An incomplete obelisk now looms in the desert beside the Great Pyramids of Giza as part of Forever is Now 2, the exhibition organised by Art d’Egypte that opened its second iteration on Thursday.
The backdrop is a magnificent one to contend with. Yet, Zeinab Alhashemi’s Camoulflage 1.618: the Unfinished Obelisk does not attempt to detract from the wonder of the pyramids. Instead, it was designed to blend within the landscape while echoing an interesting facet of Ancient Egypt.
The top portion of the obelisk reveals the structure’s skeletal steel form. The bottom half, meanwhile, is wrapped in recycled camel hide that alludes to the hue and pattern of the sands around it. The installation, Alhashemi says, draws inspiration from the obelisk in Aswan.
“Obelisks are built from one stone, a single piece of granite,” the Emirati artist says. “The ancient Egyptians wanted to create the largest obelisk is their history with the one in Aswan.”
However, as the creators were carving the monument out of the desert’s bedrock, it cracked, and the project was abandoned. It still lays in its quarry at Aswan, its bottom portion fused to the bedrock.
“It’s still unfinished,” Alhashemi says. “Part of my work is to understand how much we build, construct, deconstruct, or leave buildings as they are. I felt it was important to me to create an unfinished obelisk if I would like to create an obelisk. It rhymes well with my other work.”
With The Unfinished Obelisk, Alhashemi is the first Emirati artist to participate in Forever is Now.
“It is a proud moment,” she says. “It’s a moment to celebrate Emirati artists and Arab women. I’m part of, what I would say, the third generation of Emirati artists. We're very much connected to the first and second generations of artists. We’re a community where we share support and I think this is going to open doors to more collaborations. It works within the ecosystem of the UAE and the creative industry as well.”
The installation is part of Alhashemi’s Camoulflage series, which she began in 2015. The first work in the series, which features an abstract rendition of a desert in camel hide, was presented in the exhibition Emirati Expressions at Abu Dhabi Art.
“It brought a lot of interest and attention,” she says. “The public wanted to get closer to the work, not knowing exactly what material it was made with. The minute they realised it was camel skin, they started asking so many different questions.”
Alhashemi says she is often asked why she chooses to incorporate camel hide within the work and often prefers to leave it open for interpretation. However, she did say she sought to capture the legacy of the desert-dwelling animals in the region.
“Seeing the shades of sand and comparing them to the nature of camels and their breeds,” she says. “If you zoom into the leather itself, you’ll find it’s almost like a sand dune, in terms of its curves and shades. My interest in nature is always bringing in the geometry in nature from a micro level and a macro level.”
While she has worked with varied materials, Alhashemi revisited the camel hide as a medium for her Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation commission last year. She then again returned to the material when invited to participate in Desert x AlUla 2022, creating boulder-like sculptures faceted with camel hide.
“The minute I visited the site, I knew I wanted to work with camel leather again,” she says. “That was something that made so much sense because again, I'm visiting the desert, I will have my work in the desert, so how about actually bringing in the camel, which is a natural inhabitant of the desert, and creating a public artwork with it?
“Being in the desert in AlUla for the first time, I got so overwhelmed with the rock formations. I saw the camels transform into rock formations. This is where the idea of abstract rocks covered with camel skin came from.”
The pyramids, she says, struck her in much the same way.
“This time, it’s such an ancient monument that I wondered how my artwork would be next to it,” she says. “Then came the idea of obelisks, which were built and sometimes gifted to different civilizations and at a later stage stolen, and I came across the unfinished obelisk.”
Alhashemi has always been more interested in displaying her work in the public sphere, as opposed to galleries or exhibition spaces. With her work, she says she seeks to create monumental pieces that become part of the land.
“The flourishing years of art in the UAE allowed artists to experiment outside the box of an exhibition space,” she says. “There were a lot of art interventions, there was a lot of like temporary public art. And I got the chance to understand my art, or what I wanted to create in a public space.”
Camoulflage 1.618: the Unfinished Obelisk is among the 11 artworks being on display at Forever is Now 2. The first edition of the event, held last year, drew in some 500,000 visitors. This year’s iteration is organised with the support of Abu Dhabi Festival.
Besides Alhashemi’s installation, the exhibition includes works by Saudi artist Mohammad Alfaraj and Egyptian sculptors Therese Antoine and Ahmed Karaly. Also joining the exhibition are British-American sculptor Natalie Clark, Italian light and sound artist Emilio Ferro, Cameroonian artist Pascale Marthine Tayou, Syrian-born Swedish visual artist Jwan Yosef, Spanish artist SpY, French-Tunisian artist eL Seed and returning French street artist JR.
“Following the remarkable success of the first edition of Forever is Now we are proud to play a role once more in the realisation of the historic second edition which features Alhashemi and her unique geometric installation inspired by Emirati heritage, Camoulflage 1.618: The Unfinished Obelisk, at the historical site of the only surviving wonder of the ancient world,” Huda AlKhamis-Kanoo, founder of Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation and the artistic director of Abu Dhabi Festival, says.
“We are pleased to partner with Art d’Egypte to cultivate our shared vision to nurture artistic innovation and encourage free creative thinking through the exceptional power of the arts”.
Forever is Now 2 is running until November 30 at the Great Pyramids of Giza, Egypt
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KEY HIGHLIGHTS
Healthcare spending to double to $2.2 trillion rupees
Launched a 641billion-rupee federal health scheme
Allotted 200 billion rupees for the recapitalisation of state-run banks
Around 1.75 trillion rupees allotted for privatisation and stake sales in state-owned assets
Hales' batting career
Tests 11; Runs 573; 100s 0; 50s 5; Avg 27.38; Best 94
ODIs 58; Runs 1,957; 100s 5; 50s 11; Avg 36.24; Best 171
T20s 52; Runs 1,456; 100s 1; 50s 7; Avg 31.65; Best 116 not out
Tamkeen's offering
- Option 1: 70% in year 1, 50% in year 2, 30% in year 3
- Option 2: 50% across three years
- Option 3: 30% across five years
'Operation Mincemeat'
Director: John Madden
Cast: Colin Firth, Matthew Macfayden, Kelly Macdonald and Penelope Wilton
Rating: 4/5
Persuasion
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Retirement funds heavily invested in equities at a risky time
Pension funds in growing economies in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East have a sharply higher percentage of assets parked in stocks, just at a time when trade tensions threaten to derail markets.
Retirement money managers in 14 geographies now allocate 40 per cent of their assets to equities, an 8 percentage-point climb over the past five years, according to a Mercer survey released last week that canvassed government, corporate and mandatory pension funds with almost $5 trillion in assets under management. That compares with about 25 per cent for pension funds in Europe.
The escalating trade spat between the US and China has heightened fears that stocks are ripe for a downturn. With tensions mounting and outcomes driven more by politics than economics, the S&P 500 Index will be on course for a “full-scale bear market” without Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts, Citigroup’s global macro strategy team said earlier this week.
The increased allocation to equities by growth-market pension funds has come at the expense of fixed-income investments, which declined 11 percentage points over the five years, according to the survey.
Hong Kong funds have the highest exposure to equities at 66 per cent, although that’s been relatively stable over the period. Japan’s equity allocation jumped 13 percentage points while South Korea’s increased 8 percentage points.
The money managers are also directing a higher portion of their funds to assets outside of their home countries. On average, foreign stocks now account for 49 per cent of respondents’ equity investments, 4 percentage points higher than five years ago, while foreign fixed-income exposure climbed 7 percentage points to 23 per cent. Funds in Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan are among those seeking greater diversification in stocks and fixed income.
• Bloomberg
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
What is Folia?
Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal's new plant-based menu will launch at Four Seasons hotels in Dubai this November. A desire to cater to people looking for clean, healthy meals beyond green salad is what inspired Prince Khaled and American celebrity chef Matthew Kenney to create Folia. The word means "from the leaves" in Latin, and the exclusive menu offers fine plant-based cuisine across Four Seasons properties in Los Angeles, Bahrain and, soon, Dubai.
Kenney specialises in vegan cuisine and is the founder of Plant Food Wine and 20 other restaurants worldwide. "I’ve always appreciated Matthew’s work," says the Saudi royal. "He has a singular culinary talent and his approach to plant-based dining is prescient and unrivalled. I was a fan of his long before we established our professional relationship."
Folia first launched at The Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills in July 2018. It is available at the poolside Cabana Restaurant and for in-room dining across the property, as well as in its private event space. The food is vibrant and colourful, full of fresh dishes such as the hearts of palm ceviche with California fruit, vegetables and edible flowers; green hearb tacos filled with roasted squash and king oyster barbacoa; and a savoury coconut cream pie with macadamia crust.
In March 2019, the Folia menu reached Gulf shores, as it was introduced at the Four Seasons Hotel Bahrain Bay, where it is served at the Bay View Lounge. Next, on Tuesday, November 1 – also known as World Vegan Day – it will come to the UAE, to the Four Seasons Resort Dubai at Jumeirah Beach and the Four Seasons DIFC, both properties Prince Khaled has spent "considerable time at and love".
There are also plans to take Folia to several more locations throughout the Middle East and Europe.
While health-conscious diners will be attracted to the concept, Prince Khaled is careful to stress Folia is "not meant for a specific subset of customers. It is meant for everyone who wants a culinary experience without the negative impact that eating out so often comes with."
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
SHALASH%20THE%20IRAQI
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Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
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The Sky Is Pink
Director: Shonali Bose
Cast: Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Farhan Akhtar, Zaira Wasim, Rohit Saraf
Three stars
'THE WORST THING YOU CAN EAT'
Trans fat is typically found in fried and baked goods, but you may be consuming more than you think.
Powdered coffee creamer, microwave popcorn and virtually anything processed with a crust is likely to contain it, as this guide from Mayo Clinic outlines:
Baked goods - Most cakes, cookies, pie crusts and crackers contain shortening, which is usually made from partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. Ready-made frosting is another source of trans fat.
Snacks - Potato, corn and tortilla chips often contain trans fat. And while popcorn can be a healthy snack, many types of packaged or microwave popcorn use trans fat to help cook or flavour the popcorn.
Fried food - Foods that require deep frying — french fries, doughnuts and fried chicken — can contain trans fat from the oil used in the cooking process.
Refrigerator dough - Products such as canned biscuits and cinnamon rolls often contain trans fat, as do frozen pizza crusts.
Creamer and margarine - Nondairy coffee creamer and stick margarines also may contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
The Brutalist
Director: Brady Corbet
Stars: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn
Rating: 3.5/5
Kamindu Mendis bio
Full name: Pasqual Handi Kamindu Dilanka Mendis
Born: September 30, 1998
Age: 20 years and 26 days
Nationality: Sri Lankan
Major teams Sri Lanka's Under 19 team
Batting style: Left-hander
Bowling style: Right-arm off-spin and slow left-arm orthodox (that's right!)
Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
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MATCH INFO
Arsenal 1 (Aubameyang 12’) Liverpool 1 (Minamino 73’)
Arsenal win 5-4 on penalties
Man of the Match: Ainsley Maitland-Niles (Arsenal)