Shumon Basar, the director of the Global Art Forum 2014, discusses the programme of cultural debates taking place next month in Doha and at Art Dubai.
The Global Art Forum offers cultural debate and this year’s topic, Meanwhile … History, is fascinating but maybe not directly related to art. Why is this conversation relevant to the art fair?
It’s relevant to you as a human being more than being relevant to an art fair. Yes, it takes place during Art Dubai, but we’ve developed an intellectual autonomy and energy that is informed by where we are in the world and, indeed, in time. Art as a topic isn’t privileged over other topics. I think that’s healthy. The most compelling art today illuminates the world. In that respect, the “protest against forgetting” has limitless relevance.
The speakers are from varying disciplines. How do you pick them?
The co-directors Ala Younis and Omar Berrada, Art Dubai’s chief Antonia Carver, our team at Art Dubai and previous guests of the Forum – everyone is mined for suggestions. The result comes from mixing accident with carefully crafted order. For example, Oscar Guardiola-Rivera’s new book is about the coup against Salvador Allende in 1973, so Oscar is an ideal host on a session about the Short Seventies. We investigate histories in the Gulf, from the death of pearl diving in the UAE to modern Khaleeji architecture and the influence of Sudanese intellectuals in the late 1960s and early 1970s. [The artist collective] Slavs and Tatars suggested we look at Soviet Orientalism, so that’s what Masha Kirasirova from NYU Abu Dhabi is going to do. All in all, it’s kaleidoscopic time travel.
Do such discussions have a lasting effect on the community?
It’s not for me to say. All I know is from my own experience, being at the right event and listening to the right person can change how you think.
There is an impression that cultural debate engages only those already in the cultural community. Do you agree? And what would you say to encourage the public to visit?
It’s also a social, historical and political debate, in the broadest sense, and the fact that we have diversified the topics in the past few years hopefully makes it more appealing to a greater audience. I urge everyone who is curious about ideas to come along. Thinking will never feel like so much fun.
• The Global Art Forum is at Katara Art Center in Doha, March 15 to 16. Art Dubai runs from March 19 to 21. Visit www.artdubai.ae/global-art-forum for more information
aseaman@thenational.ae
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Saturday's schedule at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
GP3 race, 12:30pm
Formula 1 final practice, 2pm
Formula 1 qualifying, 5pm
Formula 2 race, 6:40pm
Performance: Sam Smith
Coffee: black death or elixir of life?
It is among the greatest health debates of our time; splashed across newspapers with contradicting headlines - is coffee good for you or not?
Depending on what you read, it is either a cancer-causing, sleep-depriving, stomach ulcer-inducing black death or the secret to long life, cutting the chance of stroke, diabetes and cancer.
The latest research - a study of 8,412 people across the UK who each underwent an MRI heart scan - is intended to put to bed (caffeine allowing) conflicting reports of the pros and cons of consumption.
The study, funded by the British Heart Foundation, contradicted previous findings that it stiffens arteries, putting pressure on the heart and increasing the likelihood of a heart attack or stroke, leading to warnings to cut down.
Numerous studies have recognised the benefits of coffee in cutting oral and esophageal cancer, the risk of a stroke and cirrhosis of the liver.
The benefits are often linked to biologically active compounds including caffeine, flavonoids, lignans, and other polyphenols, which benefit the body. These and othetr coffee compounds regulate genes involved in DNA repair, have anti-inflammatory properties and are associated with lower risk of insulin resistance, which is linked to type-2 diabetes.
But as doctors warn, too much of anything is inadvisable. The British Heart Foundation found the heaviest coffee drinkers in the study were most likely to be men who smoked and drank alcohol regularly.
Excessive amounts of coffee also unsettle the stomach causing or contributing to stomach ulcers. It also stains the teeth over time, hampers absorption of minerals and vitamins like zinc and iron.
It also raises blood pressure, which is largely problematic for people with existing conditions.
So the heaviest drinkers of the black stuff - some in the study had up to 25 cups per day - may want to rein it in.
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In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
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Pakistan Super League
Previous winners
2016 Islamabad United
2017 Peshawar Zalmi
2018 Islamabad United
2019 Quetta Gladiators
Most runs Kamran Akmal – 1,286
Most wickets Wahab Riaz –65
About Takalam
Date started: early 2020
Founders: Khawla Hammad and Inas Abu Shashieh
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: HealthTech and wellness
Number of staff: 4
Funding to date: Bootstrapped