quint magazine | issue 7 by quint

quint magazine | issue 7 | July-August 2011 | complimentary

4 Our Note

5 Contributor Highlights

6 News & Products Design

10 On Saving the World

12 Featured Artist: Daniel Mackie

26 Getting NKD with Robbie

28 Featured Artist: Shawn Smith

38 Featured Illustrator: Jose Manuel Hortelano

50 Featured Artist: Tibor Simon

57 quint - MINI - MEGA - Competition Winners Photography

60 Camille Zakharia - Sharjah History Images 64 Sara Orme

74 James & Karla Murray

80 Rebecca Tillett Film

92 Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Woody 96 Bas Jan Ader

98 Marvel at the DeseCration Fashion

100 Young Manhood

114 Sneakers of the Month 115 Pushing the Limits

116 Waterwait Flourbait Music

122 Primavera Sound 2011 136 John Cage

137 Album Review: Thrice - The Alchemy Index

138 Playlist

139 July Releases Literature

140 Of Horror Fiction and Great Writing 142 Dichotomy

143 Intimate Stranger

144 Blackout

145 Jazz CLub

145 Song of the Self

146 At My Center

147 The Kitchen Slave

148 Let’s Align on Clichè Avoidance

150 Reading List Events

152 quint magazine Print Launch

153 Media City Gets Its Own Playground

154 Puma Social Club

156 Greenspace Nostalgia Party 157 Event Listings

158 Last Call

OUR NOTE HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US! WE ARE INCREDIBLY HAPPY TO CELEBRATE THE FIRST BIRTHDAY OF QUINT MAGAZINE. IT’S BEEN A YEAR THAT, WHILE DIFFICULT AT TIMES, HAS BEEN INCREDIBLY REWARDING. QUINT MAGAZINE HAS COME SO FAR OVER THE PAST YEAR AND WE ARE TRULY THANKFUL TO EVERY SINGLE PERSON WHO HAS CONTRIBUTED, READ, BEEN FEATURED, AND SUPPORTED US ALONG THE WAY. AND AS WE’RE NOT ONES TO REST ON OUR LAURELS, WE’VE FOUND A BRAND NEW WAY TO GET BUSY. INTRODUCING...THE QUINT ARTS PROGRAMME, IN ASSOCIATION WITH OUR FRIENDS AT THE FRIDGE. WE HAVE BEEN OVERWHELMED BY THE INCREDIBLY TALENTED ARTISTS WE’VE MET AND HAD THE PRIVILEGE TO FEATURE. AND SO, WE WANTED TO DO SOMETHING TO HELP YOU, THE TALENTED AND CREATIVE PEOPLE OF THE UAE, WHO HAVE SUPPORTED US SO MUCH OVER THE PAST YEAR. THIS MONTH MARKS THE LAUNCH OF THE ARTS PROGRAMME, AND THE MONTHLY EVENTS SUPPORTING IT: QUINT @ THE FRIDGE. EVERY MONTH WE’LL BE BRINGING YOU AT LEAST ONE NIGHT OF UNDERGROUND ART AND EXPRESSION FROM THE ENDLESSLY INSPIRING PEOPLE KEEPING THE CREATIVE SCENE HERE ALIVE AND KICKING. THE FRIDGE HAVE MADE A NAME FOR THEMSELVES IN THE COMMUNITY AND BEEN KNOWN FOR THEIR ENCOURAGEMENT AND SUPPORT OF ARTISTS. WITH THEIR SUPPORT, WE KNOW THAT THIS PROGRAMME WILL DO EXACTLY WHAT IT IS MEANT TO DO: INSPIRE AND ENCOURAGE ARTISTS WITHOUT BOUNDARIES OR LIMITATIONS.

quint magazine | issue 7 | July - August 2011 Editor in Chief Zaina Shreidi zaina@quintdubai.com Creative Director Gyula Deák gyula@quintdubai.com Designers Ritu Arya, Eszter Laki Fashion Editors: Pratha&Saty Photographers: Camille Zakharia, Sara Orme, James & Karla Murray, Rebecca Tillett, Aya Atoui, Gyula Deák Contributors Prank Moody, Trevor Bundus, Mohamed El Amin,Fares BouNassif, Zoya Pasha, Aya Atoui, Nabil Rashid, Siham Salloum, Trainer Timmy, Gayathri, Robert Hahm, Huda Yaqub, Preethi Jagadeesh, John Smeddle, Ashis Banerjee, Zaid Alwan, Ziad Aouad, Joe DeLorenzo, Drina Cabral 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. Circulation: 10,000 Printed by:

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WE HOPE TO ENCOURAGE COLLABORATION AND INNOVATION AMONGST EVERYONE INVOLVED, AND TO INVOLVE MORE AND MORE PEOPLE AS WE GO. WITH THE SUPPORT OF THE COMMUNITY, WE HOPE TO RAISE FUNDS AT EVERY QUINT @ THE FRIDGE EVENT, AND THESE FUNDS WILL SERVE AS GRANTS TO ARTISTS WHO TAKE PART IN THE ARTS PROGRAMME. MORE INFORMATION WILL BE COMING YOUR WAY SOON, SO KEEP AN EYE OUT, AND GET INVOLVED! ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT WE ARE A CONTRIBUTION-BASED MAGAZINE AND WE THRIVE ON YOUR INPUT AND COLLABORATION.

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

AND AS ALWAYS, THANKS FOR READING. ZAINA SHREIDI & GYULA DEAK EDITOR IN CHIEF

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

www.quintdubai.com www.quintmagazine.com

CONTRIBUTOR HIGHLIGHTS

ESZTER LAKI

TRAINER TIMMY

GAYATHRI

Eszter Laki was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1983, and graduated from the Printmaking Program at the University of Fine Arts, Budapest in 2007. Since then, she has focused on her own art and design projects, and has been working as a graphic designer.

Timmy likes sneakers. His page is on p114. Timmy also likes spaghetti with clams and watching women fall over. He’s been to Tokyo. They sell little-girl underwear in the vending machines. Guys in suits buy used girl panties. How is that okay? That’s not okay. The photo of the guy below me is awkward.

The lovechild of Radiohead, Nitin Sawhney & Bjork, singer, songwriter, Gayathri is a recognized name and personality in local music circuits.

ZAID ALWAN

PREETHI JAGADEESH

Zaid Alwan isn’t on the facebook.

Preethi’s a student at OCAD, in Toronto. She studies Graphic Design and Printmaking. The blinding tendencies of a computer and the painstaking, messy processes of traditional media don’t go unnoticed, but the endless list of nice things about them make her happy. Besides that, Preethi likes watching the immediate world around her, black and white photographs, old things, obscure foreign films, fruit juices, daydreaming (which she needs to do less of), stories, people, and other things that wouldn’t fit in this box.

JOHN SMEDDLE

ASHISH BANERJEE

HUDA YAQUB

John Smeddle is an old South African git who’s managed to fool employers on four continents that he’s good at advertising. He’s written the world’s funniest book on the rise of the only black advertising agency in South Africa and even penned the lyrics to a song that is so putridly saccharine that it rocketed to no. 1 in South Africa three weeks after it entered the charts! The masses, eh? No taste at all.

Ash looks after the brand at du, is a percussionist, poet and author in his spare time, and an armchair philosopher when with friends. He’s 47, has lived and worked around the world, and is still soaking it in. He writes mainly to amuse himself, and partly to share his life experience with those who can be bothered to listen or read. It pleases him immensely that his daughter writes better poetry at 14 than he ever will.

Huda applies her innate passion for design and arts to her work as a graphic designer with much intensity - half inspiration and half perspiration. Huda is adept at letting her own background and culture shine through her work, applying Mughal, Arabic, and Islamic themes to an international framework; which makes Huda truly unique. She enjoys designing Posters, Packaging and Identity. Her style is versatile and adaptive to projects, but she prefers to illustrate the world around her.

On top of her design work, she is also now studying Typography at the University of Applied Arts, with a view to completing more projects as a contemporary artist. Her interests include typography, and public, street and land art.

ROBERT HAHM

As an observer and thinker Robert is most obsessed with instances and aspects of everyday life that pass unnoticed. You will find him writing most likely sitting on a pillow by the window overlooking the skyline or tucked away in a hidden courtyard while having a shisha. If you don’t find him there he is probably in the kitchen experimenting with some random ingredients and enjoying a glass of red.

Her music effortlessly melds cultures, underpinning them all with her rich, soulful vocals and heartfelt lyricism. Raised in Dubai, a nexus of cultures, ideas and sounds, Gayathri also contributes to dailies and magazines in the region as a Writer/Editor. For more on her creative projects check out www.behindthepopfilter.blogspot.com

news&products Elie Afif releases Giant Steps to Heaven The local music scene was just blessed with an incredible album release from the ridiculously talented Elie Afif, and his band. Giant Steps to Heaven has not left our CD-drives or heads ever since the first moment it graced our ears. He plays with the passion and skill expected of the most seasoned Jazz musicians. His launch event, presented by the biggest supporters of local music, The Fridge, was incredible. Jazz fans, who can be incredibly picky and judgemental, were dazed, amazed and most of all impressed with the level of talent and professionalism of Elie and the band. The album will be officially launched in October, so keep an eye out and make sure you grab a copy the second it’s out to support one of the region’s most talented musicians. If you just can’t wait until October for your copy of Giant Steps to Heaven, get the digital album here: elieafif.bandcamp.com Don’t forget to show him some love on Facebook too! Just look up “Elie Afif Quartet”. elieafif.bandcamp.com

Sziget Festival in Hungary

It’s already July, and if you still haven’t got your dose of crazy European music festivals in, don’t fret! There’s a huge one coming up this August in Hungary that rakes in over 200,000 crazy party animals from all over the world, every year. Enjoy music from Xiu Xiu, La Roux, Kasabian, Kaiser Chiefs, Interpol, Manic Street Preachers, TheNational, White Lies, Gogol Bordello, and much, much, much more! From European bands, to local acts, and tents that include: Roma, Rock and Metal, Party Arena, World Music, Reggae, and more. Honestly, there’s even more. And the best part is that this 7 day festival is on an island. And these 200,000 festival goers actually camp there. Needless to say, the quint team will be covering the event so look out for crazy coverage of the craziest festival in Europe in our next issue! Buy your tickets and find out more at www.sziget.hu

My Ex Wardrobe - Giving Clothes a Second Chance at Happiness My Ex Wardrobe was set up by three Dubai-based sisters with the aim to fill a gap in the ‘pre-loved’ and second hand markets, focused primarily at mainstream fashion. With interests in all things ‘green’ the idea worked well to help reduce consumerism and clothing wastage. Starting off as a series of monthly events that are held at a variety of accessible and adaptable venues throughout Dubai; the concept for which are to offer a social arena for ladies to shop for high street labels at reduced prices. All the clothes and accessories are pre-owned and the prices depend on whether they are never worn (with original tags intact), nearly new or well loved! A great way to benefit from retail therapy without straining the bank balance! Some ladies even choose to donate any unsold items to charity. In the near future My Ex Wardrobe will be heading online to offer everyone the opportunity to sell their unwanted apparel and to browse and bag some bargains! There will also be specialized sections for menswear, maternity clothes and children’s clothes, supported by relevant events. For more information, and to keep up-to-date, follow them on twitter.com/MyExWardrobe and check out their facebook page. facebook.com/MyExWardrobe

Lytro So what is this fancy gadget they call the light field camera? This, my friends, is the evolution of cameras and a photographer’s wet-dream. How many times have you sat down, unpacked your weapon of a camera, twiddled with settings, and as you pushed buttons to adjust and readjust your settings, looked through the viewfinder, then back at your settings and finally back at your viewfinder to realise you missed your sons first steps? (Or any other such highly important, and once in a lifetime moment?) This little gadget will be your picture-snapping saviour. No more fighting with dials and settings, no flat boring photographs and no focusing issues, it’s a solution for everything. It goes from sleep to snap in under a second and what makes it even better is the fact that you can switch focus after you’ve taken your shot; if need be of course. The way it works is that with a click of a button it not only captures your regular picture but all the light parameters in that one shot. In other words it gathers all information for the amount of light dispersed from every angle, virtually defining space within the area, and giving you the choice to change focus or exposure settings after you’ve taken your shot. That way you can focus on capturing the moment, rather than wasting precious moments setting up to do so. www.lytro.com

Steve Jobs Toy For those who don’t already know, there’s this company called Apple, run by a guy named Steve Jobs. This guy, Jobs, is the man behind all those pretty gadgets, from iPhones to iPods, Macbooks to iPads, and more. Jobs has reached a sort of cult following, and just like Britney, Angelina Jolie, and Marilyn Monroe – Jobs too has been made into a doll. Or, rather, a 1/6 scale, limited edition, 12-inch collectible figurine. And of course Steve always travels with his own toys, which include 1/6 scale items such as the iMac, Magic Mouse, keyboard, iPhone 4, iPad 2, desk, chair, and of course Steve’s ubiquitious black turtle neck, New Balance sneakers, and jeans. Now, this might sound strange, but there is a certain designer on our team who will most likely be ordering his very own mini-Jobs to adorn is desk. A desk, mind you, which practically serves as a living commercial for Apple, Inc. Get yours too and fly your Apple flag high! toyhaven.blogspot.com/2011/06/this-is-job-for-steve.html

Pixel furniture

These pixilated takes on furniture necessities would be right at home in a designer’s cave. Not only are they bold statement makers but they are aesthetically unique and totally eye-catching. These whimsical furniture designs are the brain-child of Barcelona-born London-based Cristian Zunzunaga. These little pixel toys are great for a fun-urban setting. Set against a plain colored wall in an apartment, these little beauties are guaranteed to pop right at you. But the pixel world doesn’t end there; designers Brittliv,(www.instructables.com/member/BrittLiv)Studio Makkink and Bey (www.studiomakkinkbey.nl), and 35togo (www.35togo.com) have come up with other exceptional creations enough to alter your perception of reality. From trash cans, to chairs made of recycled wood, to even coasters, they have assured to make you feel like you just stepped into Lego world. For those of you with 8-bit structured minds out there, living in a Photoshop world would be a pixel dream come true, so why not?

www.cristianzuzunaga.com

Lambretta Scooter with VW Bus Lambretta Scooter with VW Bus Splitter We here at quint have certain obsessions, as you have certainly picked up on. One of these is scooters. The other is those awesomely retro VW buses. Now, a combination of the two – that definitely floats our proverbial boat. As soon as these ridiculously hot summer days pass, all we want to do is cruise down Jumeirah Beach Road in one of these achingly awesome scooters with one or more quint friends in the sidecar. Roaring sport cars are so last year… http://blog.motorcycle.com/tag/lambretta-scooter/

Bel & Bel Vespa office furniture Global warming has been the trend topic lately, and everyone’s bent on protecting our mommy Earth, with all effort being made to reduce, reuse and recycle. But we have some great news, now you can be fashionably green while being incredibly stylish as well with Bel & Bel office furniture made from Vespa scooters. Everyone’s favourite little Italian scooter, with the two-stroke, single cylinder engine, is unfortunately a big threat to our constantly suffering environment. But Bel & Bel have given old unusable scooters new lives as enviable office furniture. Turning the leg shields and seats of older Vespas into a great initiative for green furniture, Bel & Bel has turned many heads, including ours. www.belybel.com

Jamboxx

Scribbly We’re all for gadgets, but Scribbly has injected some much needed familiarity into an overly digitised world. Scribbly replicates the look and feel of an old school marker pen for your iPad or iPhone. Make notes, scribble, sketch and more with this awesome marker. Get creative and enjoy this recall to the days of those “old school” pens and pencils. www.scribbly.co.uk

Remember the days when kids would walk down the block with massive “boomboxes” nestled into their shoulders? Blasting Run DMC, wearing ridiculous clothes, and breaking out into sporadic dance moves in the street? Ok maybe not, but it would cool to strut your stuff with music blasting right on your shoulder. So, with tongue firmly in cheek, we present the Jamboxx, from Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners. Download to your iPad, blast music, hold up on your shoulder, and strut. itunes.apple.com/us/app/ jamboxx/id376741358?mt=8

news&products find them in

IOION

Amal Al Beiti We’re always looking to support talented local artists, and here’s one to add to your radar! Amal al Beiti. Amal, a freelance digital artist in Dubai, has created a line of hand-made greeting cards that mix aspects of her culture in a conventional style to create a unique hybrid that relates to both locals and expats.

Being trendy and healthy just became easier with IOION watches, the Italian fashion craze of innovative, waterproof watches. The silicon wristbands are treated with Tourmaline, a semi-precious stone known for its natural electric charge and ionic properties. Tourmaline, activated by body heat, pressure or water, releases ions that contribute to the body’s overall relaxation, balance and well-being. Leave it to the everstylish Italians to find a way for us to wear really cute watches that actually keep us healthy.

Sony Xperia www.nativeunion.com/hk/ wiredproducts/popphone.html

Zoom Q3HD If you’re one of those people that love to blog, tweet, and document just about everything then the only tool missing in your arsenal is the Zoom Q3HD. This handy video recorder takes Zoom’s renowned audio technology prowess and combines it with HD video, allowing you to capture every moment with stunning clarity and resolution. Which means no more blurry out of focus pictures of your favourite band during a gig – everything is crystal clear. Just in time for festival season!

Are you a BB-head or an Apple maniac? Neither? Then we’ve got the phone for you. The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play is the only Playstation certified Android smartphone that lets you get in touch with your inner gamer. This fun gadget does all that a BlackBerry® or iPhone™ can do, but it is also made to entertain you with games no matter where you are.

Angry Birds Tshirt We know how your heart jumps when you see little, very angry birds fly across your screen. We know the exhilarating feeling you get when a house of bricks fall upon those evil green pigs. What started out as a simple game for smartphones has taken the gaming world by storm. Simple, effective, and a great reliever of stress and pent up rage, Angry Birds has finally managed to creep into our closets! Now you can wear your addiction on your sleeve in various designs and colours.

MIMOBOT

Bucky Balls

MIMOBOT designer USB flash drives are a really fun twist on an office necessity. Turn heads from every cubicle as your co-workers strive to check out your fun, nerdfriendly, and very unique USB. And these pack power with all that style. Choose from 2 GB to 16 GB memory and various characters from Star Wars, Hello Kitty and more.

To the untrained eye, these magnetic balls might seem pretty simple. But oh are they addictive! You literally cannot put them down, and the possibilities are endless. The Buckyballs Bucky Sidekick includes small, shiny, and magnetic balls. And these, kids, are all the elements you need to have endless hours of fun. We are not ashamed to admit we’re easily amused.

On Saving the World written by: Fares Bou Nassif illustrated by: Eszter Laki

Design

Something told me she was trying to make a point. So I took a break a little.

Go volunteer at a soup kitchen, you pretentious fuck.

Break’s over, and I’m writing this now. Design won’t save the world.

Think of this for a minute. It’s what my girlfriend posted on my Facebook wall the other day:

won’t save the world 10

I’d been obsessing over many things: the iOS and iCloud first and foremost, and Apple in general; fonts and their elegant and luxurious potential; the aesthetic beauty of construction in Amsterdam as I imagined it would look once I saw it; intricacies of design detailing that generally meant nothing to her.

My last article potentially espoused a whole different point of view: On Idealism and Design Education almost suggests that design can save the world, or at least should try to – but almost isn’t enough.

online already have, and I challenged it a few times silently in my head: what subgroup of design does this refer to; how do you define the world; what part of that world are we trying to save exactly?

Idealism is key to improving design, and thinking empowers idealism and creativity, but that alone will not bring about some miraculous meaning to a designer’s job.

All of these are very good questions, but the trick is that whatever the answer, the statement still holds. Graphic, information, product, interior, fashion, industrial, architectural, and even urban design can help save the world. The world is both the environment and the people who live in it, it is both the rich and the poor: one society’s design excellence does not necessarily have to disregard another’s, and the natural world around us need not be destroyed to enhance our production – both can be saved in their various ways, indiscriminately.

Throughout my attempts at studying design practice, I tend to come along one particular hurdle: passion. Designers claim they can coerce change, or otherwise improve our quality of life and that is somewhat true, but that only holds among those designers who are passionate. I am not one of them, and hence I quickly and almost immediately gave up the job of the designer to, instead, do what I love: write. Writing can change the world, but so can design. Both work tirelessly at delivering messages in the most effective and far-reaching ways, and both tend to do so successfully. So it is that, once obsessed, a designer can create life changing work. Some of you would probably want to take the above statement to a deeper place. I know many bloggers and commentators

The distinct ways to save the planet and save the people are too many to enumerate, but more so they should, ideally, still be unknown, undiscovered. It would seem that a creative’s discovery of such solutions, possibilities, or whatever they might be, would be their proof of the designer’s ability to save the world. That is no easy task. An understanding of the world and a passion to improve it would be necessary. Theorising could lead us to a million places, but that would

only serve to advance the brainstorming process and direct your thought patterns. And I don’t feel like doing that. Find a cause, understand it, pinpoint a direction, and design a solution. Or let design not really save the world. Let it just change it. There is plenty of activism, plenty of political statements, and plenty of consumer-centric social behaviour that can really be influenced by designers and their work, allowing the populace to direct their attentions towards a particular entity. The idea is not to declare one method of salvation, since nobody knows what works and what doesn’t, even if they believe they do. The idea is to encourage change, and let the rest happen as it should. Like our Arab Spring. Nobody said design can save the world, but it can change it. After all, if you’re so inclined towards saving the world, then volunteering at a soup kitchen could definitely do that, one mouth at a time.

DESIGN

Daniel Mackie has worked as an illustrator since 1995 and has an extensive client list including Adobe, Natmag- Rodale, Penguin and Virgin. Last year Daniel decided to abandon photoshop and work entirely with watercolour. He has recently been awarded â&#x20AC;&#x153;Best in Bookâ&#x20AC;? in the Creative Review Illustration Annual 2011. www.danielmackie.com danielmackie.wordpress.com

DESIGN

email : gopi@digitalworldprinting.com

DESIGN

getting N_K_D with Robbie We love our food. And particularly, we love pizza. Whether slaving away at the office at ridiculous hours, or Friday’s spent in front of the TV, pizza is always the answer to the eternal question, “What do we eat for dinner?” So the arrival of NKD Pizza in our fair city was welcomed with joyous delivery orders at all hours of the day and night. We enjoyed the quick delivery (no more 1 hour plus waits), the friendly staff, and the delicious, all natural ingredients. Plus the idea that we can actually be healthy while indulging in our favourite fast food made it all the more attractive. But something truly unique and eye-catching about NKD Pizza is the brand. Yes, we’re brand geeks, but it transcends that. The brand is lively, fun, playful, and it backs all this up by making a product that everyone loves, love them right back. All natural pizza, all natural brand. Needless to say, we were intrigued. 26

After a quick phone call to the store we got in touch with Ian, a very friendly guy who runs NKD Pizza in the UAE, and he put us in touch with head honcho Robbie Vitrano, who was kind enough to chat with us about the name, the brand, and the pizza that has been on everyone’s minds and in everyone’s stomachs lately. Our first question, of course, was about the name. When NKD Pizza first opened in the UAE, we had a giggle at their fill in the blank cheekiness. We all knew it’s “naked” and we all understood that it wasn’t an invitation to discard all clothes and inhibitions at their pizza joint (unfortunately). But the fun way of getting around offending the local culture was as enjoyable as it was thoughtful. Robbie explained the history of the name “Naked” and how it transformed into NKD or N_K_D as it is here in the UAE. “The name initially started its life as ‘the world’s healthiest pizza’, and it was physiologically designed to be something people have never seen before. By making something that is essentially world-renowned, but perhaps the most unhealthy fast food that there is, a little bit healthier, we thought that’s all we really need to do – come out with the product, call it what it is, and it’ll be great, and people will beat a path to our door. But what we found was that there was a little too much preach in that, and we found that people questioned ‘if it’s healthy, could it taste good?’ So we thought about a few things. About how we’ll go to market, how we talk about it, but in particular we thought, ‘let’s find a name that’s a lot more accessible, that’s fun to say, but still has some substance to it’. So not just a clever name, but also something that references and informs what we do. So ‘naked’ means ‘natural’. It’s a reference to stripping down to what matters.” And that extends to their business model. NKD Pizza ensures that this dedication to “all-natural” is expressed in how they treat employees, how they work, and how they communicate. “[The name] transcends the product itself in terms of whole food ingredients, all natural, free of chemicals and added sugar, but it also relates to what we’re trying to demonstrate within our business and our practice, which is that you can essentially build a business that is profitable,

employees people, makes money for investors but also serves a social purpose.” This desire to do good in the world is highly evident in everything NKD Pizza does. Pizza is, in it’s essence very healthy, but the fast food industry has turned it into something greasy, fatty, and all around gross. So by taking a fast food staple and transforming it into something that can actually benefit our health is admirable, especially considering the state of waistlines around the world. “By addressing the social ill of an obesity epidemic that is not just unique to the USA, but is also as significant in places like the UAE, and western Europe, we are also addressing the chronic disease that is afflicting people in ways that reduce their quality of life. So there’s a personal toll, but there’s also a huge economic toll. In the USA alone it’s about $7500 per person/per capita for health care providing. That’s expected to double over the next 5 years. The idea is that we want to get at these issues, but the first thing we need is an honest handshake.” The UAE’s obesity problem is constantly increasing, as is diabetes. People live a sedentary, luxurious lifestyle and are prone to eating from all the new Western fast food places that pop up so quickly around the country. So before NKD Pizza could do some good here, they had to find a way to introduce themselves in the UAE. And to do that they realised they’d have to do something about the name. “We understood that there would be some reaction to using the word ‘naked’ in a public context, and it might be offensive in the Arab culture. Oftentimes Americans are not very educated about Arab culture, so we wanted to make sure we didn’t do the wrong thing, especially as a brand.” So the NKD Pizza team did what any group of executives does when they’re about to take on new business. “We went on this motorcycle ride across the USA to find out if we wanted to do business together. We were in the Midwest for about 6 days – from Santa Fe, New Mexico, and made it all the way to the Pacific coast, and it was in the midst of that ride that we said, let’s take the name and drop

a couple letters where people can play with it a little bit, create some intrigue around it, but we wouldn’t introduce the name with a sense of violation. But obviously, phonetically it still is understood to be Naked Pizza. We wanted to make sure we were culturally sensitive, without violating the basic brand principles. Dropping out the vowels, creating a tease and intrigue around the name that still registered with our brand and phonetically allowed people to pronounce the name of the brand, seemed like a good idea, and we didn’t over think it. It also allows us to gradually introduce the ‘Naked’ name. Playing with the name is much more effective than avoiding the whole thing and playing into censorship.” The iconography used by NKD Pizza is one of our favourite parts of their brand. It’s fun and interesting, and a refreshing step away from endless Photoshopped pictures of vegetables, steaming hot pizzas, and screaming taglines. “[Our design] is a careful process, and you could accuse us of over-thinking it. But approaching something like this from a design standpoint says, that if you’re an all natural brand, dealing with ingredients that are free of chemicals, you should build the brand as a kind of a nutty crunchy, back to nature brand, with very earnest photography. The intuitive place you’d go with that is browns, yellows, greens; the ingredients would be more photographic than representational or iconic. But one of the cues that we took was from the amazing work being done with infographics. The beauty of infographics is that they’re designed to take complex information and render it in simple, accessible ways. And if you look at the category in general you’ll see that with big companies, who actually have less than all natural products in many respects of their business, have more money than anyone and they can do the best photography out there. So it’s not like we’re going to be able to do better photography – they can do a more beautiful photograph of a tomato or a bell pepper or a pizza, there’s no way we’re going to do a better photograph – we might do it different, but not better. So instead of walking right into their strength, we decided to zag a bit and sort of render this idea into its simple, accessible elements. The bright green was a natural and it was hard to avoid as a core colour, but we quickly developed a palette that includes 9 different colours that are complimentary in nature. So it extends the palette in a way that is a bit unexpected, but works as system and gives us flexibility in designing the environment, marketing materials, digital platform. The engagement was to say, let’s take that in a way that renders it in simple, accessible icons, that really emphasise that our menu is very simple. So we said from a design standpoint let’s design our product in a way that allows people to understand the things they need to understand. And back to our original mission, we always felt that if we gave too much information in the beginning, then we’d probably do ourselves more harm than good. The good thing about being a healthy product that is significantly different than other products is that it allows you to really kind of strip down your branding. And if you can apply just a little bit of discipline to it, then you can let your customers make the discovery, they can own it, and they can share it and it will become so much more powerful.” Copywriting and tone of voice are very important for a brand, yet unfortunately a lot of companies neglect this. NKD Pizza on the other hand seems to have a well-planned corporate language. They understand humour, and know that we, the general public and their customers, do too. Turns out, Rob has experience in this area with a long history in advertising. “I started my life as a copywriter; I love to write and craft design and messages in general. And we

have great content. Our co-founders and partners are all really funny guys, so it’s like a comedy writing team. We come up with a lot of ideas and thoughts and they generally leave me alone to synthesize it into the final product. Our tone is very conversational. That’s a very important part of it. The word that I use on just about every brief that we create is ‘accessibility’. Make our service accessible, make our stores accessible, and make our concept accessible. The reason why healthy options in the fast food category haven’t worked is because they’ve not been accessible. And as a result, they end up preaching to the choir. The tone of voice is meant to be fun, and we just can’t be perceived as taking ourselves too seriously. This isn’t a silver bullet; it’s not a medicine that you’re supposed to consume to solve your problems. It’s meant to be an example of how a very large, and very culturally influential business can make some very specific choices, and do some good in the world. Our basic premise is that people still want convenience and affordability and taste, and our job is just to make that a little more available. And we think if we make it available to more people, then they will opt into doing things that are healthier.” Everyone knows about NKD Pizza here but we haven’t seen any advertising. So how did the brand actually manage to spread the word without paid media? “We don’t advertise in the traditional sense of paid media, at this point. And that’s not necessarily because we never will or that we hate paid media, but if you think about our business model, we have a very defined delivery area, so any amount of advertising that we pay for that spills beyond that delivery area really isn’t that useful to us at this particular point. The old way of doing it, and the way larger brands do it in the UAE, is that if they have more distribution places, they don’t have to worry about where their message geographically falls. But for us, with only a few stores open, we really have to force ourselves to be more precise about where we put our message and who gets it and how they get it. So that forces us to be a little more focused.” To spread the word, NKD Pizza adopted social media, as many up and coming companies are doing, and as the bigger ones are attempting to do as well. “We use a combination of social media as a platform for ongoing dialogue; it helps to extend our personality. And we know there aren’t a zillion different people following us at any given moment, but there are enough people that it allows us to keep our chops, and have that exchange. So that’s extremely important to us even though it’s not accomplishing, on a very objective level, a great reach, and a media buyer would probably cringe at it. But in general in social media, the way we think about it is that Facebook is a great influencer. It reaches people and allows us to talk to people who put a lot of value on knowing how things work and what’s interesting and what isn’t. So that’s more of an influencer platform, and there are others. But Facebook is more of a brand relationship module; people are more understanding of the fact that it’s closer to a transaction, whereas twitter is more about getting to know one another. We try to be mindful of that; we try to be very mindful of not violating people’s trust within the social media construct.”

5. pictures

So will we see advertising campaigns from NKD Pizza in the future? “At some point where there are enough Naked Pizzas on the landscape, you might see more advertising for us naked because picturesthere are great opportunities and great mediums thatshould are not perfect Our food photography feel elaborately staged, but more scientific, as in “this is a pizza,” not “this is a pizza dressed up to make you want to eat it.” It should feel natural and even imperfect, leaving evidence

for us because the content is there and the people are there. So we’re not averse to that at all, it’s more about achieving a level of scale that makes it work a little better for us.” We recently announced the Starving Artists creative competition with NKD Pizza, which aims to find GCC-based artists to submit their work in the theme of Ramadan. We think it’s a great effort from NKD Pizza and we hope it will set a good example to other companies in this region to support the creative community while they promote themselves as well in a subtle and honest way. “This is our first overt promotion with this sort of visual art type of programme. We’ve worked with performance artists and events. The way we go to market is that we initially reach out to the entrepreneurial, creative, technology start-up social media community, along with the health and nutrition community. So as we introduce ourselves to people, it’s not the most sophisticated thing in the world, but it’s mainly for us to build our base around like-minded people. We define ourselves as a thoroughly post-recession, post-mass media kind of business. And if you look around you, you’ll see that there are a lot of pretty interesting people who are approaching business in very different ways now, because of the experiences of the last few years. You build a different sort of resilience, and knowingness with those types of likeminded companies and individuals. And so what we hope for and see in our future is that we’ll continue to introduce ourselves, when we enter a market, first to that start-up community and to those people who are interested in business that behaves in a socially responsible way. We’ll also use tools like technology and design as a way of ingraining ourselves and finding the people we like spending time with and building that kind of philosophical relationship. And by definition the artist community and the creative community are a part of that. We love the ecosystem premise, and we feel like that gives us a solid, resilient base from which to start to do some of the more tactical type of marketing that allows us to sell pizza.” For Rob, the NKD Pizza company is a chance to do some good while putting his experiences into practice with a grassroots organisation. “Personally it’s the opportunity to do a few different things. Having worked in advertising for over 20 years as a consultant, you give a lot of good advice. After Katrina, the city was over 80% destroyed and it was all about what are you going to do with your time. So I made the move to start working further upstream with early stage companies, to actually incorporate the marketing into the business itself. And the other side of it is that we have an opportunity to demonstrate that business can behave in a much more responsible way, and profit can be designed in a way that’s inseparable as part of the business construct. If you think about not only the financial downturn and the failing of business but also how that damages the integrity of business in general and damages people’s confidence in general. So the opportunity with NKD Pizza was a chance to apply that sort of work. The ethos, the culture, the things that we touch and do is as evident in the product, the design, culture, and experience as it is in the communication and advertising. So personally this is a chance to get it right, which is fascinating to me.”

DESIGN

HOW DID YOU BECOME AN ARTIST? DID YOU STUDY DESIGN OR SCULPTURE?

COULD YOU TELL US ABOUT YOUR TECHNIQUE AND MATERIALS YOU USE?

I went to an Arts Magnet High School in Dallas that exposed me to a lot of techniques and artists at a very young age. When I started college, I made a shift and began studying science. I was particularly interested in sciences of the big like Cosmology as well as sciences of the small like Quantum Mechanics. After a year of science courses, I did a little soul searching and decided that I wanted to pursue art more than science.

After I have decided on a subject matter, I make pencil and paper architectural sketches to show scale and elevations. Each project begins as a full sheet of wood. I use a table saw to mill the wood down into strips. Next, I cut the strips into smaller pieces of some predetermined denomination. At this point, I start dying the wood with inks and acrylic paint to get different colorations.

For my BFA, I studied printmaking and art history at Washington University in St. Louis. For my MFA, I studied Sculpture at the California College of the Arts (and Crafts, as it used to be called).

YOUR WORK AND STYLE IS VERY UNIQUE. MIXING THE STYLES OF DIGITAL IMAGERY AND SCULPTURE IS SOMETHING VERY UNUSUAL. HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE CONCEPT? I started making this style of work during my last year of graduate school in 2005. I arrived at the process in a convoluted way. During my first year of graduate school I had a difficult time finding something that I wanted to focus on. I was making small sculptures using a variety of materials and found footage 35mm films. I think the films began to influence me in a new way that ultimately began to inform the sculpture. In the films, I was concentrating on natural subjects I knew very little about (first hand) I was fascinated with how the films viewpoints, sound, and editing constructed a context and gave nature a fleeting identity for me. I started thinking back to when I was young growing up in Dallas and that I had never been camping or spent much time in nature. The only way I new nature was through a second hand source like a computer/television screen. I got to thinking a little more about some of the earliest depictions of nature that stuck out in my head and remembered how natural objects were depicted in video games particularly the game Pitfall. For many years prior to the “pixilated” works, I had always liked using small pieces to make up a large identity. Seeing the blocky and abstract pixels that made up a larger identity began to intrigue me in a new way. I started paying attention to what information was provided and what was deleted. There is an economy of information here. Only the necessary bits are rendered to create the identity of the objects.

After everything is dry, I begin to assemble the pieces pixel by pixel. I use wood glue for a strong bond with some flexibility. I use my preliminary sketches like a road map to know how many pieces and how long they should be. About 70% of the way into the process, I abandon the map and start free forming the object (I feel like the object will benefit with more liveliness and flow this way). If I stick with the map 100% of the time, I fear the sculpture will look to stiff and blocky. As for materials, I use primarily wood. I like composite woods like MDF and particle board. However, I have used a lot of balsa and bass wood. For outdoor pieces, I like to use stainless steel.

A LOT OF YOUR ARTWORKS ARE ABOUT ANIMALS. HOW DO YOU PICK YOUR SUBJECTS? I choose my subjects for a variety of reasons. Here is a list of some: natural patterns, mythology, commenting on how nature and technology might collide, predator prey relationships, natural selection, artificial selection, endangerment, something I have never seen before, diet, and sometimes a feeling that I want to work with this particular animal/subject and see what comes out.

WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR THE FUTURE? ARE YOU GOING TO CONTINUE THIS SERIES OR EXPERIMENT WITH SOMETHING DIFFERENT? I have quite a few shows lined up in the future at the moment. I am working on a piece for the “40 Under 40: Craft” Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery which opens in 2012. As of right now, I plan to keep working within this series. I do make departures from time to time - depending on the demands of the piece I am working on. I try to be sensitive about letting the work go where it wants to in an organic fashion.

ENJOY MORE OF SHAWN’S WORK AT: WWW.SHAWNSMITHART.COM At this point I made a switch back to sculpture, in that I wanted to see if I could make a natural form using blocky pixels (or voxels). I started asking myself: what would an encounter with one of these digital objects look like in our reality? I chose a simple deer head out of MDF. I worked on this piece continuously for about 7 weeks at 10 hours a day. After a marathon of work, I finally made it work!

DESIGN

Madrid-based illustrator and portraitist José is interested in a new and contemporary view of portraiture that connects via social networking and other methods of internet collaboration. Using watercolor — where lighting is particularly important to the paintings’ composition — as his primary technique, Hortelano always attempts to unveil the flesh as a cornerstone of energy and humanity. He instills each of his drawings with intimacy and tries to catch the eye of the watcher with some gaze and flirtatious look. His lastest exhibition “Voy a tener suerte” (I’m going to be lucky) has been featured around the world, and in social networks such as Behance and Beautiful/Decay. José’s works have been published in Rolling Stone, El Pais newspaper, and magazines such as Yorokubo and Lamono. Check out more of José’s work at www.zapbookseries.es

DESIGN

FEATURED ARTIST

YOU USED TO LIVE IN DUBAI, BUT YOU’VE MOVED TO SAN FRANCISCO ALMOST 2 YEARS AGO TO STUDY AT THE ACADEMY OF ART UNIVERSITY. AFTER YEARS AS AN ARTIST AND FILM MAKER, EXHIBITING YOUR WORK, AND WORKING IN THE CREATIVE INDUSTRY, WHY DID YOU DECIDE AT THE AGE OF 36 TO GO BACK TO UNIVERSITY? In Hungary, people of my age had different possibilities than younger people do right now. It was more difficult to travel than it is now. I always wanted to study abroad to learn and gain experience, but I didn’t have the chance. When I turned 36 everything went so smoothly. I believe that was the right time to come here. WHAT DID YOU LEARN IN SAN FRANCISCO SO FAR? That’s a hard question because I’m filled with new impressions. I need some distance in time and space to understand them, but I already know that San Francisco helped me confirm some thoughts. For example, art is a hard work, ego is dangerous, my roots are very important, and I have to stay in the present. HOW DID AMERICA CHANGE YOUR ART? DID YOU TAKE ANYTHING WITH YOU FROM DUBAI? The USA is a huge and varied country and I’ve only experienced living in San Francisco, where there is a big South American and Asian community. Murals and Chinese painting techniques piqued my interest. In Dubai I did research in Arabic art and the richness of motifs. Calligraphy amazed me and this forced me to think about my roots: Hungarian folk art and design. On the other hand, Dubai was a very important turning point, like San Francisco is a chief station in my life. Dubai was the first place where I worked abroad, and it made me solid. San Francisco is the first place where I study abroad and it dissolves me. As an artist I need both and I believe all of these experiences shape my art in an unconscious way. I KNOW YOU HAVE CERTAIN ASSIGNMENTS AT UNIVERSITY, BUT DO YOU GET TO CHOOSE YOUR SUBJECTS NOWADAYS OR DO YOU ONLY PAINT WHAT THEY ASK YOU TO? THE REASON I’M ASKING THIS IS BECAUSE I KNOW IT’S HARD TO PAINT ON COMMAND, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU HAVE BEEN DOING THIS FOR YEARS. DO ASSIGNMENTS REMIND YOU OF THE CORPORATE WORLD, WHERE YOU HAVE TO BE “CREATIVE” RIGHT ON THE SPOT? This university is in the middle, which is a good place to be. They keep the focus on the skills and the creativity at the same time. There are many assignments for both, stringent requirements guides the students toward their own style. Instructors don’t say what to paint and how, but they teach and require the elements of painting, drawings, color theory, composition and design. Exercises help you find the way to make a living doing your own art. SAN FRANCISCO IS A FAMOUS CREATIVE HUB, COULD YOU TELL US ABOUT THE CULTURAL SCENE THERE? WHAT DO YOU SEE ON THE STREETS? WHAT INSPIRES YOU? As I mentioned before my wife Diana and I continuously stay in this city. This is good because interesting thoughts lay on the streets. I’ve already spoken about art or philosophy with taxi drivers and I’ve had many interesting conversations in a cable car or in a bus stop. It is amazing. For an open-minded person, San Francisco is a gold mine. In San Francisco different cultures are able to live together and this quality inspires me on every level. I was born and raised in central Europe, where Eastern and Western influences always formed the culture together. This is my tradition; I guess I fit in San Francisco. WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS AFTER UNIVERSITY? ARE YOU PLANNING TO STAY IN THE STATES? I have certain plans for the future. As everyone else, Diana and I are strongly attached to our home. We miss our family, friends, language and culture. We would like to go back to Hungary, but life is unpredictable. Especially here. We are open to changes. WOULD YOU LIKE TO SAY SOMETHING TO THE ARTISTS IN DUBAI? I do not have any special advice for artists who live in Dubai. I would say the same as I usually do to my musician or painter friends: keep on and work hard. I know it sounds too simple, but in my opinion, artists are makers. They are people who create things; therefore they have to work hard. For me, painting, graphic art or cinematography are passions; professions that never end. I have to do it all the time. If I can’t at least I have to think about it which is more tiring. WWW.TIBORSIMON.COM

DESIGN TIBOR SIMON

DESIGN

MEGATROOPER ANAS AL HAKIM A graphic design graduate from IUST Damascus, 23-year-old Anas is a Junior Art Director at JWT, serious South Parker and lover of all things cool. Although he’s been in Dubai for a few months, he is still exploring the city but has already embraced its heat and generous portions.

PRISMAN KARINE JABER My name is Karine Jaber aka k’reen and I am a self taught graphic designer... During my childhood, we changed countries many times (Ivory Coast, Gabon, France, Lebanon) and this created in me an absolute unwavering passion for culture and art. Since my youngest age I wanted to enroll in Art School but circumstances made me study educational psychology, which I don’t regret. It gave me a distinct perception on life and this sense of humanity that I care to use when designing. Everything I create reveals both sad and crude beauties of everyday life, my drawings are a bit juvenile, a bit immature but they tell real stories of human souls. When I am not listening to loud music, driving fast, playing with fire or getting a new tattoo, I am in my “art state of mind” and become like this little kid on a sugar high from finishing his fourth chocolate bar. To have a taste of what this little kid does you can check my facebook page “k’reen design and shit.” or my portfolio http://issuu.com/kreen/docs/karine_portfolio_2011

HIROKOI TJ ABUSTAN Graduated Bachelor of Fine Arts Major in Industrial Design at the University of the Philippines, Diliman and currently works as a Senior Graphic Designer at Virgin Megastore Middle East. Specializes in Print, Motion Graphics, 3D, Print and Visual Communication.

PERISI AZIM AL GHUSSEIN Azim is a dubai-based designer with a child-like love for illustrations, bright colours and epic tales. He just wants to hear, tell, and draw stories. Azim likes nothing more than combining his design training with his self-developed illustrations. He finds inspiration in the work of James Jean, Neil Gaiman, Tarsem Singh and Dita Von Teese.

PHOTOGRAPHY

Title: Abandoned Mosque - Al Qulayaa Project: Sharjah History Images Year: 2008 Medium: Archival Inkjet Print on Hahnemuhle Fine Art Paper Dimensions: 20” x 20” Edition: 8

CAMILLE ZAKHARIA SHARJAH HISTORY IMAGES Camille Zakharia uses his camera to document the journey taken since his departure from Lebanon in 1985. Through photo-montage, collage and print he both reveals and reconstructs his encounters with people and places, exteriors and interiors. Within this process is an exploration of home, identity and belonging in the context of a globalized condition. In 2010, Zakharia exhibited in the Reclaim project at the Bahrain Pavilion of the Venice Biennale’s 12th International Architecture Exhibition, winner of the Golden Lion Award for the best National Participation. In 2009, he was shortlisted for the Jameel Prize that opened at the Victoria and Albert museum. Zakharia whose work is on view at the National Museum of Bahrain until end of June 2011, will be exhibiting later on this year at the Musee du Quai Branley Paris and Royal College of Arts London.

Title: Interior of Shop - Al Ghuwair Project: Sharjah History Images Year: 2008 Medium: Archival Inkjet Print on Hahnemuhle Fine Art Paper Dimensions: 20” x 20” Edition: 8

Title: Shop with Plastic Flowers - Al Ghuwair Project: Sharjah History Images Year: 2008 Medium: Archival Inkjet Print on Hahnemuhle Fine Art Paper Dimensions: 20” x 20” Edition: 8

Title: Construction Site - Al Mujarrah Project: Sharjah History Images Year: 2008 Medium: Archival Inkjet Print on Hahnemuhle Fine Art Paper Dimensions: 20” x 20” Edition: 8

Title: Kalba Project: Sharjah History Images Year: 2008 Medium: Archival Inkjet Print on Hahnemuhle Fine Art Paper Dimensions: 20” x 20” Edition: 8

Title: Veiled Mannequin - Al Shuwaihean Project: Sharjah History Images Year: 2008 Medium: Archival Inkjet Print on Hahnemuhle Fine Art Paper Dimensions: 20” x 20” Edition: 8

Title: Interior of Photography Shop - Al Ghuwair Project: Sharjah History Images Year: 2008 Medium: Archival Inkjet Print on Hahnemuhle Fine Art Paper Dimensions: 20” x 20” Edition: 8

PHOTOGRAPHY - CAMILLE ZAKHARIA

Title: Urban Landscape - Industrial Area 9 Project: Sharjah History Images Year: 2008 Medium: Archival Inkjet Print on Hahnemuhle Fine Art Paper Dimensions: 20” x 20” Edition: 8

Title: Urban Landscape - Al Mamzar Project: Sharjah History Images Year: 2008 Medium: Archival Inkjet Print on Hahnemuhle Fine Art Paper Dimensions: 20” x 20” Edition: 8

Title: Urban Landscape - Al Khaledia Project: Sharjah History Images Year: 2008 Medium: Archival Inkjet Print on Hahnemuhle Fine Art Paper Dimensions: 20” x 20” Edition: 8

Title: Sofa - Al Mujarrah Project: Sharjah History Images Year: 2008 Medium: Archival Inkjet Print on Hahnemuhle Fine Art Paper Dimensions: 20” x 20” Edition: 8

PHOTOGRAPHY

featured photographer

SARA ORME A New Zealander living in Auckland, Sara Orme starting making pictures 15 years ago. Today she is a leading photographer, creating refreshingly energetic fashion photography and in depth documentary work. Lucky enough to grow up in a creative family environment, Sara was exposed to artists, galleries, books and art from a very young age. This exposure to the arts fed her interest in photography. She attained a degree in Sociology and Art History at Canterbury University before studying photography in Auckland, the influence of which is evident in her work. Her education in Sociology and Art History evolved her vision as a photographer and allowed her to focus on aspects of the human condition. Her work goes beyond just taking another “cool” image. Rather, she takes a documentary approach to fashion photography, aiming to capture those off moments when the models’ guards are down and they are no longer “modeling”. She provides a platform where models can just “be”, and does not interfere too much to try and attain a specific look. Fashion photography provides her with many opportunities to explore facets of her own interests. Her most recent collaboration with Courtney Sanders called “Freedom” epitomizes this. “Freedom” is an ongoing 6 part series, which explores aspects of New Zealand’s fashion set within the varying, dramatic New Zealand landscape. It focuses on the same two models who set upon exploring the environment around them. Sara has taken part in many group exhibitions in recent years, with “Freedom” being one of them. Currently, Sara is working on several personal projects, which will culminate in future books and exhibitions. Check out more of her work at

www.saraorme.com

PHOTOGRAPHY - SARA ORME

PHOTOGRAPHY

“Over half of the ‘mom and pop’ stores in our book, STORE FRONT: THE DISAPPEARING FACE OF NEW YORK have closed.When we wrote the introduction to our book in late 2008, only about one-third of the stores we had photographed were gone.That is one of the reasons why we felt early on that not only did we have to photograph the stores, but also document their history.After speaking with only a handfulof storeowners, we knew we had a compelling story to tell.We discovered that many of the shop owners had fascinating stories to share about the joys and struggles of surviving as a family business in New York City.”

James and Karla Murray are professional photographers and authors who specialize in urban and low-light photography using both film and digital formats. Their bestselling and critically acclaimed book STORE FRONT: The Disappearing Face of New York as well as their graffiti publications, Broken Windows, Burning New York and Miami Graffiti have set the standard for urban documentation. James and Karla Murray have lectured extensively on the subject of the plight of New York City’s mom and pop stores at venues including The New York Public Library, The Brooklyn Historical Society, The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation and The Lower East Side Tenement Museum. They have also appeared live on prime time NBC New York Television’s “Around Town” with Cat Greenleaf, on Harry Allen’s program, “Nonfiction” on WBAI-NY, on NHK Television in Japan and were the subject of NHK’s documentary program, “NY Streets”. Their Store Front photography was also the subject of a 6-page article in Rolling Stone-Germany and has appeared in global publications including Saveur, Print Magazine, Stern, Lufthansa, Die Zeit, and Der Spiegel. Their work has been the subject of exhibitions at the New-York Historical Society and the Brooklyn Historical Society, and is part of the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, the New York Public Library and the Brooklyn Historical Society. They are represented by CLIC Gallery in NYC, East Hampton, NY and St. Barthelemy, FWI. James and Karla live in New York City and Miami with their dog Tabasco. Learn more about James and Karla, and their work, at www.jamesandkarlamurray.com

PHOTOGRAPHY - JAMES & KARLA MURRAY

PHOTOGRAPHY

Rebecca Tillett is a graphic designer and photographer currently residing in the beautiful state of Colorado with her husband and two feisty cats. Her work usually rides the thin line between grit, quirky fashion, and the fashionably nude. Tillett has been shooting since the age of 16 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; her favorite subjects are naked females, and her favorite sets are anywhere but a studio. She found early inspiration in photographers like Chas Ray Krider, Natacha Merritt, Guy Bourdin and David LaChapelle, and she continues to be inspired by television, celebrities, religion, contemporary artists such as Jaime Ibarra and Chris Anthony, the lurking shadows of society, friends, prude America, illustrators, and anything nostalgic, old, abandoned or left behind. Tillett has been the feature of several one-woman shows, most recently at the Mondo Bizzarro Gallery in Rome, Italy in 2010. She has also participated in many collaborative shows, domestic and international. In addition to many online features, she has also appeared in publications such as New York Arts Magazine, Psychologies Magazine, The 2010 Drawgasmic collaborative book, The Best of Black and White (Delius Producing), The New Erotic Photography (Taschen Publishing), and most recently, The Mammoth Book of New Erotic Photography (Maxim Jakubowski).

www.rebeccatillett.com

PHOTOGRAPHY - REBECCA TILLETT

FILM

He adored New York City. He idolised it all out of proportion. Uh, no. Make that: he romanticised it all out of proportion. To him, no matter what the season was, this was still a town that existed in black and white and pulsated to the great tunes of George Gershwin. He adored New York City. Although to him it was a metaphor for the decay of contemporary culture. How hard it was to exist in a society desensitised by drugs, loud music, television, crime, garbage. Behind his black-rimmed glasses was the coiled sexual power of a jungle cat. New York was his town and it always would be. Woody Allen. Director, writer, actor, musician, comedian, and most importantly a strangely delightful mind capable of evoking undying loyalty or unbridled annoyance-inducing hatred. Whatever be your stance, here’s a man that can not and will not be ignored. Being an Allen loyalist, I often find myself defending his work and his controversial personal choices, in heated discussions with friends over dinner, gesticulating wildy, quoting from his films, comparing & contrasting his work as though they were my own. I’ve managed to convert anyone who I truly care about into a fellow Woody Allen freak or have at least forcefully lent out my boxset in the hopes of educating them in the creative genius of one of American Cinema’s living champions. Every once in a while, I find someone who shares my passion and if you’re reading this, you’re either on the same page or have stuck with this purely intrigued by the word “Woody” in the header. Either way, if you’re looking for stimulation, you’ve come to right place. This is an ode, a love letter, an homage to the lovable neurotic, Freud’s posthumous victory, the voice of New York City, and a true auteur.

Woody Allen - The Filmmaker Allen-isms: With a strong background in writing, Allen’s brand of banter showcase his mastery over dialogue, and his natural inclination to write a screenplay like a seasoned playwright distinctively defining his films within the parameters of acts. Working mostly with large ensemble casts, his films are also defined by his stylized approach to direction where he works largely with master shots and actor choreography illustrated brilliantly in films like ‘Hannah & Her Sisters,’ ‘Small Time Crooks’ and ‘Husbands & Wives.’ He regularly employs the same key crew – cinematographers Sven Nyquist, Gordon Willis and Carlo DiPalma; producer Jean Doumanian, and of course his actors, among them Mia Farrow, Diane Keaton, Dianne Weist, Judy Davis, Alan Alda and more recently Scarlett Johansson. In an uncommon practice for Hollywood cinema, Allen wields a notoriously tight control over all aspects of his work – casting, writing, shooting and editing – and, beyond this, is so exalted that he is not required to submit a script for studio approval. After a disastrous experience on 1965′s What’s New, Pussycat? (which he wrote but felt he lost control of during

shooting) Allen has demanded and received virtual autonomy. The Plot: It is undeniable that all of Allen’s films explore certain recurring themes, almost as though a catharsis of sorts. But the most important thing one takes away time after time is Allen’s ability to explore those pet cinematic motifs and ask the same questions in so many different and amusing ways. Throughout his career he has invested a scholar’s commitment to the predicament of man in a doomed universe. For Allen these are all inescapable aspects of humanity and it is thus our lot to struggle with the paradoxes of desire and morality, freedom and faith, consummation and reflection. His films explore the perhaps pointless glorification of conclusion. Play It Again, Sam (Herbert Ross, 1972) Annie Hall and Manhattan (1979) Annie Hall and Manhattan were bittersweet comical films about the loss of love and the perversity of pursuing an idea of romantic happiness. In other films like Interiors (1978) Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) and Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993) death both in actuality and metaphor is explored – a mother commits suicide, a mistress is murdered in cold blood. The fatality of romance for Allen is always in the foreground. In Love and Death (1975), an earnest but comic take on the themes of sex, death and the possibility of an afterlife (set against a nineteenth century Russian literary landscape), Allen’s character Boris cavorts through the woods with the Grim Reaper, both recalling and parodying the Death figure of Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal (1957). A true patron of irony and destiny, in Bullets Over Broadway (1995), the cultivated protagonist David Shayne must watch in despair as Cheech, a brusque bodyguard with an innate feel for dramatic dialogue, improves and champions his play. Mighty Aphrodite (1996) exhibits the theme of fate overtly with an actual Greek chorus on hand to provide commentary and warn on the danger of disturbing the routes of destiny. His more recent films like Match Point (2005), Cassandra’s Dream (2007) and Vicky Christina Barcelona (2008) albeit look better, what with better film technology and some much needed styling, continue to get identified within Allen’s thematic compass. Critics have drawn parallels with philosophers such as Socrates and Jean-Paul Sartre, the latter with regard to the impossibility of authentic romantic long-lasting commitment. And although these films are stems of the

same seed, the eternal inconclusiveness in Allen’s own point of view, his knack of closing every film with a ‘dot dot dot’ instead of a full-stop gives a sense of actual life, an ever-evolving story that is open to interpretation and reflective of one’s own exploration of self, our moral dispositions, our questioning of the meaning of life, its eventual resolution or the lack of it and the ever-persisting questions about love. The ability to see our questions and thoughts in his is what makes his films accessible on a very basic level. Deconstructing Woody: His tendency as a standup comedian to observe has always found voice in his work, be it through his always entertaining monologues, or the idea of creating a central character who has things happen around him, not to him. Referred to by film scholars like Nancy Pogel as the “little-man character”, this idea was first created by the silent movie stars of the teens and twenties, stars like Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd. Consistent with the theory that Allen’s earlier works (prior to Interiors) were written with this little-man idea firmly in mind is the way Allen used to write in female leads who were likable, but would also cause the main character to get into trouble, something the female stars of silent films invariably did. Allen’s little-man persona is truly the root of his comedy success. Whether his characters are named Miles, Mickey, Alvy, or the most fitting moniker of all, Fielding Mellish, despite Allen’s determination to make his character socially beneath the rest of the characters in the script, he still managed to create a character who always has a response to every situation, quick one-liners at the appropriate moments, who inevitably gets the girl and ponders about the most interesting of topics, namely, love and death.

Woody Allen - The Musician Not many know that for decades Allen has been turning up with religious regularity to perform New Orleans-style jazz, first at Manhattan’s Michael’s Pub, and more recently at Cafe Carlyle in the Algonquin Hotel. Despite his obviously sincere and continuing dedication to playing, Allen insists that his clarinet work should not be confused with what professionals do. But anyone who has seen the feature-length documentary ‘Wild Man Blues’ (1998), has reason to question

FILM - WOODY ALLEN Allen’s take on his clarinet playing. Although he cannot be considered a lightning fast virtuoso, his relationship with the Clarinet is palpably emotional which is mirrored in his delicate delivery of ballads. Allen’s affinity for New Orleans music is actually a bit out of sync with his generation. Growing up in the early ‘40s, he heard and enjoyed primarily jazz and big bands, including the work of such clarinetists as Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw. His New Orleans penchant came in the ‘50s, when he first heard Sidney Bechet. And when trombonist Turk Murphy urged him to take his music more seriously, his curiosity turned into experiment and today to expression. In an interview about his connection with music, Allen earnestly remarked, “It’s a much, much more thrilling thing. Writing and directing are highly cerebral endeavors. No matter how much you rely on inspiration and instinct--and of course the best stuff does-you still have to think about structure and writing and craft and ideas and characters and psychological validities. But music is different. I’m convinced that, if you asked people, they would say that if they could have one talent, one real tremendous talent in their lives, most people would say, ‘I prefer it to be in music,’ than almost anything else. Everybody in film directing, everybody in writing, if they could really be as good as Jascha Heifetz or Louis Armstrong or Charlie Parker, would prefer that gift.” Allen’s talent will forever be synonymous with his writing, his filmmaking and his humour. But there’s little doubt that the sense of freedom in feeling without speaking while playing his old-fashioned, Albert system clarinet have and will continue to contribute to the expression of that talent.

Woody Allen - The Person The Reel Although he has continually downplayed the sense of congruity between himself and his film persona, critics & fans alike have often been of the opposing opinion. In Allen’s own book, ‘Woody Allen on Woody Allen: In Conversation with Stig Bjorkman,’ he repeatedly contradicts his ‘movies are fiction’ mantra, with statements like: “I don’t know the black experience well enough to really write about it with any authenticity. In fact, most of my characters are so limited locally. They’re mostly New Yorkers, kind of upper-class, educated, neurotic. It’s almost the only thing that I ever write about, because it’s almost the only thing I know.” Husbands and Wives (1992) offers further indications of Allen’s art imitating his own life. At the time of the film’s release much was made of the close parallels between the narrative, which concerns in part an older 94

man’s infatuation with his young student, and Allen’s personal life, which had been upset by the perceived scandalous revelation of his affair with his partner Mia Farrow’s adopted daughter. The situation was vindication for those critics who had long argued that Allen’s films were self-indulgent representations of his own life. Which brings us to one chapter of Allen’s life that was only faced with laughter of the nervous kind, leaving even die-hard fans a bit unnerved.

* In high school, Allen began to submit oneliners and jokes to local New York newspaper reporters for inclusion in their columns. It was at this point in his life that Allen created the pen name of Woody Allen, so that his classmates wouldn’t recognize his comedic, literary efforts. The name stuck. * Writing comedy for Guy Lombardo and Sammy Kaye among others, Allen was represented by the William Morris Agency while he was still in high school.

The Real Growing up in the ‘90’s, many viewed Allen as the nebbish, annoying, character they constantly saw on-screen who was, additionally, intimately involved with and married to his own daughter. But quite simply, this is one of the biggest misconceptions about Allen. Consciously ignoring the risk of having the following opinion, extremely susceptible to disapproving nods by many, I will clarify that Allen’s relationship with Soon-Yi Previn isn’t incestuous or illegal. Kindly acknowledge that my defense of his marriage should in no way be viewed as as my blessing, but it should be noted that Ms. Previn is not Allen’s own daughter or stepdaughter, or biologically related to Allen in any way. Ms. Previn was adopted by Farrow and Farrow alone; Allen refused to be a part of her adoption process. But through the constant media speculation, the allegations and wide-spread criticism, Allen constantly finds his way back to the place he can do no wrong - making great films. Even with an unconventional love story based on the maxim of “Whatever works”, it definitely doesn’t take away from the dense catalogue of Allen’s work that spans decades and stands for his prodigious bent of mind. A man, an icon and creative spirit who is always inspired by a good idea, with hands that never tire of toil, no matter how old they get, a fearless need to express himself, with a confidence in the knowledge that his work is important, with the ever-intriguing ability to laugh at oneself and the commendable desire to pick up the pieces and start over when a seemingly great idea fails. Sometimes as the leading man with misled conceptions, sometimes directing characters who cant seem to find their direction, sometimes as the musician who evokes a chuckle during a sad ballad, and always the sole writer of his life’s story. Woody Allen is by definition ‘The Man’.

Factoids * Born Allen Koenigsberg December 1, 1935 in Brooklyn, New York, Allen grew up in a working-class part of the borough, Flatbush, and attended Catholic school--a childhood not unlike young Alvy Singer’s childhood in Annie Hall.

* After graduating, Allen went to New York University where, after failing a class in film production, he decided to drop out in order to become a full-time comedy writer. * After writing material for other stand up comics, Allen’s managers convinced him that he could be even funnier and more well known writing for himself. So Allen joined the ranks of stand up comedians. By age 26, he was constantly appearing on talk shows and in the most successful comedy clubs in America. * It was during Allen’s fertile stand up career that he both created and refined his professional persona.

Delightful Dialogue “What if everything is an illusion and nothing exists? In that case, I definitely overpaid for my carpet.” – Selections from the Allen Notebooks “You have no values. Your whole life, it’s nihilism, it’s cynicism, it’s sarcasm, and orgasm.” – Deconstructing Harry “Doc: Why are you depressed, Alvy? Mother: Tell doctor [?] It’s something he read. Doc: Something you read, heh? Alvy: The universe is expanding. Doc: The universe is expanding? Alvy: Well, the universe is everything, and if it’s expanding, someday it will break apart and that would be the end of everything! Mother (shouting): What is that your business? (to doctor) He stopped doing his homework. Alvy: What’s the point? Mother: What has the universe got to do with it? You’re here in Brooklyn! Brooklyn is not expanding!” – Annie Hall “How the hell do I know why there were Nazis? I don’t even know how the can opener works!” - Hannah & Her Sisters

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BAS JAN ADER by Aya Atoui

With passion brewing from the pit of his lost heart to mine, I sit and write to you of Bas Jan Ader and his disappearing act. He upped and left me, you and his wife, the lovely Missus Mary Sue, as he searched the sea for the miraculous, in hopes that he would return in sixty to ninety days. But before I tell that little narrative in this unfortunate and finite sequence of words, allow me to give you some information on who this man really is and what he’s done… He’s not done too much. But less can be more. His work has never left an immodest impression. Yes, graceful can be Bas Jan Ader. The frail Bas Jan was a Dutch performance artist, photographer and filmmaker whose work began to become well known in the early 1990’s. So extraordinarily poetic was he, it strikes me in my knobby kneecaps while I am standing, pushing me to sit down and further wonder of him as my kneecaps recover. Clearly, I don’t know the man personally and because of that, I have a distinct impression of him. If I did know him, my impression, I am sure, would be wrong. He is not a normal man and lives his life playing with gravity as a child

would play with a toy, stumbling over it and laughing again. For the sake of all things accidental, he is king of accidents because he controls them. That is, only until that one fateful day, the day he lost himself at sea. Even kings fall sometimes. I’m jibber jabbering I know and some of you might think he’s not even worth the jibber jabber. But bear with me. Onto what he does and why he does it. Mister Ader is mostly known for his ‘Fall’ films. All these short films seem to have been done in just one take. He is the model in his films. The silly lilly of a man literally plops himself right in the middle of situations where he submits to gravity. According to Martijn van Calmthout, falling means understanding the universe. His falling films carry a hodgepodge of natures. They are poetic, melancholic, humorous, silly and hardcore all at once. In his film, Fall I, he sits on a chair on the roof of his home in Los Angeles and literally rolls himself off the roof and onto the ground. In Fall II, he rides a bicycle into a canal in Amsterdam. In Broken Fall (organic), he lets go of a tree he hangs

onto and falls straight into a river. In Broken Fall (geometric), he submissively lets the wind roll him onto his side and into some bushes. There is more, but not enough. It really is hardcore. I know for a fact that Johnny Knoxville and the rest of the gang from “Jackass” plot out their intentional accidents as a reference to Bas Jan Ader. But seriously, this man used gravity as a medium in his work. Gravity! As a medium! The more I think about it, the more outlandish it sounds. The situations that happen in these films are basically accidents. He is accident prone, but these accidents are planned out and intentional. So it defeats the purpose. Are they really accidents anymore? Maybe not. But we don’t know this. Here’s the catch. In 1975, our man with the plan took off on a 12½-foot sailboat in attempt to cross the Atlantic. His voyage out to sea was meant to be the middle part of his triptych, “In Search of the Miraculous”. Bas Jan was meant to come back with his middle piece. Six months later, his poor little sailboat companion was found half-submerged

off the coast of Ireland. He was nowhere to be found. He just wasn’t… anywhere. Was this or wasn’t this an accident? Was it an intentional one? Did he plan to leave and not tell me, you, or his poor wife Mary Sue that he was not coming back? People remember him because of this accident. People remember him because he is gone. But I remember him because I like to think that this disappearance was intentional. Yes it makes my heart ache a trillion times, but this is by far your biggest accident Mister Ader. I’m almost glad it happened. I’m sorry. Ader’s disappearing act, whether it was intentional or not, shows some next level dedication. If poetry were to reincarnate it would do so and become this performance piece. There is nothing but righteousness in this and if there exists anything else, it would probably be disorientation from the public eye at most. Buuuh, I got carpal tunnel just from thinking about writing about it.

Find out more at http://www.basjanader.com/

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It’s summer time north of the equator and that means swimsuits, travelling, festivals, incessant rain (if you live in London), a yearning for the aforementioned (if you live in London), and in tinsel town… the Summer Blockbuster. Summer in Hollywood in the last two decades has been characterized by the release of the studios big summer movies boasting movie stars (note difference between actor and star), budgets larger than the GRP of most third world countries and explosions. The influence of this canon of work has grown at such an exponential rate that they have evolved (I use the term lightly here) into a genre of their own. Over the last couple of years as the world dries up due to Global Warming, (well at least that’s what I imagine happens when warming takes place on a global scale) so does the originality in Hollywood. There has been a glut of comic book superhero movie adaptations that have punctuated the summer season most of which are absolutely (please pick word most appropriate) atrocious, abysmal, grody, God-awful, barbaric, desperate, villainous (not sure if that works but the option is there), abhorrent, appalling, dire, ghastly, odious, offensive, repulsive, revolting, rotten, unpleasant and inconvenient. Currently there are 247 comic book films that are available on Amazon to buy. Now, a lot of them are animated films and foreign language films as well but that gives you an indication of how comic books and graphic novels are fertile with adaptation possibilities. For the purposes of this particular rant I am focusing all my super human breath on the superhero comic book. Now I am not against the comic book film, but here I must caveat strongly that they have to be done correctly. How often are they given the time and attention to actually stand a chance at being done correctly is a question that needs to be asked. I am no comic book expert. For that, one just needs to look over to Mo-El (no relation to Jor-El or Kal-El) Amin if you want to discuss the finer points of comic book movie adaptations, but I do know stellar cinema and Hollywood is the comic book superhero’s kryptonite. Every year there are at least ten, if not more, superhero movie adaptations, which accost the senses and insult our intelligence. Doesn’t that legally constitute as abuse? The reason these films are so (insert word of choice from list above)……………. is because Hollywood completely disregards the narrative complexities, the multi-layered characterization and themes that characterize the source material. The comic book and graphic novel since their inception established themselves as the beacon for counter cultural expression. They expressed and engaged with mature themes that were as diverse as sexuality, religion, and society. Even the superhero archetype was an allegory that was used to comment on the world we live in along with the forces/systems that dominate it. It seems that Hollywood has acknowledged or refuses to acknowledge the growth and evolution of this content and still dismisses it as a puerile expression. Instead we are insulted with bland, generic and flaccid adaptations at the cost of profit, the formula being: Marquee Star + Bland Comic Book Adaptation + Multiple Sequels + Merchandising * X (denotes number of) Reboots = Product of Lex Luthor * Tony Stark * Bruce Wayne Money. I’m not a financial expert but that is a lot of money. When staring and salivating at the prospect of that kind of financial reward why wouldn’t you reboot Spiderman or have Brett Ratner direct and ruin an almost fantastic trilogy of films. Why wouldn’t you have Ang Lee direct a psychedelic Hulk and then reboot it with Louis Leterrier (from the critically acclaimed Transporter series) at the helm? Why wouldn’t you give Nicholas Cage another opportunity to have another crack at a hairline on screen with Ghost Rider or Keanu Reeves as the blonde cynical Constantine. Hollywood have

become so blasé that they have decided that they do not require to spend much money on these films as demonstrated by the Green Lantern fiasco earlier this year. The trailer was released and people were outraged at how vile the special effects were that the studio then put in another ten million dollars towards improving the special effects, which resulted in the masterpiece that is gracing cinemas worldwide. The truly depressing reality is that no matter how ferociously atrocious the film is, financially it will still recoup its costs and make money. What is frustrating is that it does not require a super human effort to make a good, solid or even fantastic comic book superhero film. One need not cast a laser-producing eye farther than Tim Burton’s first two Batmans, Nolan’s Reboot, Singer’s first two X-Men, with X2 probably the yardstick of quality control. The Dark Knight is a perfect example of how when the source material is treated with care and the auteur stays true to the original essence, then not only will respect and acclaim be garnered, but if one does not care about trivial ideals, then you will make obscene amounts of money. The Dark Knight grossed over a billion dollars worldwide. Isn’t that motivation enough to make a decent film? There is no excuse not to spend a little more time with the source material and determine the best way it could be translated onto screen. Now I know that the first argument that anyone uses as a S.H.I.E.L.D. to defend these sub-par adaptations is time. A film has a temporal restriction, how can we delve into that level of plot and character development within the space of two hours? That to me is a callous statement that reads of apathy and inane stupidity because everybody knows that any comic book adaptation will never be limited to a single film but will be stretched through multiple films, series and reboots. So that premise renders the temporal restriction argument redundant. Since Hollywood has been so callous with their handling of the translation of comic print to film I want to get a piece of this action and have decided that I am going to have a crack at some comic book film adaptation concepts. Surveying the current landscape of adaptation I have identified one trope that is essential in creating a comic book superhero adaptation film that enjoys both critical and commercial success. This being realism, as mentioned earlier the perfect examples are Dark Knight and the first two X-Men. There is a strong correlation between how rooted to reality the film adaptation is and the critical reception it garners. The critical reception does translate into more lucrative financial earnings as well.

The Dark Knight’s Darkest Day 15th September 2008, Seaman Bros, a financial institution established in 1850, collapses due to the sub-prime crisis in Gotham. Bruce Wayne loses billions, as he was Seaman Bros biggest client. He has to sell all his earthly possessions in order to pay off his debts but it is not enough. So Batman once again is a vigilante, on the run, hiding in the shadows from angry debtors. Now what always gave Batman an advantage over his villainous counterparts was Bruce Wayne’s billions. If you were to remove that wealth from the equation then it renders Batman slight impotent right? No more utility belt gadgets, no more Bat Mobile, Batwing or Bat Cycle because he would not have the funds to maintain or repair the damage inflicted during crime fighting. No more Bat cave to help track criminals as well as process forensic evidence, which means the percentage of villains escaping would be much higher. Additionally he would have hard choices to make, either forage for food or fight crime, without food he won’t have the strength to fight

crime. Finally cracking under the pressure of his own crime fighting impotence he directs his wrath at the banking executives at Seaman Bros who crippled his livelihood due to their greed.

Iron Man 3 The Wear and Tear of Tony Stark Stark industries is thriving, the money keeps pouring in. Tony Stark cannot give the money away fast enough because America is currently fighting two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq plus helping Libyan rebels wherever they can. On a rebuilding trip Tony surveys the damage his machinery has caused and he has a breakdown that drives him to the bottle. His alcoholism gets out of control and is persuaded by Polly to check himself into a clinic. At rehab he bands together a collective of loveable misfits against the evil Dr. Ming who runs the facility. Tony uses his genius to construct weapons and builds a suit out of plastic trays that fires plastic cutlery.

Spiderman 5? 6? The Green Goblin and Doc Oc finally realize that the easiest way to beat Spiderman is to render his highflying movement useless. They catch him and dump him the middle of the Sahara where there is no high-rise skyline for him to use to maneuver around. Now the advantage lies with Green Goblin and Doc Oc who still have the luxury of their strengths and mobility. Additionally, due to the extreme heat of the Sahara the web fluid dries up because it was designed for New York weather conditions. How will Spidey get out of this one?

Superman 6 Kal- El Revealed Lex Luthor and the rest of the world finally discover Superman is Clark Kent when an untimely sneeze dislodges his glasses at a Lex Luthor press conference. Luthor notices this and suffers a miniexistential crisis where he questions his genius because he was not able to see through Clark’s “excellent” disguise. Now armed with super villain resolve, Lex Luthor in the meantime, and in conjunction with an artist and a sculptor, change the color of Kryptonite and sculpt it into various everyday objects that are placed all over Clark Kent’s apartment converting it into a veritable death-trap. How does Superman get out of this one? To make matters worse it is a cloudy day. As I have demonstrated there is a creative freedom that Hollywood enjoys when it comes to adapting the superhero comic book to film. I feel that Hollywood has not explored all these different avenues, but I’m sure that they will eventually get there. There is no plausible reason why they would not; Hollywood has never let us down before. I mean look at Watchmen, the film that Terry Gilliam said was inadaptable, and wherein Zack Snyder proved him wrong. Snyder showed Gilliam that all he needed to successfully adapt Watchmen was a healthy dose of slow motion action. I am positive that it is what Alan Moore envisioned when he wrote Watchmen. I’m afraid that, until more directors like Nolan get involved in these adaptations, we are doomed to endure sacrilegious vandalism of iconic cultural content. Hollywood truly is the comic book superhero’s kryptonite. Please send across your ideas on what direction these franchises or any others should take. Email them to zaina@quintdubai.com and we’ll feature the best ones in an upcoming issue.

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Photography & Art Direction Saty + Pratha (www.satyandpratha.com) Styling Scott Webster Hair & Make-up Jun Sato (www.junsato.co.uk) Models Tommy Kristiansen, Elite Model Management & Patrick Kuszmar, NEXT Model Management Custom-painted jackets by Claire Barrow (www.clairebarrow.com)

Customized leather jacket, CLAIRE BARROW

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Vest, BANG BANG LONDON Customized leather jacket, CLAIRE BARROW

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Vest, BANG BANG LONDON Customized leather jacket, CLAIRE BARROW

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Trousers, ROCKIT

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Suit jacket, ROCKIT Trousers, ROCKIT Customized leather jacket, CLAIRE BARROW

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Shirt, vintage LEVI’S Skirt, BEYOND RETRO Trousers, ROCKIT Customized bubble jacket, CLAIRE BARROW

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Shirt, vintage LEVI’S Skirt, BEYOND RETRO Trousers, ROCKIT Customized bubble jacket, CLAIRE BARROW

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Customized leather shoes, CLAIRE BARROW

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Backpack, PETER PILOTTO FOR KIPLING Shorts, FRENCH CONNECTION Vest, Stylist’s own Customized leather shoes, CLAIRE BARROW

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Shorts, IZZUE

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Trousers, ASGER JUEL LARSEN Customized leather jacket, CLAIRE BARROW

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Trousers, ASGER JUEL LARSEN Customized leather jacket, CLAIRE BARROW

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nike air jordan Vs A friend once asked me what my favourite Tinker Hatfield’s were. I didn’t know who he was. He looked at me, like, are you high? And now we’re not friends anymore. TH is the Michael Jordan of sneaker designers. In fact, he’s invented and designed 13 Air Jordans. And my favourites are these. I got two re-issue pairs. You haven’t.

adidas superstar

Pre-1983, they say that 75% of NBA players wore the Superstars on the court. The “shelltoes” aren’t my cup of tea, but they were Run D.M.C.’s, and they’re cooler than a would-be fight between Avril Lavigne and Justin Bieber. Just like the “up-towns” (Nike Air Force 1s) and the Mercedes G-Wagen, they haven’t changed their design, because they oughtn’t.

puma clyde Another b’ball shoe. The Clydes are just as iconic as the sneakers above, but nowadays mostly worn by skaters, and people with big feet. I think they’re beautiful cause they are perfect for the Puma logo. I’ve never bought a pair, but I’m going to now. On eBay. They’re only $46. 114

Androgyny, nudity, sex and sado-masochism have long been utilized and expressed through fashion. Is this all commercially driven because sex sells? Or are designers re-visiting and reexploring these ideas in different contexts? With fashion houses posting their recent profits in the hundreds of millions, is the consumer driving the fashion industry instead of the other way round? Milan fashion giant Prada is expected to post a profit of at least 150 million Euros for the first half of the year according to a report by the HK stock exchange.

Do we still have limits to push in fashion? Things are of course always evolving and changing, but are they getting any stranger or more out of the ordinary? Currently, transsexuality is the controversial ‘trend’ that is scandalizing the fashion world. Givency received as much attention for the designer Tisci’s collection as for the appointment of transsexual model Lea T in their recent advertisements. The S/S 2011 catwalks saw Andrej Pejic, a beautiful male model with long blond hair and feminine features modeling women’s clothes. Stephen Thompson, an Albino model has also been used by Givenchy subsequent to Lea T’s advertisements.

It is not difficult to see why the motif of sexuality remains a strong influence. The fashion scene is lacking in designers who truly possess a creative eye – Alexander McQueen being a shining example. Advertisers are ruling the show and designers and photographers alike are seemingly focusing on selling rather than creating. Fashion magazines have become horribly analogous, absent from distinct styles and looks to distinguish themselves from one another. When I am looking for a dose of fashion, I take great pleasure in browsing the various fashion blogs that the internet is home to. Dubai hosts many differing fashion bloggers, my favourites include the stylings of a quirky Swedish girl on CandyandCookie, and WeeshasWorld – a talented plus-size fashion blogger. These blogs are written by normal people, who experiment with fashion in their everyday lives and document their fashion choices through photography on their blogs. Offering people more ways to create content and express themselves, the internet represents a more daring and adventurous world than exists on catwalks and fashion media. The internet has given people a medium by which to express their individuality and personal style and the option to share with others. Technological advancements in cosmetic surgery have given people the creative power to change themselves. Has fashion become redundant now that people can participate in adapting themselves as to their personal taste? Or has technology opened doors for new limits to be pushed? Looking at the range of material on the internet in terms of fashion and beauty, it seems that technology is going to be a welcome stimulant to the fashion industry. Contributing to the widening perception of beauty by bringing all ages, sizes, shapes and colours into the mix the internet fashion scene reflects a very real segment of society when compared to the average catwalk/magazine spread. Who knows, you could even start your very own blog…

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photography: AYA ATOUI model: LEANNE MAKAREM clothes: CHICKPEAS VINTAGE

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by Mohamed El Amin photos by: Nazanin Hashemi, Dani Canto, Inma Varandela, Chus Sanchez, Eric Pamies

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URBAN BASED FESTIVALS ARE ON THE RISE, AND PRAISE BE TO ODIN FOR THAT. WHILE I CAN GENUINELY UNDERSTAND THE RATIONAL OF DOING A GLASTONBURY OR A ROSKILDE (NEVER A COACHELLA, HOWEVER) AND MUCKING ABOUT IN ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT FESTIVALS IN THE WORLD, AT LEAST ONCE, THE APPEAL QUICKLY EVAPORATES AS YOU CRAWL BACK AT 5 AM TO YOUR TENT WHICH BY NOW HAS DOUBLED AS TOILET. AND IN THAT (AND FAR MORE MANY REASONS TRANSCENDING HYGIENE), URBAN FESTIVALS WIN. NOT ALL OF THEM MIND YOU, IF ANYTHING, MOST OF THEM FAIL AND FAIL RESOUNDINGLY AT THAT (DUBAI SOUND CITY, ANYONE?), BUT WHEN THEY ARE EXECUTED WITH EQUAL HELPINGS OF PLANNING, INNOVATION AND PASSION, YOU COME ACROSS A COLOSSUS CREATION THAT WILL MOST CERTAINLY CREATE A RARE GEM. AND THAT GEM IS UNDOUBTEDLY SAN MIGUEL’S PRIMAVERA SOUND 2011. YOURS TRULY WAS FORTUNATE TO ATTEND THIS 5 DAY BEAST, AND HERE’S MY GIG-TO-GIG COVERAGE OF THE ENTIRE EVENT.

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Espanyol DayPablo Wednesday 25th One 18:15

LAS ROBERTAS I’ve never heard of Las Robertas in my life, but was instantly transformed a fan. A rocking trio of girl bass/ girl guitar / boy drums from Costa Rica who began dishing out some of the jammiest garage rock that I’ve ever had the pleasure of hearing live. A lovely active live show that had everyone rattling their heads along, and singing along despite hopelessly being unable to understand if the words where English or Spanish (or maybe that’s just me…). Again, a rather unknown and small band, getting a huge boost by playing on opening day. Excellent decision by organizers, excellent set by the band.

17:00

Nisennemondai Damn, you queue! Waiting for my press pass sadly cost me missing out on the fantastic Japanese noise misfits Nisennenmondai. who I luckily have seen before. A band famed for their ruckus inducing, crunching brand of kraut meets punk rock (that they proudly state that they intentionally give no names/themes to songs), you can imagine that Nisennenmondai is certainly not your typical major festival opening band, but as I stood outside the open air venue, hearing blasted waves of delicious punk overpowering all the noise in the street, paired with the cheers of the crowd, you knew that Prim didn’t just pick them due to them being daring, they picked they because they were great. And as I finally managed to dash into the grounds, all I could hear were the murmurs of the crowd utterly awed at drummer Himeno’s crazed antics. Yep. These girls haven’t changed one bit.

20:45

echo AND the bunnymen Performing Heaven Up Here and Crocodiles I honestly don’t know who started it, (pretty sure it was ATP’s Don’t Look Back) but recently, we have had a wonderful revival of bands performing their LPs in full. And in Prim Sound, at least four bands did so, and one of them was the iconic brit rockers Echo & The Bunnymen, performing their first two LPs to an overwhelmingly excited crowd. Listening to Ian and Co performing Crocodiles, it was incredibly difficult a realization that something so concrete was their band’s first record. Every aspect so accomplished and so finely tuned, that I just realized how incredibly odd that they didn’t garner any critical acclaim till Ocean Rain. Hearing “Get up“ live for the first time in my life, gave me chills down my spine. And as the band kicked out their post punk classic in “Heaven Up Here”, I felt just like a teenager again, all coldness gripping as Ian’s voice and words made him more of a tragic Shakespearean actor, all defiant broods and sharp words directed at skulls. And yes, Ian McCulloch is as rock and roll as they get, calling the crowds names while dishing out the tunes. It was quite heartwarming to see that he was still a grumpy bastard. My only regret is that I simply too tired to get into the swing of things, however despite it all, sitting on the floor watching the band perform as thousands just closed their eyes and hung on to every word… it was just beautiful.

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23:00

caribou As the exhaustion of a previous 12 hr work day followed immediately by a 10 hr flight descended, calling it an early night seemed inevitable. But the promise of Caribou was too powerful for mere exhaustion to override, and boy, were we all rewarded for it. While initially anticipating a DJ set, Dan Snaith walked onto the stage with a 3 piece band and proceeded to drive 5000+ people bonkers. Bodies were pulsing as heads nodded rhythmically to his manipulative electro magic that ebbed and flowed throughout his hour long set while abstract projections cloaked the entire band just as firmly as their music surrounded us throughout the entire set. And at the end of it all, we made damn sure they knew just how much we loved it all, ferociously applauding and calling for an encore, one that a friend belted out in a single word: â&#x20AC;&#x153;SUN!â&#x20AC;? The chant grew deafening, and Dan & Co. had no choice but to abide to our will, appeasing our demands with the most remarkable edition of Sun that I have ever heard. Each member of the crowd was locked in a feverish sweat laced jig, all cheers as the repetitive chant entranced us all. It was a fascinating synching between crowd and performers, best exemplified as he walked off the stage to great all of us in the front row, greeting us and humbly accepting our words of praise and adoration. Caribou was ultra dynamic electro goodness delivered with such a resoundingly tight band that pumped energy into all of our tired bones.

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Day two

parc del forum THURSDAY 26th