Louvre Abu Dhabi's first exhibition of the year will focus on abstract and calligraphic works across various cultures and time periods.
More than 80 artworks from 16 partner institutions are included in the show Abstraction and Calligraphy – Towards a Universal Language, which will open on February 17, with creations by Dia Azzawi, Mona Hatoum, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Lee Krasner, Jackson Pollock and Cy Twombly.
Many of the pieces will be shown for the first time in the region.
Abstraction and Calligraphy – Towards a Universal Language
Organised in four themed sections, the exhibition charts the development of abstraction in visual art since the early 20th century. Influenced by signs, symbols and philosophies from outside of the western canon, these abstract movements bear elements and artistic techniques from various cultures and societies.
In the first section, the show looks at how symbolic figurative images, including hieroglyphics, inspired artists such as Klee. It also explores how inscriptions and calligraphy have been reinterpreted by artists such as Azzawi and Anwar Jalal Shemza.
The second section delves into signs and their use in the abstract works of Kandinsky, for example, as he sought to express universal ideas. Many artists of the time turned east, to Japan and China, to borrow elements from calligraphers in those traditions.
In the next section, which is devoted to lineaments, the show considers how western artists such as Pollock, Philip Guston and Willem de Kooning turned to abstraction and expressionism as a way to break away from convention and explore the subjective experience.
The final section investigates how calligraphy was influential among both western and eastern artists. This includes works by regional artists Shakir Hassan Al Said and Sliman Mansour, who sought to expand the technique’s use beyond its linguistic purposes.
Additionally, this section includes two original artworks by French-Tunisian artist eL Seed, who lives in Dubai, and Pakistani street artist Sanki King. Both are known for fusing calligraphy and graffiti in their works.
The pair will present large-scale installations that venture into new visual forms and also speak to the museum programming’s theme of cultural exchange.
This exhibition, which runs until June, marks the continued collaboration between Louvre Abu Dhabi and Centre Pompidou. It will also feature loans from Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, Musee du Louvre in Paris, the Pollock-Krasner Foundation and The McKee Gallery in New York, among others.
More information is available at louvreabudhabi.ae
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The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
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- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
Top tips to avoid cyber fraud
Microsoft’s ‘hacker-in-chief’ David Weston, creator of the tech company’s Windows Red Team, advises simple steps to help people avoid falling victim to cyber fraud:
1. Always get the latest operating system on your smartphone or desktop, as it will have the latest innovations. An outdated OS can erode away all investments made in securing your device or system.
2. After installing the latest OS version, keep it patched; this means repairing system vulnerabilities which are discovered after the infrastructure components are released in the market. The vast majority of attacks are based on out of date components – there are missing patches.
3. Multi-factor authentication is required. Move away from passwords as fast as possible, particularly for anything financial. Cybercriminals are targeting money through compromising the users’ identity – his username and password. So, get on the next level of security using fingertips or facial recognition.
4. Move your personal as well as professional data to the cloud, which has advanced threat detection mechanisms and analytics to spot any attempt. Even if you are hit by some ransomware, the chances of restoring the stolen data are higher because everything is backed up.
5. Make the right hardware selection and always refresh it. We are in a time where a number of security improvement processes are reliant on new processors and chip sets that come with embedded security features. Buy a new personal computer with a trusted computing module that has fingerprint or biometric cameras as additional measures of protection.
THE BIO
Occupation: Specialised chief medical laboratory technologist
Age: 78
Favourite destination: Always Al Ain “Dar Al Zain”
Hobbies: his work - “ the thing which I am most passionate for and which occupied all my time in the morning and evening from 1963 to 2019”
Other hobbies: football
Favorite football club: Al Ain Sports Club
Two products to make at home
Toilet cleaner
1 cup baking soda
1 cup castile soap
10-20 drops of lemon essential oil (or another oil of your choice)
Method:
1. Mix the baking soda and castile soap until you get a nice consistency.
2. Add the essential oil to the mix.
Air Freshener
100ml water
5 drops of the essential oil of your choice (note: lavender is a nice one for this)
Method:
1. Add water and oil to spray bottle to store.
2. Shake well before use.
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.
Rory Reynolds
![Vassily Kandinsky, 'Trente [Thirty]' (1937), oil on canvas. Courtesy Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Philippe Migeat](https://www.thenationalnews.com/resizer/v2/635GF6XYW6LPFG3GOIS4VGZHCU.jpg?smart=true&auth=55ac553d892b6a6ba926fc358e2360ec7e1055f3e2795fd78ef20a5536454469&width=800&height=654)
