cartoons? I grew up loving cartoons of all time periods. When I started incorporating cartoons in my work I was thinking a lot about issues of innocence. The older cartoons, to me, seemed to embody this idea more than cartoons of any other era. I was also thinking about ideas in art history and playing that off of the history of cartooning. I liked the idea that these particular types of cartoons encapsulate something that is truly unique to American cartoon and art history. Since graduating with an MFA from Hunter College in NYC in 2006, Sam has had solo exhibitions in NYC (Claire Oliver Gallery), Connecticut (Real Art Ways) and The New Britain Museum of American Art. His work has been shown all over the world, including in the current exhibition “The Emergence of the Pop Imagist” in Venice, Italy. Sam lives in Baltimore, Maryland with his wife where he maintains a studio. If you are lucky enough to be in NYC this December, be sure to visit Sam’s solo show at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery. You can also check out his work at: www.samgibbons.net

DESIGN

With a penchant for design, Rafa Jenn employs the fashionable and the kitsch with a wink of the eye. From urban culture, to exotic animals, to racy pin-up girls, his work is at once whimsical and elegant. In his most notable work, Rafa Jenn reconstructs iconic imagery, such as DaVinci’s Mona Lisa, Warhol’s Marilyn, and Lucas’ Darth Vader by implementing rhythmic patterns and penetrating color schemes. www.rafajenn.com

DESIGN

g RaphaĂŤl Vicenzi is an illustrator livin n in Brussels, Belgium. He has bee featured in Illustration Now, The Beautiful, Digital Arts Magazine and many other books and magazines. He is represented by Colagene. Check out more of his work at www.mydeadpony.com

DESIGN

email : gopi@digitalworldprinting.com

DESIGN

As is apparent in her arresting, lush paintings, Jara is very inspired by Asia, specifically Japan, although she has never been there. Her work in advertising led her to painting contemporary urban cities with billboards, signs and inscriptions, which have become common themes in her work. The cities she depicts are not real; they are more urban, and look more like decorative canvases than actual buildings and streets. Having never been to Japan, she finds inspiration from pictures online. This may be to her advantage because, as she says, “The natural comprehension of real life makes it difficult to dream about. In this case my Japan differs from the real one as a dream differs from a fact.” She depicts the worlds of her own imagination. Anything is possible in her dream world. Space slightly distorts and things can be moved any way she likes. Often her pictures are coded with messages that could help the viewer discover the plot. When asked of her inspiration, she explains that it is similar to the way we look for our favourite radio stations. She scans through the images in her head and chooses the ones she needs. Strangely, she works while listening to various talk shows. The do the talking, so her consciousness is left to dream. Enjoy more of Jara’s work at www.colormolor.com

DESIGN

PHOTOGRAPHY

She describes her blog, a collection of photographic posts with no captions, as “a visual diary of my goings and comings, of a lola chase. unedited, imperfect, nothing much to say.”

PHOTOGRAPHY | AYLA HIBRI A uniquely vibrant woman who appears to perpetually walk around with her camera in hand, digital or analogue, disposable or otherwise, recording every interesting sight and scene, Ayla Hibri attracts a diversity of content and tonality in her work that is not common among local and regional photographers. She has managed, in the brief time she’s spent away from architecture, to record all of Beirut, of Lebanon, numerous aspects of her travels, and her current world in Chicago. Can you just please give me a brief idea of what sort of photography you do? I’ve been all over your blog and I can’t pinpoint anything. My photographic works range from documenting the banality and melancholy of everyday life, to the beauty in the extremely obvious and, sometimes, the blunt harsh reality of things. How long have you been photographing? What got you started? I fell in love with disposable cameras five years ago while studying interior architecture at the Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts (ALBA). I started documenting my nights and my days with disposable cameras. I ended up taking all the photography classes my university had to offer before completely dropping architecture. I began travelling around with my camera around my neck. I am currently finishing up my masters in photography at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The devotion she has extended towards photography is clearly reflected in the quality she gives to the “melancholy”, creating a world through her lens that sparks ingenuity and contrasts the dead and poor with a richness and liveliness that destructs traditional stereotypes and opens up discourse on otherwise invisible social matter. From the old, the desolate, the forgotten, the everyday, the nostalgic, the empty, and the natural, Ayla’s work is most present in the detail she subtly brings to the foreground of even her most unintentional creations, reminding us of all that we see often and never truly notice. Pictures of people in malls, of old and lonely women, of crowded cities, of poverty and colourful cultures, of green and mechanised landscapes, of humanity’s invasion of nature, and of late-night mundanity highlight her desire to paint her surroundings with colour and light. What direction are you taking it now? How would you like to see yourself in the coming years, photographically speaking? I cannot wait to put to use what I have learned and experienced over the past three years, there is a tornado of ideas in my head, Lebanon will be my canvas, and then hopefully, I will expand into documenting what our region has to offer through projects and book ideas I have in mind. I want to portray our part of the world as we know it and love it. Outside of photography, Ayla has joined the ranks of Lebanese art DJs like graphic designer and indie DJ Ritchie and the multitude of emerging indie and experimental electronic musicians in her local art scene. A part of the blog Beirut Chicago Express, she joins Georges and Ritchie in endorsing and promoting Lebanese and regional indie music to the world at large and local communities. Playing music that is as intensely rich as her visual compositions, she seems to reflect her photography in her music. Or maybe she observes more of the world she documents with her lens while she helps define the soundtrack to the hipster world in which she so easily finds a home. With her short sabbatical outside of Lebanon, and her regular return to the city she loves, Ayla has been developing a solid depth in her work that has yet to mature into a complete voice. After her return from Chicago, with the many ideas she proclaims, there is still much more to be seen from this talented and passionate artist with a lens, the work she’s completed so far being only a short sample of what could become a comprehensive reflection of Lebanese society.

PHOTOGRAPHY | AYLA HIBRI

PHOTOGRAPHY

Having divided her life between Los Angeles, Paris and New York City, you can now find Erica either hopscotching around the world, shooting fashion, people, documentary and fine art, or in NYC growing her way through the concrete jungle. Her work has been published in magazines such as National Geographic, PHOTO, Whitewall, Resource, Clam, among others and she has won a number of awards for her work. She is currently working on a project called “Nue York: Self-Portraits of a Bare Urban Citizen” and on producing her first book “A Greater Hope: Portraits from a Rural Cambodian Orphanage”. Check out her blog chronicling her volunteer trip to Cambodia: http://projectkidsincambodia.blogspot.com And see more of her work at www.ericasimone.com

PHOTOGRAPHY | ERICA SIMONE - INDIA

PHOTOGRAPHY

featured photographer

HOW MANY YEARS HAVE YOU BEEN A PHOTOGRAPHER? WAS THIS SOMETHING YOU’VE ALWAYS BEEN INTERESTED IN AS A HOBBY? HOW HAS THIS INTEREST DEVELOPED OVER TIME?

HOW HAS YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY DEVELOPED OR CHANGED OVER TIME? HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR STYLE? WHAT DO YOU THINK MAKES IT PARTICULARLY YOURS?

I started photographing 8 years ago. I already had this very basic compact-digital camera (Canon A40) before that, but I only took snaps with it. I had always been more interested in videographics and editing and wanted to start studying that too. But I got myself into this year-long course of photography before that to learn some basics of creating images by the “laws of art”. Compositing and so on. After that I did my studies in television and cinema, but the passion for photography stayed with me. So no, I’ve not always been into it, but once I got interested, I got sucked in entirely. Nowadays I try to develop my skills and photograph as much as possible. I’m a full-time video-editor but I also have my own photography company. I once said: “Photography is a good hobby but a bad full-time job because you lose the passion for it”. Guess I’m trying to find that out.

I used to have this belief that a really good photo cannot be heavily retouched in post-work. I had the mentality of an old camerasociety-member that an image must already be perfect when you take it. So what I did in post were just some minor corrections into curves or color balance. Well, the result was that the pictures didn’t always look that interesting. I could say that it was my iPhone that changed my beliefs or habits. I do like to use these readymade filters, presets, actions or apps, but they all start to look the same very quickly – the end result starts to repeat itself. On a holiday some time ago I used my old Canon IXUS compact more than my DSLR, because again it was so easy to carry around. Afterwards I wasn’t satisfied with how the pictures looked and I started creating my own retro lo-fi look with shifted colors, light-leaks, heavy vignetting and blurred edges. And because the camera itself had its restrictions I was mentally allowed to make them more interesting afterwards. Like when I’m shooting with my DSLR, I was more stressed that I had to make the picture perfect when I take it. So that’s what has changed after that - the whole process of how I take the photo and how I edit it. Now I think the picture from the camera is more like a canvas where I start to paint. Of course the canvas itself has to be good, but to make it perfect I’m allowed to play around with it afterwards.

WHAT ARE THE MAIN SUBJECTS OF YOUR PHOTOGRAPHS? I love photographing people in a documentary way. I’m not that good with instructing people how to pose but I’m trying to get better with that. So documenting events, like weddings and live music gigs feel most comfortable for me and that’s what I like to do also. With my photos and editing I try to express the mood as I felt it. WHAT KIND OF CAMERA(S) DO YOU USE? DO YOU PREFER ANALOG OR DIGITAL? My first camera was digital, but I quickly switched to an analog film camera and learned the basics of photography with it. Currently my main camera is Canon 5D mark II, but I more often use my smaller Panasonic Lumix GF1, which is amazing, because it’s so small - it’s very easy to keep with me all day, every day. And with RAW capability, suburb image quality it’s an awesome little beast. I like the different look and feel of the images from different kinds of cameras. So I could say that I don’t prefer any specific technique and I choose my tool with the purpose. Sometimes I use my plastic Holga or Diana F+, 35mm old Pentax and of course iPhone with different apps. For after-shoot work I use mainly Adobe Lightroom. I could say it’s my personal manifest not to take the photos into Photoshop. I do play a lot with colors and hue, but even then I still don’t want to manipulate the photos. Some things I have to do with Photoshop, but I try to keep it minimal. One of the biggest changes was when I switched from Photoshop to Lightroom.

ARE YOU INFLUENCED BY OTHER PHOTOGRAPHERS OR ARTISTS? IS THERE ANYONE WHO HAS REALLY INSPIRED YOU TO PURSUE PHOTOGRAPHY? Some photographers say that they don’t follow at all what happens in the field of photography, or they don’t get inspiration from any other photographer. The truth is, I might not even know that I get influenced by someone or something, because we see so many photos around us everyday. So yeah, I do check the adverts in magazines, street posters and product packaging etc. Of course there is a long list of photographers that I admire and I do keep a track of their work. Finnish photographers like Kaapo Kamu, Perttu Saksa, Kai Kuusisto, Kerttu Malinen (to name few) and very interesting young British photographers like Rosie Hardy, Samuel Bradley and Kane Longden. There’s something magical in British indie cinema and photography that really entices me. Most of my inspiration comes from fashion photography. It’s something I would like to do someday, maybe. While editing the photos I like to listen music. The influence might not be very concrete, but I like to think that I’m able to create nice flow with it.

DO YOU CARRY YOUR CAMERA CONSTANTLY OR DO YOU DEDICATE A CERTAIN TIME TO ONLY TAKING PHOTOGRAPHS? Some time ago I used to carry my DSLR with me. When time passed, the fewer the occasions when I took it with me just for fun. For a time I had only my iPhone with me, but the image quality was not always good enough, especially in the evening, or in the dark wintertime. Of course it’s better than nothing and it has changed the way people think and experience taking photos. So I invested in the best compact size camera on the market - the Panasonic Lumix GF1 - and I’ve been more than satisfied with it. I have it with me always. WHAT ARE YOUR FAVOURITE SUBJECTS? WHAT DO YOU ABSOLUTELY LOVE TO TAKE PHOTOGRAPHS OF? When I’m on assignment most of my photos consist of people which is nice, because I love photographing people. But when I’m photographing just for fun, I usually take photos of buildings and nature and connecting between them. WHAT KIND OF TECHNIQUES DO YOU LIKE TO UTILISE, AND HAVE YOU LEARNED THEM OVER TIME OR DID THEY ARISE FROM EXPERIMENTATION? I do like to experiment and try to find new tricks to use when I need them. Right now I’m fixated on trying to make my photos look as authentically analog as possible. Another thing I’m working on is black and white processing. The past year I’ve begun spectating, especially at movies and their color grading, with new eyes. Most of the films nowadays are shot in digital and the same thing is going on there also - they try to make the digital look like analog. Check out Jussi’s work here: Portfolio: http://www.zomg.fi Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jussihellsten Blog: http://jussihellsten.tumblr.com

PHOTOGRAPHY - JUSSI HELLSTEN

PHOTOGRAPHY

With a plethora of exhibitions, projects and books to this name, Ali Taptik has accomplished a great deal in his 28 years. And he shows no signs of slowing down. He is currently working on his master’s thesis in the History of Architecture as well as “Nothing Surprising”, the second volume in a series of novels, which started with “Kaza ve Kader”. “Nothing Surprising” centers itself around the theme of crisis and resistance in an urban context. His first project “remembering me” was a mélange of autobiographical photos contrasted with urban landscape stills from Istanbul in an attempt to recreate a personal history. Starting with this project, most of Taptik’s work was on narratives about the city as well as the relationship between the city and the individual. His second series “Kaza ve Kader” (Accident and Fate) is about “interconnected frames of the experience of accumulated urban realities, it is about the relationships, places, people, emotions and coincidences”. This series could be considered his initial journey into blurring the lines between the simulacra and the written word, questing for a new hybrid where the images come together to go beyond some didactic document and make a play for prose. A narrative where the relationship between the intimate and the social is one of the key elements. With “Familiar Strangers”, a series about the urban structure and the relationship of the subjects of the city with their environment, Taptik continued his work on his hometown. His work was recently shown at Cuadro Gallery at DIFC in Dubai, UAE. For more information please visit www.cuadroart.com/en/artists/taptik-ali.html To view more of his work, please visit www.alitaptik.com Ali Taptık is represented by x-ist, Istanbul.

PHOTOGRAPHY - ALI TAPTIK

FILM

Hollywood is not the powerhouse it once used to be. They are in decline, not quantitatively but qualitatively. The fact that there is a fi5th Fast and the Furious movie sums it all up. I mean why has Paul Walker haD FIve opportunities to be on screen? Has Hollywood run out of ideas? The decline is quintessentially qualitative in nature. Their most prolIFIc decade of quality output was the 70s. During this decade directors such as Kubrick, Lumet, Coppolla, Scorcese, Cassavettes, Lucas, Altman and Friedkin, all highly cine literate and iNFLUenced by European Cinema, especially French Nouvelle Vague, directed some of the best fiFILms of all time. Now I will not sit here and go through the fiFIlms individually (as much as I would love to) but instead I have found the best picture nominees for each year in the 70s and each year in the Noughties (2000) so that you may see for yourself the exponential decline in quality cinema. I hope many of you have had the privilege of being able to see these ffiilms of the 70s. If not, then I suggest that if you watch the FILMS on this list, you yourself will be able to identify the decline of Hollywood. Subsequently if you disagree then all you have to do is wait until next year for the next great Justin Lin masterpieceâ&#x20AC;Ś. Fast and the Furious 6.

1970 PATTON AIRPORT FIVE EASY PIECES LOVE STORY MASH

1971 THE FRENCH CONNECTION A CLOCKWORK ORANGE FIDDLER ON THE ROOF THE LAST PICTURE SHOW NICHOLAS AND ALEXANDRA 1972 THE GODFATHER CABARET DELIVERANCE THE EMIGRANTS SOUNDER 1973 THE STING AMERICAN GRAFFITI CRIES AND WHISPERS THE EXORCIST A TOUCH OF CLASS 1974 THE GODFATHER PART II. CHINATOWN THE CONVERSATION LENNY THE TOWERING INFERNO 1975 ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST

BARRY LYNDON DOG DAY AFTERNOON JAWS NASHVILLE 1976 ROCKY ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN BOUND FOR GLORY NETWORK TAXI DRIVER 1977 ANNIE HALL THE GOODBYE GIRL JULIA STAR WARS THE TURNING POINT 1978 THE DEER HUNTER COMING HOME HEAVEN CAN WAIT MIDNIGHT EXPRESS AN UNMARRIED WOMAN 1979 KRAMER VS. KRAMER ALL THAT JAZZ APOCALYPSE NOW BREAKING AWAY NORMA RAE

2000 GLADIATOR CHOCOLAT CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON ERIN BROCKOVICH TRAFFIC 2001 A BEAUTIFUL MIND GOSFORD PARK IN THE BEDROOM

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING

MOULIN ROUGE!

2002 CHICAGO GANGS OF NEW YORK THE HOURS THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS THE PIANIST 2003 THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING LOST IN TRANSLATION MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD

MYSTIC RIVER SEABISCUIT

2004 MILLION DOLLAR BABY THE AVIATOR FINDING NEVERLAND RAY SIDEWAYS 2005 CRASH BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN CAPOTE GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK MUNICH 2006 THE DEPARTED BABEL LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE THE QUEEN 2007 NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN ATONEMENT JUNO MICHAEL CLAYTON THERE WILL BE BLOOD 2008 SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON FROST/NIXON MILK THE READER 2009 THE HURT LOCKER AVATAR THE BLIND SIDE DISTRICT 9 AN EDUCATION INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS

PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL “PUSH” BY SAPPHIRE

A SERIOUS MAN UP UP IN THE AIR

2010 THE KING’S SPEECH BLACK SWAN THE FIGHTER INCEPTION THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT 127 HOURS THE SOCIAL NETWORK TOY STORY 3 TRUE GRIT WINTER’S BONE

FILM

With interests and passions that span theatre, literature, Reiki, Feldenkrais and philanthropy, Dana Dajani is about as far from bor-dinary as one can get. Her passion for human rights is married beautifully with her incredible acting and writing skills. As an artist she uses her talents and abilities to shed light unto the causes most important to her while having a ton of fun along the way. No task is too daunting for our lovely artist, with a skill set ranging from playwriting to acting, and makeup artistry to sword fighting. Yes, sword fighting. Oh and unarmed combat, of course. “I learned how to fight with a rapier and dagger at Columbia, and then how to yield a Katana sword for a Kung Fu web-series. Most recently I performed in a show where I fought with a rapier and a Shamshere blade. It’s incredibly fun to learn how to use these weapons, but the choreography is meticulous and one has to stay focused to ensure a safe environment.” So far as we know, no actors or crew have been injured in her productions. Dana makes up for the macho fighting by doing something quite feminine, but no less fun: she produces incredible make up for gory scenes that would have a blood-shy person squealing with terror. From old age make up to theatrical character masks, Dana can do it all, but she often finds herself at the extremes. “I work with photographers shooting headshots, and on a Kung Fu series, so I go from making people look their natural best, to their very worst!” Clearly, Dana packs a punch in everything she does, but always fights on the side of the greater good. Her work with charity groups, like the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF), is powerful, passionate and driven, as she uses her many strengths to promote causes that are dear to her heart. So it isn’t surprising in the least that we were eager to find out more about this young,

talented, and endlessly inspiring woman. I met Dana in January at her family’s home in Dubai, and found her demeanor perfectly reflected the persistently sunny, albeit cool, weather. She bounced around; packing, chatting, and laughing as we got to know each other. I was lucky to catch her just a few hours before her stateside return, where she would continue to work on her personal projects while taking on an exciting new one: rehearsing and performing a play for young audiences, Sinbad: The Untold Tale. The production closed in mid-April, but has had a lasting effect on Dana’s performance identity. “The inspiration from the dramaturgy, or research, I received about Iraq in the age of the Abassid empire, along with the history of oral tradition in our culture, combined with my recent navigation of the blooming arts scenes in the Middle East, lead me to research and write a comprehensive history on Arab art. I wanted to know how deeply rooted in my culture are these passions of mine? I wanted to know, why are we letting others tell our stories, and in doing so, script our history? This essay was a lot about reclaiming my voice as a writer.” Dana has always been a creative writer, from humble beginnings in the fifth grade, when she won a competition hosted by the library to write a scary story, Dana went on to publish essays in magazines like Teen Ink, and poetry and prose in Muse all through high school. “That was great; it really fueled my passion for writing. But college hit me like a comet, and I dropped my pen and got sucked into the vortex of institutions and technology, so it has been really interesting reviving an old art and using the internet as a publishing tool. I think quint is a beautiful and innovative example of an online (now in print too- how vintage!) magazine. Publishing online adds another layer of interface to the content: it is accessible anywhere, it is augmentable.” This phenomena of

“augmented reality” inspired Dana to start exploring the internet as a multidimensional medium, “This is the kind of evolutionary progression that is effecting how I think of performance art and hope to create multi-level audience interface. The rapid turnover of technology continues to blow my mind. Five years ago, no one in my family owned a Mac product. Today, between the 4 of us, we have 11 i-products! Only our food sustains us more than our technology.” Dana recently put her technology to use and created a video audition for TED: Full Spectrum. “My ‘idea worth spreading’ was inspired by a fusion of TED talks and theatre. As an audience member, you must be willing to engage the performers, lend them your attention, enter an unknown territory, and be ready to come out from the other side with new information. However I believe that for far too long, theater has been a forum of one-way communication. I would like to invigorate it as an interactive platform to progressively co-create in my community. You know, it’s really magical-- actors exist in a world where anything is possible because, in our daily lives we resurrect fantasy and we manifest it physically; things that have never existed, except in someone’s mind’s eye, can be brought to life within a matter of weeks. They say, ‘Acting is the art of doing’, and I want to take that proactive poetry into the political arena.“ Dana has always been passionate about the theater. From her first role in kindergarten as the narrator of the story about a hat salesman and the mischievous monkeys who steal the hats off his head, Dana went to act in a plethora of plays throughout high school, college, and beyond. In Dubai, Dana made her mark by spreading awareness about the Palestinian cause. Her solo performance of 7 Jewish Children, written by Caryl Churchill, was very moving. The short play offers a refreshing perspective

on the situation in Palestine by taking the point of view of seven Jewish parents who attempt to rationalize to each other how to explain the Israeli occupation to their children. Dana’s interpretation of the piece presented one Jewish mother literally torn apart over how to explain to her child why she should be excited about moving to Israel, and how she should react to the atrocities committed against the Palestinians. As Dana explains, “I really wanted to display the cognitive dissonance of the Israeli psyche; trying to juxtapose a 21st century humanist worldview with the justification for violence against another people.” Clearly, acting is a pursuit made for Dana, as much as she was made for it. She embodies the true soul of a performer, as she does not merely crave attention or the spotlight, fame, and so on. Rather, she desires to express the human experience in all the ways she knows how, and is capable of learning. “My philosophy on acting is this: you have to truly express yourself in that character’s situation and circumstance. When you go see a movie or play, you don’t want to see someone acting; you want to see someone affected and affecting. I always find a connection between myself and the character that I am playing. I often find myself taking on particular traits of a character in real life for some time before the performance. Certain lines from scripts that I am working on start to permeate my day-today dialogue, it’s quite amusing.” Says Dana about her fine arts education: “You need to know your instrument to the best of your ability. Your instrument is: your body, your voice, emotions, and mind… because you need to understand your own psychology before you can craft the nuances of your character. This is an education in what it is to be human. Too often I see people living, buried in their bodies, and they drown in themselves instead of realizing they are the masters of their organs, and that they can govern their emotions, will and body, instead of the other way around. That being

said, I really enjoy finding the human aspect of a written character, and animating it so that others may relate in their own way to what another is going through.” Acting and theatre were not frivolously chosen paths for her, but rather Dana feels that performing is an essential form of expression. “[Theatre is] one of the greatest tools of our time, and always has been. For the Greeks, theatre was how they learned the trials and errors of their own culture; they were exploring things like incest and murder. Theatre has been a constant staple of society because of the morals you can garner. Realism in the theatre is important to me because there is a freedom to be found in vicariously experiencing someone else’s reality without enduring its consequences yourself. In theatre history you learn how playwrights use the theater to hold a mirror to society. I like to work on projects that leave you with a little something. Plays written by men are often a merely entertaining escape. Plays written by women tend to have a lot of education underlying the entertainment. Art without politics, to me, is just decoration, and I don’t want to just be decoration. There is a lot of excessive, unnecessary frivolity as it is in this day and age. I want the endeavors I undertake to have meaning and impact the world around me.” Dana recently worked with female playwright Rohina Malik, as a dramaturg for Yasmina’s Necklace, a new play about Iraqi refugees to America, Muslim Latinos, and arranged marriage. “I would like to revive the role of the dramaturg, and endow it with the responsibility of making theatre accessible as a social forum.” And that’s not all; the ever multi-tasking Dana is also researching and working on a play that she hopes to write in the near future. We won’t reveal the plot, but it will involve an additional dimension to your standard theatrical production.

Dana’s overall vision of expressing the universal desire for peace, and her hopes for global nationalism, are at the core of her work which she carries out under the auspices of her mobile, international theater and film production company, The Human Spirit Project. Dana is not content to just sit back and watch our world be torn apart by corporate greed and then discarded. With the recent events in the Middle East, the “Arab Spring” as some are calling it, Dana has yearned even more strongly for transformation in her beloved homeland. As she says, “Chaos precedes change”. She hopes to continue her involvement in productions that deconstruct the stigma of Arabs as propagated by foreign media, while promoting peace and a new hope for the future of the Middle East. For the world as a whole, Dana hopes that we as global citizens can learn to recognize where we need to direct our efforts, and to rise up to our responsibilities to the environment, as well as our universal human rights. Dana represents a new generation of people wanting a change, not hiding under a vague statement that ‘things need to get better’, but actively seeking ways in which they can improve the world we live in. The fact that she is embracing and employing multiple forms of expression, and using her passion to produce art from which people of all walks of life can gleam something, is what is most fascinating and admirable about her. To find Dana Dajani’s work online, visit her website, portfolio.colum.edu/danadajani Editor’s favourite: her original solo performance “Medusa’s Misunderstanding”.

piece,

Or find her on facebook: www.facebook.com/The HumanSpiritProject

FILM

I have to admit it has been a bit of a struggle to come up with an article worthy of this award winning magazine’s inaugural print issue. I toyed with various ideas that would have been deemed intellectually appropriate ranging from national cinema movements, to America’s most consistent and prolific decade of quality film making (70s) or even my cinematic passion: film noir. However, after much deliberation I realized there was plenty of thought provoking quality already being offered and that too much of a good thing, in true clichéd fashion, can be a bad thing. Fearing for the sanity of quint’s readers from a qualitative overdose (not to be confused with a quality overdose) i have taken it upon myself to provide you with much needed respite from Michelin star food for thought and instead serve up a greasy and easy cinematic happy meal with an obscene amount of cheese. Therefore, as the bard famously said, without much further ado about nothing i present to you the (American) 80s action movie: the cinema of obscene excess. If this delightfully indulgent bit of prose has survived Zaina’s editorial Kitana of quality control and miraculously you are getting to read this then... I would like to take this moment to graciously accept your gratitude because this will undoubtedly be the simplest piece you will read in this entire issue. Additionally you should bask in the feeling of overwhelming superiority that stems from the fact that you are far more intelligent than at least one of the contributors of the Middle East’s foremost Art/Cultural magazine. Let me be the first to clear the air, and if I am late to the party, then let me reiterate that the 80s action movie is a guilty pleasure of every cinephile. If they publicly deny any affinity towards the 80s action movie then it is a bare faced lie. If you think about it though, there is no reason to feel ashamed. What’s not to love? That canon of work ticks all the boxes in the unseen, unspoken but understood cinematic charter of excellence. There is no stone left unturned, Action, Adventure, Romance, Sex, Guns, Technology that is light years ahead of our time, and grandiose metaphysical themes of good versus evil. In fact I would go as far as to declare right here in quint’s inaugural print issue that the 80s action movie has answered the complex existential questions that auteurs such as Terence Malick, Stanley Kubrick, Ingmar Bergman and Alain Resnais (to name a few)

have attempted to answer, but unsuccessfully. What question? You ask. The question of good versus evil. What makes us good? Are we evil because we do evil things or do we commit evil acts because we are evil? According to the 80s action movie, neither; you are evil if you are not American, or a Communist, and all things American are righteous thereby embodying the very essence of good. I can actually hear palms crashing against faces at the epiphanies moment that we have all collectively been privy to. This is a bombshell of Reganesque proportions. You would be naïve to assume to dismiss the notion that the 80s action movie was pure mindless entertainment. The reality was that this particular genre of film was carefully crafted and constructed with one purpose, to purvey a specific message … the Might of Regan’s America. Allow me to illustrate my point; I’m going to name three famous landmark films of the 80s: Predator, Red Dawn, and my personal favourite, Die Hard. The best way to deconstruct this genre is to analyse the common elements that feature prominently in the genre. These include The Male Lead, The Villains, The Weapons Technology, and The Dialogue.

and iconic image that illustrates this deliberate brandishing of physicality is the famous Carl Weathers and Arnold handshake/mid-air arm wrestle that quickly morphs into a display of pure, unadulterated strength in Mctiernan’s classic Predator. We are witness to the most brazen display of American masculinity as the camera just cuts to that image for a few seconds as we marvel in the magnificent, sweaty, shiny display of America’s finest. The hero is always an American everyman who eventually overcomes great adversity and evolves into an all American hero. John McClaine was a hardworking detective in New York, John Rambo was a war hero but at the heart of it all he was just a solider following orders, who professed his eternal devotion to his country, no matter how he was mistreated by his beloved Red, White and Blue. Therefore if the American everyday man was threatened or his way of life was in danger then he would fight back. They would disregard their own safety and life to fight back.

The Villains

The Male Lead

All three of these films feature strong, virile physical specimens. Predator stars Arnold, Red Dawn Patrick Swayze (to name one) and Die Hard the slightly less bald Bruce Willis. If we were to look at the Rambo trilogy as well, specifically Rambo 3, then we would see that Stallone falls within these perfect physical specimen parameters. The protagonists’ physical prowess symbolically represents America’s strength, power, and their muscle. That is why Bruce Willis runs around in a white wife beater, or a vest (if one wants to be slightly more politically correct); sleeves have still not been invented that can contain Arnold and Stallone’s biceps. The most relevant

The second denominator that punctuates this genre’s grammar is the villain. The villain is quintessentially (shameless plug for quint) foreign. Die Hard you had Hanz Gruber, in Predator Arnold was deep in the South American jungle and the Predator was a foreign invader, and in Red Dawn the Russians invaded America, but were it not for the brave Wolverines who waged Guerilla warfare against them. John Rambo was in Afghanistan to fight with the brave Mujahedeen against the evil Soviets. Do you see a pattern developing here? The villain is always smart, deadly and seems to be one step ahead of our hero. Hanz Gruber’s assault on Nakatomi plaza was swift, brutal and precise. The Predator systematically decimates Arnold’s Elite Special Forces unit with ease and brutal efficiency. So when you are trying to revive the 80s action movie genre, remember your villain needs to be foreign, smart, cold, brutal and calculating. This specific characterization for the villain was

FILM important because it tied in directly to another important narrative premise of this canon of work. The All American Hero always overcomes adversity even against overwhelming odds, therefore the more diabolical and brilliant the villain the greater the triumph for our hero, i.e. America. John McClaine fought off an entire team of highly trained mercenaries by himself barefoot. Arnold fought a trained alien killer/hunter with his bare hands and some weapons fashioned out of wood. Rambo and his small band of Mujahedeen brethren kept the might of the Soviet War Machine at bay, as did the Wolverines in Red Dawn. These villains did not hate America but they endangered the American way of life, they endangered freedom.

The Cinema of Obscene Excess

Of course you should keep in mind that the weapons technology in the 80s is far superior to anything we have in this day and age. John McClaine’s glock clip carried at least thirty five bullets compared the paltry fifteen they carry now. Machine guns, Kalashnikovs, MP5s clip capacities seemed infinite because of how rarely they needed to reload. This is another testament to efficiency of American Weapons Technology in the 80s. They ensured that Americas’ brave and proud killed as many threats to the American way of life as possible. Additionally, with regards to the choice of gun, when in doubt go large; why use a Kalashnikov when you could use a Gattling Gun, or an anti-aircraft bazooka? This is where the idea of obscene excess was at the forefront. Guns with infinite bullets, explosions galore, each exponentially more destructive than the previous one and of course the body count rising with each passing frame. The excess on screen was a clever but blatant way to demonstrate America’s power. Our guns are bigger and better. 98

Our heroes are braver and stronger. Whatever you throw at us we can overcome. We are just and true, the American way of life is the true way of life, this is the way of the righteous. If you attack us, we will fight back and fight back hard. If you killed the hero’s partner, then the hero would destroy your world. All this excess is just an obscene display of power, and power is the key term here.

Witty One Liners, Banter and all around Witticism

DUTCH: “IF IT BLEEDS, WE CAN KILL IT.”

(This is one of my personal favourites. It is so much more than a line, it is a life lesson, it is nietzchean. It is something a really butch Dalai Lama would say).

DUTCH: “GET TO THE CHOPPA.”

No 80s action epic is complete without the protagonist punctuating the vernacular of the film with flippant wit and brazen puns. The lines are delivered with a bravado and arrogance that is indicative of Regan’s presidency. Regan’s presidency was a fruitful time for America, and the Hollywood Industrial complex ensured that the whole world basked in America’s success and might. In spite of the 80s action movie’s association with Regan’s America, they are the best form of entertainment Hollywood has offered over its illustrious history. For pure entertainment value they definitely supersede any tripe that Hollywood has puked out in the last decade. The pure excess is the fundamental factor of their appeal. Who says too much is a bad thing? (I did, earlier on, but as mentioned earlier I am not very bright). To end I would like to leave you with the numerous display of literary wordplay that can be relished in John McTiernan’s 1987 classic… Predator. (For maximum effectiveness please read all of Dutch’s lines in your best Arnold impression, even though he may not have said them all).

BLAIN (ON CHEWING TOBACCO): “BUNCHA SLACKJAWED (BLEEP) ‘ROUND HERE! THIS STUFF MAKES YOU FEEL LIKE A (BLEEP) SEXUAL TYRANNOSAURUS, JUST LIKE ME!” DUTCH: “YOU ARE ONE UGLY MOTHER (BLEEP).” DUTCH: “KNOCK, KNOCK!” DUTCH: “WHAT’S THE MATTER? CIA GOT YOU PUSHING TOO MANY PENSEELS?” SERGEANT MAC ELIOT: “YOU’RE GHOSTIN’ US, (BLEEP). I DON’T CARE WHO YOU ARE BACK IN THE WORLD, YOU GIVE AWAY OUR POSITION ONE MORE TIME, I’LL BLEED YA, REAL QUIET. LEAVE YA HERE. GOT THAT?” PONCHO: “YOU’RE BLEEDING, MAN.” BLAIN: “I AIN’T GOT TIME TO BLEED.”

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Photography & Art Direction Saty + Pratha All paper artwork by Krona & Lion: Lisa Keophilia, Kristen Lim-Tung, Fiona Lim-Tung, Jonathan Margono Hair & Make-up Robert Weir, Gabriela Soares Models: Lily Gao, Tyson Li, Roney Lewis, Mouna TraorĂŠ, Rachel Wallace (Jung In Kim, Cody Deane and Aleksandra Malkin, not pictured)

FASHION

While it has been key in the transfer of knowledge for countless generations, paper seems to be meeting its demise during ours. Paper as a product is advanced and yet basic, natural and yet polluting, valuable and yet commoditized. It is this complexity that we are exploring with our project, Menagerie. We set out to create something magical out of this most ‘common’ of materials. Collaborating with artist group Krona & Lion, we developed a set of pieces that symbolize the evolution and possible extinction of paper as a medium. Each piece is made up of hundreds of hand-cut flowers –simple on their own but fantastical when joined together.

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Gosser’s mum got him a fresh pair of black original colourway Air Jordan (AJ) Vs. He got them out in Maths. I’d never seen anything so beautiful to do with feet in my life. Unfortunately for me, he was my friend, so I couldn’t beat him for them. Anything Jordan related was like top-shelf stuff for us. I still don’t really understand why Michael Jordan was such a big hit in the UK, basketball was liked about as much as gardening. But if you didn’t have a pair of Jordans, you didn’t have no say. In the years before the Jumpman craze, adidas was the only rage, especially in big cities like Manchester and Liverpool. But I always thought the RUN DMC adidas were a bit like re-form shoes (the shoes you wear when you got one leg longer than the other), with their thick soles and phat shell toes. I have over 60 pairs of Nikes now, and only 10 pairs of adidas. I’m a Nike head, there’s no doubt about it, but the adidas I do have, like my re-issue Torsions and the neon orange Adistars are some of my all-time favourites. I had never collected anything before I got my first true kicks – two pairs of AJ V (the OG colourways – a pair in black and one in white), apart from a few house records. The shoes cost me around £200 from crookedtongues.com. I lived on pasta and butter for a month. I lived in west London at the time, and friends from as far as east and south London would come round just to stroke them. As soon as I started making more dollar (selling candles made by the deaf – to the blind) I basically lived on eBay, buying anything I could get my hands on. Me and Burger would scout eBay all day, looking for rare or re-issue Nikes from Japan or Hong Kong. Where I was from, the other lads would buy trainers that had something to do with their pass times. Most of the lads I knew would either bust Vision and Vans and Puma (skaters) or Nike and adidas and Cons (street) or K-Swiss and British Knight and Fila and Diadora (ravers). I remember this one guy in the year above us going to Miami with his parents and bringing back a pair of Air 180s. They were like the first track & field trainers that looked so sweet. They were perfect, but so expensive in the UK. Sun and Sands actually sell re-issues of these in the outlet behind the traffic police on the SZ, but not in the original colourway. My first proper year of collecting was in 2000. That year I bought AJ 3, Nike Air Lava Dome, re-issue Nike Vector, Vengeance and Vortex, lots and lots of different Nike Airs – most importantly the 1987, ’89 and ’91 – and a beautiful pair of ACGs (Nike’s “Air Conditioned Gear” range of sneaker/hiking shoe) and the ’87 re-issue Safaris. The Safaris were a must-have. They have like tiger skin going around the sides, and they’re the only pair that ever get a reaction from people in Dubai. On the subject of Safaris, I was walking down Oxford Street once, and Ali texts me to tell me that some plumb in Debenhams had put the wrong price tags on Nikes. I ran there as fast as Ben Johnson. Got myself a pair of beautiful Nike Safaris for £18. This meant I could put tomato sauce on my pasta for like three days. My collection started being a proper collection. My mother and grandmother absolutely love my trainers. People who come round the house in Dubai like looking at them, but if I don’t know them too well I can see them looking at me a little strange. I actually keep my very rare pairs under my mum’s bed in the U.K. (my re-issue Jordans, Air Maxim Torch Holland World Cup edition, re-issue OG colourway Air Max ‘87, New Balance UNDFTD jersey, a pair of Bape from Tokyo and a lovely pair of Alife from NYC). I met another sneaker head in Dubai a few years ago. Jeremy was a hardcore collector; like Imelda Marcos, but taller. He had to rent a two-bed flat in the Marina just so he could have a room for his immense collection. He had things like the ultra-rare Nike SB (Nike’s skateboard sneakers) Heinekens, lots of Supreme, Premium, Undefeated and HUF and some fantastic imports from his days in Singapore. I sat in that room for four hours. But me and him differ greatly in what we like and collect. I don’t really dig the heavy soled Air Forces or the SBs – I actually really dislike the SBs. You have different levels of collector – like with anything else. I love anything with orange or shocking colours, but I ain’t no clown. I bought two pairs (one hi-top and one lo) of Reebok from Miami, called the Reebok Miami Vice edition. I hate them. I don’t know why I got them. I left the lo pair in the gym at work once. I didn’t really care. And then like two months later I saw the cleaning guy wearing them. He looked much cooler than me in them. And I ain’t the kind of collector who keeps an eye on their worth. I’ve worn every pair I’ve ever owned, apart from the Asics Ronnie Nadar Greys a girl got me from Austin, Texas, a few months ago. (She queued up for six hours for me, and I don’t even know her. She’s a cousin of someone I work with. The girl I work with asked her, on the off chance, and the next thing I know, I’m the owner of one of only 700 pairs). What a beautiful person. America is obviously the home of Nike, Europe has the best releases for an avid collector of Air Max, but Japan is king. All the nice basketball stuff will always come out of the U.S., Europe is excellent for rare, limited countryspecific edition Air Max (Italy has some beautiful Nike Air 97s that are only sold there), but Japan is the don Juan. They live in their own Nike world when it comes to sneakers. Their street fashions are some of the best in the world, I think – far more innovative than anywhere else, and so very collectable. The most ‘un-Nike’ looking sneakers I have are the Nike Air Zoom Havens. I think they actually look like a pair of adidas. They are so beautiful. In Japan, you could have got them in like 10 colourways back in the early 2000s. Europe and the U.S. got them in two colourways only. A bit like Kit-Kats. I have Bobby in Brazil, Steve in New York, Rich in L.A., Hannah in Paris, Pricey in London, Burger in Bristol, Mark in HK and Kris in Singapore always keeping an eye out for me for a pair I might like, but nobody in Japan. I don’t speak Japanese, so I can’t even go to their websites and buy things. I heard about this guy who worked for The Beastie Boys – his job was to actually travel the world in search of sneakers, t-shirts and caps. Can you actually think of a better job? But now you got the internet. I get all my information from various places, like niketalk. I don’t really read blogs and stuff, because I don’t know anyone who likes what I like. I have two beautiful pairs of Air Force Lebrons, but I never wear them cause I don’t actually like them. I have a pair of silver and red SB Dunk Pro I got from Mong Kok in Hong Kong, but I can’t wear them. I think my feet are too wide for Dunks. I have bought sneakers from literally every country in Europe, North America and Southeast Asia as well as from Australia and Argentina, but until two years ago, not one shoe from the UAE. I have been here for seven. Things are definitely changed, though. I went to the outlet mall on the way to Al Ain, and they had Supremes, Air Rifts (the ones with camel toe-like toes) and Premiums going for like AED 600-700 – down from AED 1,200. Sadly, all in 8s and 9s. I love the new Air Max and Maxims coming out in the UAE. Nike and adidas are extending their ranges all the time, which, hopefully one day will mean limited editions for this region only. If it has anything to do with Middle East limited editions, I’d buy them in a flash. The boys at Sole DXB are doing their best to promote street culture in the UAE, but still everyone always complains about how there’s not enough choice here, and then you see them in Sho Chos sweating, bursting out of a tight top that says “I’m crazy” on it. You have to look for stuff, and you have to want it. Supply and demand. I think men in Dubai are quite possibly the worst dressed men in the world. So until this changes, Nike will not be sending any AJ Vs my way.

FASHION

SNEAKERS OF THE MONTH NIKE THE STING First released in 1978, The Sting was one of the first running shoes with D-ring eyelets and a suction outsole. The upper was made of thin, soft, suede with nylon on the side panels. It was reissued in 2003 in new colourways.

PUMA CALIFORNIA The Puma California’s low slung, distinctive style has made this sneaker iconic since its first release in 1983. The main body of the upper was made of nylon and graced with the nubuck Puma vamp. But this shoe isn’t all style and no substance. The Puma California was made to support the wearer, and ensure their comfort. The sole could handle just about anything, making it impossible to wear down. Every angle of the foot’s movement was supported by the external arch support, and the footbed was moulded to ensure comfort.

ONITSUKA TIGER TAI CHI Tai Chi, first produced for training in the 1960s, is a favourite among martial experts, but has also recently risen to Hollywood fame when Uma Thurman wore Tai Chi in Tarantino’s Kill Bill in 2003. the lack of midsole lends the wearer more control of the sole, making it very flexible and perfect for balance-orientated sports.

ADIDAS AMERICANA Born in the 1971 for the basketball courts of the ABA, the adidas Americana was graced with red and blue stripes matching the ABA colours. Throughout the years, the Americana has been through a few changes. The earlier Americana had a mesh upper with a leather toe box, but in the mid-70s this changed to a half-suede, half-shell toe box. In the late 70s, adidas released it with a nylon mesh upper and a suede toe box. In 2003, the Americana was released in the original red and blue ABA colours. 108

If art is the best way to say f*** you to reality, then yes, it would seem that fashion is indeed art. Far removed from the daily grind, fashion embraces fantasy, creativity and the power of imagination. Less fine art than decorative or applied art, fashion remains a valid means of creative expression. Where there is artistic talent there too fashion can be found. Take London, Paris, New York and Milan for example. These cities are all hubs of creativity that boast highly successful and widely followed fashion weeks as well as vibrant contemporary and traditional art scenes. These unconventional, contemporary art scenes include street art (graffiti rebranded) and other alternative installations that are widely accepted as art. Take the installation artist Gabriel Orozco as an example; his work highlights and focuses on capturing the beauty of fleeting moments and led him to decorating a human skull with a geometric pattern. Taking everyday objects such as tin of cat food and creating powerful yet simple images, his work is viewed by many and positioned as ‘art’ within the media and around the world. Yes, tinned cat food can be art, because art is all about using whatever tools or materials possible to express a feeling, an emotion, a statement. Art is not limited by the constraints and standards of beauty because it does not need to be aesthetically pleasing to be powerful and meaningful. However, for the most part fashion is based on the concept of beauty (in all it’s many forms) and can be more sophisticated and cultivated, and yes, artistic, than it is given credit for. Back to London and New York, these creative honey-pots are home to their very own fashion galleries, the V&A in London, and the Metropolitan in New York. These fashion galleries are as useful in educating and informing the masses regarding what people were wearing during various time periods, as museums and art galleries are for the tools they were using or the paintings and sculptures that they were creating. Museums, art galleries and fashion galleries all exhibit art, despite their differences in practicality and functionality. Art need not be purely decorative – should frescoes painted onto walls not be considered art because they serve a practical purpose too? Fashion, like art, plays a part in societal change. Sixties fashion; mini-skirts, florals and trousers played an integral part in influencing, reflecting and participating in what was to be known as, the ‘Swinging Sixties’. Art did not used to be distinguished from fashion. Fashion designers and artists were previously one and the same. In the 1900’s France, the fashion press used to employ fine artists as illustrators for their designs, utilising their talents for decorative art, thus blurring the lines between these imaginative pursuits. Fashion and art often follow similar trends – during the first half of the twentieth century, fashion design echoed styles in modern art. From the corseted, S-curved, heavy silhouettes that reflected Art Nouveau’s interpretation of the feminine form, to the simplified tubular and un-corseted silhouette that arrived in the 1910’s, to the body-hugging and streamlined dress of the 1930’s. It cannot be questioned that the Art Nouveau movement was intertwined with fashion as the two evolved and took inspiration from each other.

Illustration by Rafaël Vicenzi

Fashion and art are inextricably linked, because fashion is an art form, and neglecting it as a significant, creative pursuit, or written off as a frivolous pursuit displays ignorance of this monumentally important expression of creative expression.

FASHION Jacket, ROCKIT Belt, UNIQLO Trousers, HOLLY FULTON

PHOTOGRAPHY: SATY + PRATHA STYLING: KARINA TANABE JONES HAIR & MAKE-UP: JUN SATO MODEL: TAII GORDON, PREMIER MODEL MANAGEMENT CASTING: THE EYE CASTING

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Striped Shirt, BEYOND RETRO Dress & Shoes, LOUISE GRAY Tights, TABIO Belt worn as tie, AGNES.B

Shirt, BEYOND RETRO Waistcoat & Jacket, ROCKIT Scarf, stylist’s own Belt, UNIQLO Trousers, HOLLY FULTON

Striped t-shirt, UNIQLO Spotted shirt, THE SHOP Jacket, ROCKIT Skirt, HUNKY DORY

FASHION Checked Shirt & Aloha Shirt, BEYOND RETRO Trousers, ROCKIT Wrap Dress & Belt, ZARA

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Striped Shirt, BEYOND RETRO Dress & shoes, LOUISE GRAY Tights, TABIO Belt worn as tie, AGNES.B

FASHION Jumpsuit, Vintage COMME DES GARCON Shirt, Waistcoat & Short Sleeved Jacket, BEYOND RETRO Belt, DESIGUEL Shoes, LOUISE GRAY

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Shirt, BEYOND RETRO Waistcoat & Jacket, ROCKIT

FASHION Striped Shirt, BEYOND RETRO Shoes, LOUISE GRAY

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Striped T-shirt, UNIQLO Spotted Shirt, THE SHOP Jacket, ROCKIT Skirt, HUNKY DORY

FASHION Shirt, BEYOND RETRO Waistcoat & Jacket, ROCKIT Belt, UNIQLO Trousers, HOLLY FULTON

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Checked Shirt & Aloha Shirt, BEYOND RETRO Trousers, ROCKIT Wrap Dress & Belt, ZARA

FASHION Denim Jacket, Skirt & Tulle Dress, BEYOND RETRO Print Skirt, LIBERTY Tights, TABIO

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Denim Jacket & Shirt, BEYOND RETRO

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MUSIC

Fortunately, some artists have decided to stand their ground and remain faithful to the game. Los Angeles based starlet Jasmine Bailey known for her fame name, Jazzy, is one solid example. I have been watching Jazzy closely since 2006 with the release of her debut album, Oh Jazzy. On Valentine’s Day, Jazzy released her third heartfelt masterpiece in the form of a mix tape entitled Letter to a King. Young, talented and beautiful, Jazzy comes equipped with silky smooth vocals, and songwriting powers to top it off. I had the privilege to interview Jazzy and ask her about her talents, projects and aspirations. WAEL: Let’s start by talking about you, about Jazzy. How did the name come about? JAZZY: Well my name is Jasmine so this (Jazzy) was like a shorter version of that. My mom used to call me Jazzy and I used to hate it, like absolutely hate it. And then when I started making music I thought this would be a good name to take on. However, as a kid, I couldn’t stand being called Jazzy. WAEL: I love it though because I think it’s a perfect name for a soulful artist like you. JAZZY: Thank you. WAEL: I read somewhere that you started singing when you were only 2. JAZZY: Yeah I was very young, extremely young. WAEL: How did music influence you growing up? JAZZY: It was a family thing. A lot of my family members are involved in music and I was just around it. I spent a lot of time with my grandmother and she sings and so does my uncle; he’s a musician. So I kind of picked it up. WAEL: I am curious to know, what was the first album you ever picked up from the record store? JAZZY: Mmm.. Let me think. It might have been the Boomerang soundtrack because I loved the Toni Braxton song (“Give You My Heart” by Babyface Ft. Toni Braxton), it was either that or Mary J Blige’s What’s the 411? WAEL: Both are great records. You’ve grown up listening to Mary J. (Blige), Toni Braxton, who else did you listen to? JAZZY: Anita Baker, a lot of Anita Baker. WAEL: What about Diana Ross? JAZZY: As a child, there were a few (artists) but the older I got, it was more Diana Ross.

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WAEL: And how did you start songwriting? JAZZY: Songwriting, it’s really interesting. I used to write poems and I would also create melodies, but never do the two together. I was never really writing a song. The first song I ever recorded was on my first project, Oh Jazzy, a song called “Body”. I didn’t know I was writing a song, I was just writing. I was also creating melodies. I had to write a song for myself because I didn’t know many songwriters at the time. So I wrote that song. After that, I would just play stuff to people and they ask “Who wrote the song?” and I’d be like: “I did” so they would be like: “Oh, you’re a songwriter too!” and I would be like: “No”. But I was technically (giggles). WAEL: Wow. So “Body” was the first song you’ve ever written? JAZZY: Yeah “Body” was the very first song I did. It actually wasn’t that version that was on Oh Jazzy, it was another version. It was the same song, but a different track (instrumental).

WAEL: So you basically stumbled upon songwriting! That’s very interesting because you’re one half of a songwriting duo The Write Chix. How did that happen? JAZZY: Well, she (the partner) was the first person to tell me I was a songwriter because that was who I had the conversation with initially about me not being a songwriter. And I had a situation where a label was interested in me and I had to come in to do songwriting and vocal producing. And you know I wasn’t a 100 percent sure of my songwriting abilities because I always thought I was a vocalist and wasn’t aware of other aspects of it (my talent). So I asked her to come in and help as she was amazing at songwriting. So we ended up writing another song together and she was like “Why don’t we just write together? Let’s just create a team” and I was like “Ok!” From there, we just started working, working, working until we wrote so much and just created a team! WAEL: I love how you’re nonchalant about it. JAZZY: I am? You know, it’s just life I guess, I just don’t think that much about it. I just kind of go with it. WAEL: What I am trying to say is that, you’ve been credited to write the entire first album, that’s an accomplishment for someone who literally didn’t know they could write!

took an interest in the sense of “I wanna work with you guys as far as you being writers” and then Tina, Chris’s manager, took an interest as far as me as an artist. But you know me and my writing partner as a team ended up just getting a publishing deal instead of me doing management with Tina because you know from a financial standpoint, like publishing can be good depending on where you are and it was something that we kind of needed at the time. So we went ahead and did a publishing deal and ended up signed to him in April 2007 for two years. WAEL: Did you establish some sort of a relationship with him on a professional level? JAZZY: What’s so funny is that when we were signed to him, no. I started seeing him a lot more and being around him and having a “Hey, how are you” relationship with him after we weren’t signed to him anymore because I was working with a lot of people that worked around him or his friends so I was spending a lot of time at his studio, his home. WAEL: You’ve covered his song, I believe, “Your Type”. Did you reach out to him about it or is he aware of this record? JAZZY: Yes I did. I am not even sure if he is. I just actually did it. I have been picking a few records at that time that I liked and that was one of them. But I don’t think he knows.

JAZZY: Yes, she and I wrote the whole thing. WAEL: So aside from singing and writing do you have any other hidden talents? JAZZY: (giggles) Not at all!

WAEL: I think he should because you’ve done an amazing job! Speaking of covering songs, I know you’ve done Letters to a King, which consists of remakes of the classics, but what other songs would you like to cover?

WAEL: Not even acting? JAZZY: The thing with acting for me is weird because I have never done it but I think I could. Sometimes I would look at movie roles and think “Oh, I could’ve played that”. It’s definitely something I would consider delving into but for now I would like to focus on my music. WAEL: So one step at a time. JAZZY: Yup, exactly! WAEL: So The Write Chix, you were signed to Jamie Foxx’s label?

JAZZY: I think I did them in Letters to a King. I picked the songs that I would really enjoy covering. WAEL: Now let’s talk about you. How do you look at yourself; how do you define yourself and your style? JAZZY: I mean, I just do music that I love and gravitate towards as far as my sound. I really don’t think that much about it. It’s the stuff that I’ve grown up on listening to different RnB music that I love. I just do what’s natural. WAEL: So you don’t categorize yourself?

JAZZY: For two and a half years, from 2007 till 2009. WAEL: And how did that happen? That’s major! JAZZY: I have a friend who used to dance for Chris Brown. He had played some of my records to Chris and he really liked me so he was like “I want to meet her”. So they came to LA and I went to meet him and I sang for his management on his tour bus and his manager’s best friend was the woman who was over at Jamie Foxx’s publishing company so she heard me sing and she was interested in the record and she was like “Who’s writing?” because she was looking for songwriters. So we told her it was us (The Write Chix) and she kind of

JAZZY: It’s more RnB, it’s definitely RnB. However, I don’t think that much about it, it’s just music. When I listen to something, I know if it sounds like something I do or something I wouldn’t do. I really don’t think that much about it. WAEL: Alright, do you listen to your own music? JAZZY: Uhm, right after recording I do, but I can’t listen to too much of myself. WAEL: Really? JAZZY: Mhm. And it’s funny because a lot of people, I guess, wouldn’t expect that and one of my close friends, she always listens to me and it makes me cringe (giggles).

WAEL: Let’s talk about something I am sure you’ve heard so many times. I’ve read somewhere the following: “If Destiny’s Child was one woman, she might sound like Jazzy”. And your songs basically have been released before and they’ve been mislabeled. For example, “Remote Control Me” (a song on Jazzy’s sophomore project, Beauty and the Beat) was dropped as a Keri Hilson track. Another song, “Off My Square”, was labeled a LeToya Luckett song. How do you feel about that? JAZZY: I mean it’s just is what it is. I don’t worry about it. I mean, they don’t know who I am. They just find out when it’s not on their album and it was on mine. WAEL: Personally, and being an RnB head myself, I don’t think you’re similar to either Keri Hilson or LeToya Luckett. If anything, and if I had to compare you to any artist and because of your voice register, I would say Aaliyah. Have you been compared to her before? JAZZY: Not really. But recently I have heard that my songs are reminiscent of her, but not really. WAEL: So you’ve done three solid projects so far that had great attention and feedback from the scene. Oh Jazzy was in 2006. And then you’ve done Beauty and the Beat in 2010 and recently you’ve released Letters to a King on Valentine’s Day this year. How do you feel that you’ve evolved throughout these years? JAZZY: I just feel like I’ve grown up. I’ve had regular life experiences and I was able to apply them to the music that I’m making. I’ve just grown as a person, period. That shows a lot in the music. I’ve grown musically as far as my talent is concerned. I feel like I’ve grown and matured in both ways. WAEL: Letters to a King. Wow. You’ve redefined classics. You’ve got Minnie Ripperton, Sade, Anita Baker, Diana Ross, and Roberta Flack... You’ve completely reinterpreted these records. Remakes are a huge responsibility and you’ve done an impeccable job. What was the process like? JAZZY: It was fun! An idea came to me to recreate classics and I picked the songs and I called the producer who ended up doing them, and we just kind of vibed. It worked out really well; It was very easy. It was very simple, I knew the records, and they were songs that I loved. It just made sense. I enjoyed it a lot! WAEL: Yeah I can tell. How long did it take you to complete this project? JAZZY: I started in January. It took me about a month. I did one record in the beginning of January and then after that I did five in one week! (giggles) WAEL: Oh my God! JAZZY: We had a bit of a deadline and I did it. I left town for two weeks and came back. I had to just hurry up and finish it. WAEL: When it comes to the vocal arrangements, I noticed that in Letters to

MUSIC a King, your adlibs and harmonies played a key role in giving the songs a new look especially in “No Ordinary Love” that was originally done by Sade. You’ve completely changed the song and yet it’s still kind of preserved. To what extent did you participate in creating the actual harmonies and arrangements?

WAEL: Well through twitter, you’ve seen instant feedback. I mean, everyone was buzzing about it. My timeline, literally, was all about quoting the songs and hashtagging the album title. It was just amazing.

JAZZY: Well a lot of it was my writing partner. But some of it was, you know, ideas that I had. A lot of it was her; she does a lot of my vocal producing. It was fun to see the difference, you know, the way that we can flip it.

WAEL: Have you sent Letters to a King to the original artists?

WAEL: You must be so proud of Letters to a King. JAZZY: I am. Well I am proud of the response. I wasn’t sure of the feedback and I didn’t even admit that I was kind of nervous about it, to myself or to anybody else until the week that we were releasing it.

JAZZY: Yeah. It was interesting to see that. I was overwhelmed.

JAZZY: Actually, I haven’t. I mean, the blogs got a lot of traffic so I am sure somebody must have heard it. But I haven’t tried to give it to them. WAEL: Do you want them to? JAZZY: Uhm…I mean, sure. It would be interesting to hear their feedback. WAEL: What was the most notable feedback you received about Letters to a King?

JAZZY: I mean all of it has been positive. I just want to make sure that people understood that it was mainly a tribute and not me trying to redo the songs and do them better than what they were. It was really just me creating a project that is more modern for my fan base to kind of connect them to the older fan base. I think everybody understood that, all the blogs that posted it, they knew what it was so that was really important to me. WAEL: You’ve been covered by Concrete Loop, one of the most important blogs out there. That tells you a lot. JAZZY: They showed me a lot of love consistently so I am very, very appreciative of them. WAEL: What are your aspirations; what do you want to achieve with Letters to a King? JAZZY: I mean, nothing, it was just another project I want to put out to kind of get a bit more variety and extend my fan base and put out more music! There was no plan behind that. It was just something that I thought would be cool to do. WAEL: I am very appreciative of you putting out this project especially that nowadays a lot of RnB artists have been venturing into pop and dance. And for you to do this project covering classics at this time means a lot to the RnB fans out there who are kind of annoyed; they miss RnB. JAZZY: I completely understand. WAEL: Do you feel that RnB is disappearing, in some way? JAZZY: No. I actually think it’s coming back. I think it disappeared but it’s coming back. A lot of artists are staying true to doing RnB. And there are a lot of artists coming up that are doing, you know, real RnB music. I mean, I think that RnB is evolving. I think that it’s changing and what it’s evolving into isn’t necessarily pop but it can be pop because pop is just popular music. So if it turns to what the majority is listening to then RnB would be pop culture at the moment. I do think it’s coming back though. WAEL: Are you planning on experimenting as well like other artists? JAZZY: No. (giggles) WAEL: Thank you. That answers everything! Who are you a fan of from the modern day stars? JAZZY: I really like Beyonce all the way around as far as entertainment and vocals. Janelle Monae, I like her. She’s an individual; she has her lane. She’s created her own lane and it really works for her. Who else? I mean I listen to a lot of different people. Solange, I like her a lot for her songwriting, I love the way she writes songs. There are people like Erykah Badu. It just varies; there are a lot of people that influence me. WAEL: You’ve got quite the fan base, you know, being an independent artist. How do you feel about that?

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JAZZY: Blessed. I think it’s really hard to create a fan base especially when you’re doing something that the majority isn’t doing. And for them to stick around, I have fans around since Oh Jazzy so I feel really blessed to see that they are almost like a cult following me. Like they’re all waiting for me to do something else. That keeps me doing more music. I really, really love my fans.

WAEL: Who would you like to work with on the album?

WAEL: What do you have to say to other independent artists like you who are trying to make an entry into the industry?

JAZZY: No, Thank you. I mean, no offense, I actually really like her but no thank you! As far as other artists, I am not really concerned with who I want to work with right now.

JAZZY: I think that they have to create something that people wanna listen to. If not, you’re just going to get brushed under the rugs. I think you have to try to come with something that is really solid because it’s very competitive right now because it’s such an independent game. Make sure that whatever you’re doing is your best because it can either make you or break you.

JAZZY: I don’t like to work with a bunch of producers. I would like to work with either the producer who did Letters to a King or the one who produced “Wasted” on Beauty and the Beat. WAEL: What about Nicki Minaj? (giggles)

WAEL: The reason why I dropped Nicki’s name was to get a reaction from you because she’s very big right now. JAZZY: (giggles) I like Nicki Minaj but yeah, no thank you. WAEL: Are you team L’il Kim?

WAEL: Are you satisfied with where you are today? JAZZY: I am happy but I definitely want more. WAEL: Which brings us to the next topic: your album. I am sure you’re planning on doing one very soon. JAZZY: I want to release an EP before the year’s out.

JAZZY: I am a very big L’il Kim fan but I haven’t chosen a side as far as the feud is concerned. But I am a very, very big L’il Kim fan. Older Kim rather than the new; I am also a Nicki Minaj fan. WAEL: As a final note, what would you like to tell your quint fans in Dubai and in the world today?

JAZZY: I would like to tell them thank you. Thank you for thinking of me, for featuring me, for listening to my music and supporting me. I really, really am very appreciative. They are what make me want to do more music even though I love music but I would never stop, because of my fans. WAEL: Thank you so much for your time and this interview. You can download Jazzy’s Letters to a king by visiting www.iamjazzy.com

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If you’ve been to the Freshly Laced parties in Barsha, then you know DJ Solo. Along with Mr. Yeti and DJ Lobito, Solo throws some of the most riotous parties we’ve ever been to, and if that isn’t enough - he’s usually also the one buying the whole bar shots. We caught up with the producer/DJ/turntablist right before the release of his debut EP, ‘Who Is Wriggly Scott’, out on Dented Records on May 2.

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MUSIC | WRIGGLY SCOTT

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What’s the story with Wriggly Scott, is he your alter-ego? DJ Solo: Wriggly is my alter ego, although I’m slowly attempting to move over and use that name full time. As DJ Solo I’ve became known for playing a certain type of hip hop or funk, but I actually do a lot more than that so a change of name will hopefully provide some creative freedom.

A few years ago you released a collaborative mixtape with someone called Ductchild - is he another one of your aliases? DJ Solo: He was. Ductchild came about right after the split of Diligent Thought (a hip hop group featuring Jibberish, Toof, Sophonic and DJ Solo). The fact that we had been so immersed in a certain sound for so long meant that my production direction completely flipped to a more industrial electronic sound. I was also working on large-scale architectural projects during the day, and wanted to make music that related to the intensity of fast-track construction. I was also wanting to make music that played off darker human aspects, specifically the practice in this country of large companies making money off the backs of impoverished individuals.

Your current release, ‘Who is Wriggly Scott’ comes off as a nostalgic celebration of hip hop - is boombap and melodic hip hop the Wriggly Scott sound? DJ Solo: Wriggly’s music is actually a lot more experimental and less structured. But I felt that there had never been a solid hip hop release from this country, so the idea was to put together a release that would showcase some of the talented artists from this region. I’m hoping it will inspire many more to keep producing what may not be considered a ‘trendy’ genre. As hip hop is my background (I’ve been listening to it now for over 20 years) it also felt right that my first release should be a nod to my own experience and love of that sound.

The EP features collaborations with numerous MCs, most notably J-Live. How did this collaboration come about? DJ Solo: J-Live is one of my personal heroes as he’s just a pure MC, no bulls**t, what you see is what you get kind of artist. I met him here a few years ago when he performed at a private event at the Media City. It had always been a dream of mine to work with him, and I managed to get re-connected via Ben McDonald (Mach 4). J-Live liked the beat I had for him so we took it from there. He’s a really cool guy so it was a pleasure working with him.

‘Who is Wriggly Scott’ was recorded in your home studio over a period of six months describe your production process. DJ Solo: It’s mainly sample-based, so the tracks are usually built around a certain groove taken form jazz, soul, classical, even folk music. I used my MPC2000XL, and then would generally add some synth from either the Micro Korg or Logic, and then it’s all mixed-down in Logic. I also record live percussion to give it a more organic feel. The tracks are arranged once I have the verses back from the MCs as it’s good to get their input also on the song structure.

Are there plans to release more Wriggly Scott material or do you have any more aliases kicking about in your head? DJ Solo: I think I actually need to stop inventing new characters as the lines are becoming very blurred for me. I’ll continue to make boom bap (and already have another EP of that well under way), as I’d like to think I’m helping to keep that sound alive, I also predict that there is a renaissance about to happen globally. I have a few Wriggly Scott tracks also, but am still attempting to define his sound, or even decide whether it should be defined at all. Right now it’s quite wide ranging from really dark psychedelic stuff, to incredibly chirpy almost Vivaldi-like compositions, back to sleazy dance tracks. I’m looking to collaborate a lot with my producer friends here so soon we should have some new stuff.

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From “Blindblindblind” - A Silver Mount Zion... “The dust and the mess of our mornings, Promise that we’ll never quit So drunk, though our hands surely woven Entire fleets of staggering ships... Now our ships line the floors of the ocean, And the oceans breaching on the ridge, And the terrified dreams of our wanderings That once lit our way are now hid... We want punks in the palace ‘Cause punks got the loveliest dreams Love the horse or leave the horse, Love the horse or leave the horse, Lover oh lover oh lover oh lover... Some ! hearts ! are ! true ! Some ! hearts ! are ! true ! Some ! hearts ! are ! true ! Ahoy ! Ye bland plump boys Go tear wings for vainful gain Our home made choirs, like forest fires, Hiss ‘neath golden rain And slip the leash and the chain, And slip the leash and the chain Cause some hearts are true But some hearts aren’t hardly true But some hearts are true... “

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MOHAMEDELAMIN

ALBUM: VANILLA FUDGE GENRE: PSYCHEDELIC ROCK

1960s

Ah covers, how thou hath fallen. Have you noticed how all recent covers are basically the same exact recording but with a different voice? No variations in harmony, no experimentation with style or genre. Pitiful. Only a few compelling covers come to mind instantly (The Futureheads cover of Kate Bush’s “Hounds of Love”, Mastadon’s cover of The Melvins’ “The Bit”, Sono’s cover of Bjork’s “Hyperballad”, Boris + Merzbow’s cover of The Beatles “I Am The Walrus”, James Blake’s cover of Feist’s “Limit To Your Love”, Royksopp’s cover of Steve Reich’s “Electrical Counterpoint III”). Almost gone are the days when a band would take an original recording and make it their own. If you share my sentiment, oh boy, this record is for you. Vanilla Fudge takes some of the most famous tracks by some of the most famous bands and completely deconstructs them, whilst fashioning newly formed entities. And brilliantly for that matter. Providing a heaping service of psychedelic, slowed down compositions, they redefine these famous pieces to the point where they are even more evocative than the originals. But it isn’t just the fact it’s a remarkably good cover album (which it is, and then some). There is a quality so fundamentally magical about the band. There is truly a mystical quality to their sound, captivating all your senses with every second of their shimmering otherworldly slowed-down instrumentation. Despite the originals being diverse in genres and sound, the band remakes them with such dumbfounding ease in both flow and consistency. And that organ! I haven’t heard an organ played this well since Brother Jack McDuff’s “Dynamic!” The way it blazes and dominates every song as the bass punches alongside, whilst some of the sweetest most gnarly (I promise you I will never ever use that word to describe anything ever again and if I do I will stick a fork into my eyes) licks in existence. This record is effectively the result of cross breeding between The Jimi Hendrix Experience and The Melvins. Actually, I’ll go even further than that; I can comfortably say that this record is basically the Patient Zero of half the subgenres of Heavy Metal. For all its psychedelic soulful goodness of their exquisite cover of The Supremes “You Keep Me Hanging On” and the infinitely superior cover of The Beatles “Eleanor Rigby”, this is for all intents and purpose, a bonafide sludge/drone metal record with pop sensibilities from start to finish, and a brilliant one to that. An absolutely essential record to own in your collection, and if you liked this sound I encourage you to check out: Iron Butterfly’s A-Gadda-Da-Vida, Captain Beyond’s Captain Beyond and Blue Cheer’s Vincebus Eruptum Mira Calix w/ Oliver Coats’ cover of Boards of Canada’s “In A Beautiful Place Out In The Country”

2000s

ALBUM: OCTOBER LANGUAGE GENRE: AMBIENT/DRONE There was something special about New Orleans back then. Night walks at 4 am when the noise and ruckus and laughter of the city finally begin to die out, intoxicated and heartbroken and utterly aimless. Drizzle matting one’s hair, sticking to your clothes, and coating your goose bump driven skin. Every step on the brick layered street sent rivers of reverberation, sounds amplified by the dim lit streets being devoured by darkness. Each step causing more sound, merging with the rain and damp atmosphere, soundscapes so saturated, both heavy and heavenly. Haunting yet familiarly enough, so soothing. This is distilled static despair, like soft whimpers swirling in the vacancy of night, a distinct memory soon faded. The drone sweeps at a glacier pace not slow but colossus in scope. The ambience encapsulates you like the final twilight hours, luminous yet distorted. In the midst of all this, glimpse of caressing harmony play with decaying chords. As poignant and dreary as William Basinski’s Disintegration Loops, yet as lush as My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless. The music weaved by Turk Dietrich and Michael Jones (both New Orleans natives who recorded this in Dietrich’s bedroom) is intensely personal. The processing of each note, it’s metamorphosis into shifting, progressing timbers is unparalleled; control of movements is relinquished in favour of free-roaming disruptions erupting from broken down pedals and organs. Repetition makes way for uncoiling static that hums out battered Polaroid’s riddled between the echoing notes only visible with diligent, attentive listening, leading to an even more rewarding spinning session. October Language, is more akin to a dried up wallpaper in an abandoned house; all fading colours, corroded metals and tattered textures, but what makes it so scarring isn’t the antiquity, but the memory of what once was, childlike laughter bellowing in the halls, dining tables full of merriment and bed filled with passion and joy. It’s the loss that strikes deepest, silence now overpowering any shimmering memories, so immense in its heartbreak, so unrelenting in its conquest. Yet despite that, the fragile flickers of the past still stand despite all the melancholy. Silence bouncing against it in waves of white noise. October Language is a bewitching experience, one that drags you into your soul’s very core and reshapes it.

ALBUM: ONEIROLOGY GENRE: HIP HOP

2011

If you’ve happened upon my review of Kno’s Death Is Silent in my top 50 of 2010 article, you’d know I am infinitely in love with CunninLynguists, a hip hop outfit that has continued to reshape alternative hip hop since their inception in 2001 with Will Rap For Food. So my friends and I have been literary counting down the days to the release of their latest, and I’ve got a calendar to prove it. So, Oneirology. The album revolves around dreams and what exists beneath our subconscious that forms such a loose concept that is rather difficult to express. But damn, do these guys manage to do it. I’ll be frank, for the first spin of this record, I went completely blank. It was an exceptional case of daring production that completely overwhelmed and floored me, making me unable to register any specifics, because the whole was devouring. A flurry of intricate details and existential foreplay that manages to filter through with such perfection and ease. The main argument people are making about this is that it over produced, I personally think it’s perfectly produced. And for all the wonder and dreamy nature Kno brings to the formula, Deacon The Villian & Natti flow over every ethereal harmony with profound lyrical mastery that is simply unmatchable. I had the most difficult time writing this, but how can you adequately describe a band that continues to evolve and progress with, not just every album, but every song? Oneirology is easily the best record by the group, a fact made only more remarkable coming from a hip hop band that is 10 years old at this point. Simply put, CunninLynguists is hip hop’s answer to rock’s Radiohead. Oneirology has propelled CunninLynguists from one of the best hip hop bands of our generation, to simply put, the best hip hop band of all time.

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o I was on my way to Dubai and when fate struck. No, I wasn’t BBM’ing while driving, and no I wasn’t flashing the back of the Nissan Tida going 120 in the fast lane. It was fate that made me change a lane, and fate that made me glance ahead and notice the glistening of a 1983 black Trans Am in mint condition joyfully cruising down to Dubai to its final resting place in some rich guy’s garage in Emirates Hills. And then it hit me, my nostalgia. I missed the days of poorly built loud and obnoxious sports cars, mullets, cut off t-shirts, florescent hats, handle bar moustaches and of course the ever so essential 80s hair metal band blaring from said Trans Am. Everything good must come to an end some day, except of course in this article. My goal: immortalize that golden generation where the sun seemed to shine a little brighter, songs about heartbreak could soothe an aching soul and hair metal musicians could look like girls and still be respected and revered. I bet you’re all thinking that I was going to write an article about Van Halen, or Def Leppard… au contraire mes amies. True to my style, this one is about a band that in my opinion puts all of ‘em to shame. They don’t have the best technical guitar player, or the biggest rock ballad, but they do have the best style to come out of the 80s. I know you are wondering who Dokken is, but that’s the whole point of the article: try Youtube, it usually helps. I will admit, however, that my usual love affair for lyrics shall go right out the window in this article. They are far too cheesy and meaningless to bear any kind of note. But then again, the 80s was all about boys chasing girls or the quintessential break up tune. Oh how the burn of heartache was so easily washed away in that glorious decade; there must be something to immortalize in print.

by his victims as “the player.” Let me try to sum this song up in a few lines of the lyrics. The Player: 1. “He was a desperate man, they couldn’t understand” 2. “Yeah, It was in his eyes, it was no surprise” The Tactics: 1. “He felt this way before, and knew he wanted more” 2. “He knew the dawn would come, and he’d be on the run” The Fall-Out: 1. “Like a scream in the night, for his crime they showed no pity” 2. “Even though they’d done the same, it’s the way of life in the city” 3. “Lock your doors” Sound familiar? I thought so, we all know him, we’ve all seen him, maybe we’ve all been him?

woman that inspired his later Spanish influenced guitar solos, and make a guest appearance on Dave Navarro’s popular TV show. He’s a pretty rad dude, and yes, I did just call him rad. The rest of the album is a repeat of heartbreak, love song, heartbreak with the notable exception of “Lost Behind the Wall” and “Dream Warriors”. I have to give Dokken a bit more respect than I have led you to believe. They tried to be slightly political through writing the song about the Berlin Wall, titled “Lost Behind the Wall”, and they decided to let Lynch put one of the best solo’s on this song. I do like the slippage of some German into the lyrics, “Die Mauer muss weg, (The wall must fall), Tear it down.” Well, all heavenly wishes eventually become answered and good job for having the guts to write a politically driven song in the 80s. I can’t say that’s a popular subject for most of Dokken’s counterparts. Just like any other writer it’s always best to leave the climax for the end. Apparently Dokken believes in the same thing. They’ve decided to close down

Trevor bundus

Dokken used to suck. I’ll admit it. The first album was a poor recording of some poorly written tracks. But all good things come to those who wait. Their last album, Back for the Attack, is certainly the highlight of their career. A perfect note to end on, and that’s just what Dokken did. It’s pretty awesome to go out on a high note, to be completely fair and honest. The album opens with by far their best song. We’ve all been taunted and teased by that gorgeous vixen, promising “paradise as she [lies] upon the bed.” The guitar in this album mixed with that unbridled horsepower of the essential Trans Am are enough to get your engine overheating. I will admit that as I read the lyrics online, I can still relate to them in some way shape or form: “As she took me in her arms, and brought me to an end, with the kiss of death”. Spine tingling beauty that is! The second song, “Prisoner”, wastes no time in getting right into the turbo fromage. The title of the song could be taken in many ways; however in this case, being a “Prisoner” has to do with the vulnerability of falling in love and being consumed by the fear of being hurt in the end. The blame, the problems, and the pain will be transferred onto the other person, thus locking you away in the prison of love. You need to escape but can’t. Take that Shawshank Redemption! I may actually have to recant what I mentioned before about the lyrics being cheesy and of not much relevance. I guess there are still lessons to be learnt from our friends in the 80s. I still wonder if they all thought that by dressing like women and getting women’s haircuts that they could somehow understand women better. My guess is this tactic failed miserably. “Standing in the Shadows” can be interpreted in a numerous ways, but oh my humble reader, do not forget that this era was about love, girls, and fast cars. So, when Don Dokken makes reference to a crime, I seem to think that he’s referring to being a heartbreaker. You know that ever so smooth slickster that gets his strange pleasure in the conquest of women. He’s there, always referred to

Ahhh...”Heaven Sent”. No, not Heaven Scent, that’s different. We’re talking about pure angels here. Of course, we have to talk about angels, what else would you suspect from 80s hair bands? This pretty much sums up the song in two parts. First, the lyrics and then a walloping stylish guitar solo: Heaven sent, thought you would set me free. Heaven sent, thought it could never be Heaven sent, If I had only seen That you were burning the fire in me Next up to bat, a blazing George Lynch Solo....and we’re spent! In case that wasn’t enough, just take the next 4:31 seconds of your life to appreciate the beauty and style of George Lynch, in the instrumental “Mr. Scary”. This song actually made him somewhat famously known as Mr. Scary. Mr. Scary himself actually went on to design his own guitars, become an amateur body builder, marry a stunning Mexican

this gem of an album with a song that was put onto Nightmare on Elmstreet 3: Dream Warriors. Any guesses at the title of the song? The song came with what might be the absolute best video ever made. It turns out that if you are having trouble removing Freddie Krueger from your dreams, all you have to do is play him some Dokken tracks and it’ll make him go crazy. Don’t you just love it? The essential cheese of the 80s: let’s kill a terrifying burnt re-incarnation of a child killer with 80s hair metal. My point is clear, people actually loved this kind of stuff, and a small piece of it still lives inside of me everyday! The 80s were a time where the music matched a happier lifestyle, free from BBM chats, Skype, and the virtual office. People saw each other face to face, and had close friends that got together and played some air guitar at a live concert where they actually had to pay to enjoy the music on vinyl instead of play pirate in some bay in cyberspace. I wonder why the music seemed so much happier, maybe because the 80s were a happier time for everyone.

MUSIC Jazz is all about jamming live. Studio albums (as good as they may be) really don’t showcase to the listener the brilliance of jazz. You have to be in a jazz joint, swinging, bopping or just grooving to the tunes. Jazz is at its element when played live. The improvs, solos, duets, bringing-down-the-house and spirituality of the genre can all be captured in that instance, more so than any genre we have. So with that, I will try to go through some of my most favourite live jazz records in the upcoming issues. The list is done on the basis of; if I ever had the choice of going back in time to see a few jazz gigs, what would I want to see? I nailed it down to 2 dozen albums, and to start us up; the great Mr. Adderley and his jammy jam quintet! Playing Mercy, Mercy Mercy! Live @ “The Club”. Though technically a “fake” live record (played in a Chicago studio) it still had a sizeable crowd in the studio with the group. A lot of jazz fans think this makes the record a failure, but jazz heads are all jerks really, so let’s ignore them. There is enough energy here to power up all of China. The title of the record can be summed up by its first two tracks: “Fun” and “Games”. Mr. Adderley was a passionate man; you just need to hear his sax to realise this. Every tone came roaring from the depth of his heart and soul and ripped right through the airwaves with bombastic energy and enthusiasm to the point you feel as he was on an acid trip. At certain points in the record you will feel that there are about 10 sax players jamming, but it’s all Mr. Adderley work. That’s a lot of heart man. He literary dominates the stage with his talent and presence. Blaring, screaming, moaning and rejoicing with every note he utters. Honest, just listen hard to the record, not only can you hear the audience clapping and whistling, but every so often someone will break into an “OH LORD!” scream of utter joy. You can even hear the foot tapping. And we’re talking about 60s jazz music fans; these guys knew their sh**. Just listen to them break into a swing in Sticks and supporting the bass in Sack O’ Woe!! Now that right there is a pleased crowd. Every song is as tight as could be, and not only is the crowd having the time of their life, but so is the quintet. Zawinul is playing the piano with so much soul and sheer brilliance you’d think the Duke was on the set in Mercy, Mercy, Mercy. Gaskin on bass and McCurdy on drums provide the best rhythm support imaginable, and quite frankly I’m simply baffled that they could not only keep up with Adderley manic pace, but match it note for note and even have a ridiculously awesome duet moment that will seriously blow your mind away in “Hippodelphia”. This is the essential Bebop/hard bop/Gospel record. This right here is the source of the future funk in jazz. Hard hitting, restless and as jammy jamming as a jam could ever get. If you cannot groove to this, or at least tap your fingers along with the tunes, then you have the rhythmic equivalence of your drunken uncle at your wedding. It’s as simple as that.

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june releases Mohamed el amin

So, in an effort to ensure that I don’t miss out on records, leading me to delay end of year articles by several months, I figured I’d compile a list of releases that I’m really anticipating for my sake, and yours. Pain – You Only Live Twice (06/03/2011)

Morbid Angel – Illud Divinum Insanus (06/06/2011)

Battles – Gloss Drop (06/07/2011)

The Appleseed Cast – Middle States (06/07/2011)

Vetiver – The Errant Charm (06/07/2011)

Marissa Nadler – Marissa Nadler (06/14/2011)

Rhapsody of Fire – From Chaos to Eternity (06/17/2011)

In Flames – Sounds of a Playground Fading (06/15/2011)

Virgin Black – Requiem – Pianissimo (TBA)

Devin Townsend Project - Deconstruction (06/20/2011)

Devin Townsend Project – Ghost (06/20/2011)

Bon Iver – Bon Iver (06/21/2011) 138

LITERATURE

This month has been a busy one. Besides much behind the scenes action at quint, I personally had a few activities going on that were pretty consuming. One of the most exciting of these has to be the (still ongoing) creative writing workshop I’m taking at the university. Once a week, we meet to discuss the short writing assignments and the numerous forms of fiction writing and storytelling. The usual concepts of tension, conflict, credibility, character, plot, purpose, and the ever-beautiful contrast between the conventional and the postmodern have been the central elements of discussion so far, and I find much of it immensely engaging. From getting past my weaknesses in dialogue and plot consistency, to evolving my style and prose variety, this workshop makes for a highly entertaining and educational three hours. And then I get to focus on my fiction writing because I have to! 140

What I find particularly appealing is the overall quality of criticism and diversity of ideas you find in workshops like these. Although this is my first fiction workshop, my experience with workshops of all sorts (from writing to visual arts and design) is that you always seem to come out of it having grown through the performances of your peers, which brings about a sense of them, their influence, or just a different voice of your own into your work. We are not many in the weekly meets, but the distance between one person’s opinion on points of view and another, the strange ways that people develop characters, and the emotional attachment some have (and others lack) with their creations are all very peculiar. As I’ve said in a previous issue, and is generally known, we base our characters on the people we know, or have met. We form entire beings out of fragments of others, eventually

allowing a singular person (or animal, table, shadow, elf) to be formed. These layers of others are very subtle and tend to not hold our attention much when we read other peoples’ work, but I found the work of my peers to be very revealing and opaque. It somehow makes for a constant involvement, a visible connection and collaboration between all the members of the course and their texts. But the most expressive form of hesitation I have found as yet would have to be in dialogue. It would seem that I go back to this because of my discomfort with it, but it is, in fact, based on an observation of the many excellent under-developed and in-progress stories I’ve heard and read so far: many (oh so many) starting writers struggle with dialogue because they can’t seem to merge more than one voice into their work. When they do, which does happen,

there is a slight synthetic edge to their characters, or some other such incompleteness or inaccuracy. It seems as if they rarely find they can manage to outgrow their one sound and encompass more beings, individuals. And so it is that we still debate the virtues of dialogue and that I still avoid it. Then again, I took this to improve my dialogue. William Faulkner wrote As I Lay Dying from the perspective of almost every family member and associate of the deceased, giving us the full breadth of each character’s internal and external gamut of voices, while introducing us to the upcoming character through conversation with the current one. He fed us every possible variation of the Southern accents so well that I, who can barely understand what they say half the time, can hear each and every man and woman speak when I read.

He was, like few others, a master of the split personalities writers must have to put down traditional narrative fiction. The point of contention that I always bring up to avoid such banalities is this: “just like we don’t really care for the omniscient narrator, who tells us how everything should be, maybe we don’t really need the typical narrative.” It is true, we don’t. The form of the novel today is gradually leaning closer to that of a script: we only want the words that come out of the actors in the story, along with the most detached form of descriptive action, so that we can decide for ourselves what happens next. Or so it would seem. Reading novels, novellas, narratives, is about getting out of our own heads, however. It the act of leaving one’s mind and surrendering to the will of the writer: we read not to write, not

to create, but to enjoy and relax. Yes, we are no longer a society that accepts the ‘great centre’ and the hierarchal system of knowledge elitism, but we still read fiction to switch off. So while I try to comprehend the elements of dialogue and continue to enjoy the space of my little bubble in that occasional workshop, I will again formulate my own understanding of what dialogue is according to us today, and why narratives still work according to a preconceived and accepted method and form. And I’ll probably tell you much more about it all next time.

LITERATURE

Childbirth. No don’t go screaming for the exit, stay with me for this one. Childbirth. Hardly an enjoyable way to spend the day is it? Sitting in front of the TV with your feet up; or expelling an entire person out of an area that should never be seen with a face poking out? Hmm, what would I choose? Cake or death…cake or death? Cake please, surely? So yes, I think it’s pretty clear to most of us that childbirth is a major deal. There is a lot of screaming - from the ejector and the ejected; lots of panic - drugged or otherwise, and far too much attention from family, friends and strangers for what should definitely not be a spectator sport. Call me old fashioned, but you and your friends should at least buy me dinner before being congregating in a group and staring between my legs (and with a camera no less!). But I digress. The reason this music blogger (and happily childless person) is bringing up the dreaded subject of baby birthing is because only a short month ago, I enjoyed the arrival of my very first niece. Quite obviously, this has been cause for much joy and celebration at discoballbreaker HQ, along with the expected stumbling around for appropriate gifts. Fortunately, presents for the babies and fathers are easy enough to figure out, but honestly what do you get a woman who has just spent hours with her legs in stirrups? Unsurprisingly, I still haven’t thought of anything appropriate. Which (finally) brings me to my point. With my next birthday just a short way away, I’ve decided that much as I love receiving birthday presents just for being born, the truly deserving recipient of gifts is the lady that uncrossed her legs and brought me into the world. After all, she was the one who did all the work, all I had to do follow her lead. discoballbreaker is (usually) in the business of writing about music. But every now and again, this happens. 142

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LITERATURE

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quite out of the blue, between enjoying a sip and a smile in a bar, she told me ‘it feels weird seeing you with Her’.

but damn, now?

are you sure?

i mean, who feels normal these days anyway? someone is always missing somebody, Something. and no one’s any closer to getting found. but I stood there, static, a little bruised. a little bemused. hand in hand with one girl. heart in hand with another. and all i could think was, ‘i need another drink…now’

LITERATURE

Written by Trevor Bundus Illustrated by Eszter Laki

Stop looking for Ghosts Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve all gone to bed Our minds have shut Our hearts frozen dead

Stop looking for hope Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been given away To the chumps in the nightclubs To the whores of the day

start looking for knowledge It comes from within From the heart of your fathers From the trust of our kin

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4.18am and it’s a pure massacre. words bleeding all over the place, letters hanging on for dear life, commas picking fights with no motive, and cruel lines spilling Judgment in every direction. still no idea in sight. .Still .Lost maybe tomorrow.

LITERATURE

FARES BOUNASSIF

READING LIST

THIS LIST IS USUALLY A COLLECTION OF INTERESTING STORIES AND LITERATURE BUT, SOMETIMES, THE RELEVANCE OF NON-FICTION AND THE NON-NARRATIVE IS AS IMPORTANT READING MATERIAL AS ANYTHING ELSE. FOR THIS ISSUE, WE HAVE COMPILED A FEW BOOKS THAT ANY ARTIST IN ANY FIELD (FROM DESIGN TO FILM TO LITERATURE, AND EVEN MUSIC) CAN FIND VALUE FROM. COVERING TOPICS AS DIVERSE AS INDIVIDUAL PIONEERS TO RETROSPECTIVES ON 20TH CENTURY IDEAS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS, THE TEXTS HERE CAN INSPIRE AND INFORM US TO PRODUCE BETTER WORK.

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FLATLAND: A ROMANCE OF MANY DIMENSIONS Edwin Abbott Written in 1884, under the pseudonym A Square, this critique of Victorian society has persisted as a mathematical, geometric, metaphysical analogy of community, the caste system, and culture. Placing himself in the two-dimensional universe of Flatland, the Square begins by describing (in greatly efficient detail) the world he exists in, from the significance of the geometric attributes of each being to the interaction between the members of his society, until he is eventually introduced to the other dimensional worlds of Lineland, Spaceland, and Pointland. Intermittently ignored by the visual arts, this forgotten novella can give any artist a good run for his(/her) creative imagination, for the ability to visualise, and can inspire aplenty. Besides, it’s a great example of art as social reform.

ALLAN KAPROW - ART AS LIFE Eva Meyer- Hermann, Andrew Perchuck, Stephanie Rosenthal Of the work of artist Allan Kaprow, who did a whole load of things, including creating and defining the art form Happenings (which is the primary basis of the flash mob and a few other contemporary art/design/performance interventions). Showcasing and analysing Kaprow’s creations and their consequences, from his conventional art and assemblages, to the Happenings and Activities, and the eventual development of the counter-practice of the un-artist. Ultimately declaring him as more than just the inventor of Happenings, the book covers most of his life’s work and presents a truly unique taste of the postwar American artist as embodied in Kaprow’s conceptualisation.

THE MEDIUM IS THE MASSAGE Marshall McLuhan & Quentin Fiore Books on theory of any sort, although useful, tend to drag on and bore, which is how this late entry into media theory is different (and finds itself in this list). With The Medium is the Massage (1967), McLuhan and Fiore have gone on to become the greatest source of commentary on modern communication, media, and society, describing how technology has and shall advance human communication into something overloaded into meaninglessness. Two statements from the text seem to describe it best: “arranging the entire human environment as a work of art, as a teaching machine designed to maximise perception and to make everyday learning a process of discovery” and the realisation that “when you consider television’s awesome power to educate, aren’t you thankful it doesn’t?”

THE ELEMENTS OF TYPOGRAPHIC STYLE Robert Bringhurst Although this book is for graphic and type designers primarily, it is a priceless tool for all writers in all fields, and anybody involved in the function and/or aesthetics of fonts and writing. Today’s technology makes typography an essential inescapable part of everyday life, and media relies heavily on the typed word. Despite all the books that have attempted to cover the subject comprehensively, nothing has managed to encompass the breadth of the written page or screen as well as Bringhurst’s Elements. Listing every symbol of the Latin alphabet, expressing every use of shape, form, and rhythm on the page, this book effectively declares the conventions of “shaping the page”.

THE WORLD MUST CHANGE: GRAPHIC DESIGN AND IDEALISM Sandberg Institute Covering theory and ideas as they stand alone, while showing how graphic designers have been prominent in shaping modernity, and how they continue to do so. It links politics and art beautifully, developing a consciousness of their own until the advent of modernism and the Russian Revolution, moving on to discuss and describe every element of creative idealism throughout design and progressing to the death of the idea in design so that it became mute, eventually ending with an enthusiastic designer as editor theory and a cumulative listing of the role of the designer as author and idealist.

EVENTS

adidas Originals showed off their new denim collection, modelled by their talented and diverse team of ambassadors at an event held on the 12th of April. A great night was had by all with fun people all around, art work and photography gracing the walls of Art Sawa, a guy in a panda suit prancing around, all set to the musical stylings of DJ Andy Buchan.

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EVENTS

ABSOLUT

has worked with the world’s leading artists on their famous advertising campaigns, the first of which being the eclectic and revered Andy Warhol in 1985. Artists in the UAE were presented with the original advertising brief Warhol was given over 20 years ago as part of the ABSOLUT ARTICULATION Art Competition. The lucky, and incredibly talented, winners were recently announced on May 4 at the CARBON 12 Gallery. The winner was Peter Saghegyi, with his brilliant piece entitled “Relative Liquitempotronifier”. First Runner-up was Shirley Aguilar with her piece “ABSOLUT Contrast” and second Runner-up was Sushma M with “ABSOLUT Release”. The “Relative Liquitempotronifier”, as difficult as it was to pronounce (and spell) is easy to engage with as attendees saw themselves within and part of the ABSOLUT bottle. The installation symbolises the social aspects of ABSOLUT. As a mirror, it is stimulated by someone standing in front of it, revealing the

underlying shape of the signature ABSOLUT bottle, then blending the images of viewer and bottle into a liquid form, by using a forward facing camera. Peter Saghegyi, Managing Director at Dubai based Sentiomedia, a digital brand experience agency in Dubai, explains: “The idea was to create an art piece and subtly showcase the brand in it. Instead of a direct representation of the bottle I used interactive technologies to blend together the signature symbol with social activity. It is great to get some recognition for the work and win this ABSOLUT Articulation competition. I look forward to the trip to Sweden.” ABSOLUT ARTICULATION was a unique opportunity for individual members of the creative community in Dubai to submit their own interpretations of ABSOLUT. The brief was very simple; create any original work of art in any medium that was about or inspired by ABSOLUT. All works of art had to feature the ABSOLUT bottle in some way. The ABSOLUT ARTICULATION Art Competition was inspired by the ABSOLUT Art Collection, which exhibited at the CARBON 12 gallery in Dubai, as part of the Asia tour of the ABSOLUT Art Collection’, in March 2011. www.absolutarticulation.com | www.carbon12dubai.com | www.sentiomedia.com

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EVENTS

MOVEMENT SO, HAVE YOU HEARD OF MOVEMENT? Because if you haven’t it’s high time you move out from under that rock… The Movement has inspired us immensely these past few months. Beautiful songstress Gayathri and her incredible team of Reiner Erlings, Noush like Sploosh, and Diya Ajit, among many, many others, have brought their varied and extensive skills together to work on a project like no other. Seriously. Imagine an orchestra, singers, songwriters, handmade instruments, handmade costumes, handmade sets, and much, much more. Yeah, now imagine it even bigger, and even better. Now you might be close to what our lovely Movement team have in mind. They have been holding workshops all through May to teach us how to make our own instruments, costumes, and much more and we can’t wait to see more of them! Keep an eye on these kids folks, because you wont want to miss The Movement. If you want to get involved head over to www.movementuae.com and throw your talent in the mix!

The epic Art Dubai event was, as it were, even more epic this year. With the usual promise of artwork from around the world, workshops and talks galore, and the best networking and friendmaking opportunities in the Middle East, Art Dubai more than delivered. New faces and new styles were rife and we enjoyed learning what the region has been up to, and what the future holds.

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Event Listings James Clar recently opened Satellite, his new studio in a warehouse here in Al Quoz. Satellite will give James the space for larger artistic experimentation and will also serve as an exhibition space. It is open to the public, giving a more personal view of the artistic process as well as completed works. James’ work is as diverse as it is brilliant. He works with interesting materials, turning mannequins and car headlights into true artistic expression. The opening reflected the feel of Satellite as a workspace and gallery where engagement and interaction is encouraged. A far cry from the stereotype of stuffy and awkwardly silent exhibitions, Satellite is fun, interesting, and moving all at once. We loved exploring the meaning behind his artworks under the watchful gaze of a larger than life toy soldier, and catching up with the art crowd at his dynamic venue.

www.jamesclar.com

Every Thursday 10pm onwards Freshly Laced Great music spanning real funk, hip hop, afrobeat, bass music, disco, boogie, soul, and psychedelic world music, with the coolest visuals, non-pretentious DJs and generally large amounts of fun. Oh and insane drink deals + free entry. Casa Latina, Ibis Hotel, Al Barsha freshlylaced.ae June 24 (last Friday of every month) 10pm onwards Just good music. Great drink deals + free entry. Casa Latina, Ibis Hotel, Al Barsha June 6 to September 15 Division by Zero Carbon 12 Opening exhibition featuring the works of Anahita Razmi, Mathias Garnitschnig, Aamir Habib and Florian Hafele. Al Quoz 1, street 8, Al Serkal Avenue, Warehouse D37, Carbon 12 +971 50 464 43 92 carbon12dubai.com June 19 7:30 PM Sami Al Turki Exhibition The Pavilion Downtown Dubai Gallery 2 An opening for an art exhibition with artist Sami Al Turki. +971 4 447 7025 pavilion.ae June 6 to July 15 7:00 – 9:00 PM Traces Green Art Gallery June 6 is the opening for an art exhibition with artist Jaber Al Azmeh. Al Quoz 1, Street 8, Al Serkal Avenue, Unit 28 +971 4 346 9305 gagallery.wordpress.com June 22 – July 28 Snail Fever Third Line Gallery Al Quoz 3 An opening for installation, photography, video and painting with artists Abbas Akhavan, Fatima Al Qadiri, Khalid Al Gharaballi, Ala Ebtekar, Haris Epaminonda, Christodoulos Panayiotou, Rayyane Tabet, Slavs and Tatars, and Newsha Tavakolian. +971 4 341 1367 thethirdline.com Until June 16 Cairo Dreams 2011 at Third Line Gallery Al Quoz 3 Opening for sculpture and large scale ink drawings exhibition by Susan Hefuna. +971 4 341 1367 thethirdline.com Until June 16 Projects at Third Line: ‘Knowhere’ Third Line Gallery Al Quoz 3 Opening for a series of paintings by Ayad Sinawi. +971 4 341 1367 thethirdline.com Until June 16 Imagine in the Aftermath Third Line Gallery Al Quoz 3 Opening for a series of images by Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige. +971 4 341 1367 thethirdline.com Until June 26 Passion of an Ornithologist Third Line Gallery Al Quoz 3 Exhibition for paintings by Slavs and Tatars. +971 4 341 1367 thethirdline.com Until June 25 Black Cube: Moving Toward the Abstract Light Third Line Gallery Al Quoz 3 Ongoing exhibition on site-specific installation by Babak Golkar. +971 4 341 1367 thethirdline.com Until 25 June 2:00 PM MENAlab 2011 Cutting through the city | Shifting Scales Jam Jar Al Quoz 3 Opening exhibition including lab presentations by the tutors. +971 4 3417303 thejamjardubai.com

EVENTS

This year, in the very month of April, Dubai’s wispy winter had transformed and held the warmth of the 5th Annual ChillOut Festival at sea. Well, more specifically on the shore of Nasimi Beach. It really is as mystical as it sounds. The venue in itself allowed for a most otherworldly experience, almost as if you had been on an island ever so far away from whatever inconvenience was waiting for you. It was also comfortably small, small enough to generate a feeling of intimacy within the diameter of the entire crowd. Seeing that the space was a beach resort, there was sand everywhere. This brought comfort and intimacy to a whole new level. Almost everyone was barefoot and wearing light fabric to better signify the way they felt. Something comfortable and loose to tell everyone that ‘I’ am not heavy on the heart, and feel free spirited. Barefoot on the sand to make it seem like we all shared this house of clean yet humid air and grainy floors for two days. There were two headliners for this festival, both world-renowned, both fantastic representations of the festival. The first day’s headliner was the effervescent, Norwegian electronic music duo Royksopp. Royksopp’s performance was story-told. It started out calmly, rose up to a climactic heart and ended with nothing less than an epic finale with some of their most recognized songs. At some point in the beginning, they played their song “Remind Me”, a song that inquires the slight remembrance of simple, forgotten things in specific spaces at a specific time. This vocal piece was layered with music that made everyone in front of the stage seem very pleased to want to remember the good things in their lives. They started off making people want to reminisce, dance and celebrate. Down towards the heart of their performance, Royksopp began to take it a little slow with what seemed to be an experimental and melancholic phase. At this point people had begun to sway ever so gently back and forth with their eyes closed to magical, instrumental music that was significantly there to calm them. During this stage of their performance, Royksopp’s attire and whatever it was that was happening on stage was absolutely outlandish and very specific to what the music was doing to everyone. There was a distinct and constant buzzing sound that suited the duo’s appearance on stage. One of them was consumed in a plastic, translucent sheath that almost looked like a loosely worn bag over the body and all the while he kept disappearing and reappearing in the smoky mist on stage. It was unsettlingly beautiful because the music was coming from him as he kept disappearing, but the music in itself

ChillOut Festival

never disappeared as he did, it just kept on coming. Finally, the dynamic duo rounded up their set with the one song that almost everyone was familiar with. “What Else is There?” was their third single from their second album The Understanding. This ending to their performance did nothing less than unite the whole crowd, as almost everybody knew the words to the chorus. A sudden roar from the crowd as the words “will I have flashlights, nightmares, sudden explosions” echoed through the shore of Nasimi Beach. Two words; pure intensity. As for the second night at the ChillOut Festival, the line up was more laid back in terms of experimental jazz and soul. It included the British jazz and electronic band The Cinematic Orchestra, among others, and the soulful Erykah Badu, the headliner of the night. Erica Abi Wright, better known by her stage name Erykah Badu, also known as the “First Lady of Neo-Soul”, brought about a different kind of eccentricity to the night. It had a more quiet demeanor seeing that a lot of people were lying down on the sand listening to her raspy, witty and bluesy voice. Lyrically, her messages are mostly concrete, spiritual and positive and that is how she appeared on stage. She had a very strong presence. It was not in just the clothes she was wearing that were making a statement about her, it was more in the way she carried herself on stage. She was so fascinating to watch. However the light hit her, she looked regal and less in terms with fame and fortune but more due to her music’s richness. She holds her music close to her and you can see it encompass her and flow right through her during the performance. And her voice and music went right through you, like ‘spiritual’ was all you wanted to be for the night. Throughout the night she kept referencing countries from the Middle East, successfully imparting a sense of togetherness that won the hearts of so many people from the crowd. People who didn’t know her immediately warmed up to her. All she did throughout the night was promote good will. The lucky fans at the front of the stage were overwhelmed by her beautiful, graceful presence as she lowered into the crowd. They cradled her in their arms. She was truly our Queen. Her arms were spread across as the crowd elevated her. She had the warmest smile on her face. So warm that it felt like she trusted and loved her fans. She is undeniably the most humble queen of neo-soul. And those two nights gave us something to remember. Musical performances that shook us to our very souls, performers who gave us their all, a crowd that resonated the feelings of elation. And we all soaked up every bit of it.

Lomo Photos by Sofia Byttebier

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LAST CALL

Food; any nourishing substance that is eaten, drunk, or otherwise taken into the body to sustain life, provide energy, promote growth, etc. The above definition is slightly flawed. Etcetera, in its true form, is defined as a continuation of similar descriptions, or a tedious and cliché list too tiresome to mention. Coincidentally, it is precisely the continuation of that definition that isn’t tedious nor in any way cliché. In the simplest of terms and according to the former section of the definition, food serves the fundamental purpose of keeping us alive, giving us energy to grow physically and the capacity to maintain a non-sedentary lifestyle. As cavemen, we were hunters, fighting for our next meal, out of obligation, not pleasure and definitely not art. Yet somehow, as the years passed, as civilization transformed, this very primitive need materialized into a creative outlet and a scientific fabrication. No longer is it enough to describe food simply as a nourishing substance, in many parts of the world, it has become a legit art form. Whether in the context of its pr esentation or the intricate details of its taste, it is difficult to overlook the talent, time and effort put in by the pundits of the industry. You see, eating is a multisensory experience. You smell it, you see it, you feel it and then you taste it, giving artists of this genre a wide range of categories in which to experiment. This diversion from the usual art-that-you-only-feel-in-one-way offers a broader realm of self-expression, highly sensitizing every detail put into the final product. A pinch of pepper, as basic as it may seem, has the power to change a dish’s smell, colour and taste – thus the resolution to pinch a mound of pepper and un-pinch it over your magic pot is a fairly weighty

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decision to make. Do you really want to pollute your white sauce with a messy scattering of tiny black flecks? Or does the aforementioned scattering augment its appearance and inspire a medley of herbs to further the colour combination? Option two; reroute the entire process and go with white pepper - easy, you have now maintained the solid colour you had started off with and pleased the French by not meddling with the whiteness of a white sauce. You have, however, simultaneously displeased those with a spicier ethnicity who expect nothing less than an oomph in their bite, and find nothing even slightly appealing in a bland homogenous white sauce. Perhaps the highest category within this particular art form is the fairly recent Molecular Cuisine fixation – It is to the pinch of pepper what a spaceship is to a helicopter. Molecular cuisine has taken the need vs art transformation a level further into the experimental realm and is without a doubt, the epitome of what has become of our most primal need. What’s been coined as ‘El Bullism’ is now an array of techniques used by high-end restaurants, celebrity chefs, and almost anyone fighting for their spot in the limelight of food’s Hollywood walk of fame - all with the intention of ‘setting themselves apart’ by offering what nobody else does, a sad misinterpretation of popularity. It is highly likely that the upscale restaurant on the next block is also playing with liquid nitrogen, spherification and using vacuum sealing for storage – if not now, I guarantee you, it soon will be. In all fairness its origins, Gastronomy – the broader In all to fairness to its Molecular origins, Molecular Gastronomy – the versionbroader of the term – was by physicists version of thestarted term –offwas started offasbyscientific physicists research into theresearch chemicalinto andthephysical reactions that occur as scientific chemical and physical reactions in that foodoccur preparation. A branch of food science, it was initiallyit was in food preparation. A branch of food science, performed by scientistsbyinscientists labs, andinonly in kitchens,in initially performed labs,sometimes and only sometimes a bizarre notion givennotion its current Evenstatus. thoughEven this avantkitchens, a bizarre givenstatus. its current though garde of cuisineform covers a considerable of research, thisform avant-garde of cuisine covers aarea considerable area of such as the brain’s chemical reaction to taste, and research, such as the brain’s chemical reaction to taste, and

the environment’s effect on taste perception, one thing it covers widely is the manipulation of presentation and texture. Consequently, the more popular it got, the more dramatic its artistic inclination. Yes, science is still fueling this form of art, but more towards the objective of appearance, rather than for the sake of scientific research. This ever so popular epicurean practice continually proves that impossible truly is nothing. It divulges into a world of fantasy where the original shapes, colours and textures found in nature are irrelevant. It also demonstrates that tools created for various other professions, such as centrifuges and desiccators, can be molded into the kitchen place and used to manipulate ingredients into the most unusual and strangely wonderful outcomes. Caviar made of mangoes, a-la-minute ice-cream, edible menus - the list is subjective to the chef, the scientist and the artist behind each creation. Given the above, and its relation to our primal need for food, I sense a few sentimental hearts distressing about the rather large human population still struggling with the paralyzing effects of poverty and starvation, along with the other portion that is relentlessly fighting for its basic human rights. That, my friends, is another story pertaining to an endless discussion – for the time being, we have zoomed in on the lucky ones and their pop culture, on those with artistic inclinations and purchasing power– in their world, food is undoubtedly climbing the ladder on the list of popular art forms.