Text and films are used as well as games to highlight the eco-friendly message.
Text and films are used as well as games to highlight the eco-friendly message.

UAE exhibition offers a brief history of the future



Since the gallery space at Manarat Al Saadiyat opened in 2010, it has played host to a wide range of temporary exhibits, from Paleolithic tools, Egyptian mummies and cuneiform tablets from ancient Sumer to a goat stuffed by Robert Rauschenberg, sculpture by Richard Serra and paintings by Ed Ruscha, Cy Twombly and Andy Warhol. In short, the stuff of the past.

As the name of the latest exhibition to open here suggests, Eco Future promises something very different. Not only does it offer a glimpse into the environmental challenges we are likely to face in the not too distant future, it is also interactive and consciously seeks to change the mindset of the people who interact with it.

As visitors queue for tickets, they will be greeted by the sight of four Emirati children - Yas, Moza, Ali and Sara - who stand surrounded by towers in a crude cityscape made from recycled cardboard, water bottles and balls of string.

Characters from an imagined future where "it's hard to find fresh water, oil and gas" and where "some of the stuff you all love isn't around any more", each is an avatar with its own personality, waiting to guide children and their families through the often complex themes and issues raised by this many-layered exhibition.

Dressed in a hamdanniyya and kandura, Yas is a thoughtful boy who believes in looking to tradition before chasing after new technology, but this doesn't stop him from riding his quad bike.

Moza is very enthusiastic, sports a shayla and abaya, and will always look for an answer in science and new technology, while Sara is an effective listener who believes in the power of community and good relationships to solve problems.

Finally, Ali believes in taking action to conserve nature and isn't afraid to argue his case, something that becomes all too apparent in the exhibition's first room, when the characters argue about how best to introduce the exhibit.

The patter is fast-paced and serious when it needs to be, irreverent when it doesn't - something that sets the tone for the rest of the show.

Given that Eco Future includes interactive games, objects, film and text, and that it addresses six key environmental issues including water and food security, healthy living, climate change, sustainable transport and urbanism, the characters act as a useful and very necessary framing device.

Not only do they act as guides and prompts that help visitors to discover new sources of water and energy, and to design high-tech food, vehicles, and homes, they also ask questions that encourage visitors to reflect on each of the decisions they make as they progress through the show. Decisions such as, do you want to grow the food for your community on a farm, in a factory, or in a laboratory? Will you use fossil fuels, hydrogen cells or nuclear energy? Will your home be high-rise, subterranean, floating or stand-alone?

The outcomes of these decisions are then recorded on an 'Eco Tag Card' that is swiped at the beginning and end of every game, decisions that directly affect the eventual 'virtual neighbourhood' each visitor creates. If some of these questions sound banal, simplistic even, it is important to remember that Eco Future is aimed primarily at children aged seven to 12. Most of the games use buttons and touch screens but they vary in terms of their complexity, with some being little more than driving games while others require the visitor to make a whole series of logical decisions, particularly when growing food or designing future transport.

In the 'drinking' zone, younger visitors learn about the rapidly decreasing stock of water held in Abu Dhabi's underground aquifers and the threat to local fish species, while chasing digital fish projected on the floor. The fish respond to bouncing feet and grasping hands by darting quickly away.

Elsewhere, on a digital table-top game, players have to synchronise their movements with a virtual dripping tap to catch falling drops of water.

There are about 15 interactive games in the exhibition. At the end of the exhibit, visitors go into a tunnel to swipe their Eco Tag Card and view their very own neighbourhood on a flatscreen TV.

The character who most wants to live in the world you have created introduces you to its features, while another gives you a critique of its shortfalls

The atmosphere as you move through each of the exhibition's six zones is a cross between a nightclub and a games arcade, with exploding pools of light, strips of neon, projections and competing audio-visual effects.

This cacophony is exacerbated by the sound of interviews with experts from the many agencies that contributed to the show, and it is impressive that so many individuals and government bodies have collaborated and been coordinated in this way.

In designing Eco Future, Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority spent 10 months working with representatives from Masdar, Abu Dhabi Education Council, the Urban Planning Council, Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi, the Emirates Wildlife Society, Imperial College London Diabetes Centre, and the Tourism and Investment Company to provide the exhibition content. As such, the show is as much of a snapshot of Abu Dhabi's current generation of young Emirati professionals as it is of any projected future.

In addition to the games and the talking heads, each of the six sections in Eco Future contains a selection of commercially available products and inventions, such as indoor chicken coups, solar stoves, home composting kits and clothes made from recycled materials that have no doubt been chosen to show how technology can be used to solve environmental problems in innovative ways.

If this is the case, then it's a pity that in an exhibition so closely tied to Abu Dhabi's future that so many of these items seem designed to solve problems more commonly encountered elsewhere.

Of all the temporary exhibitions to have been held at Manarat Al Saadiyat, Eco Future is the one that sits most comfortably with the gallery's permanent show, the Saadiyat Story. However, whereas the architectural models next door present the visitor with a rather glamorously imagined fait accompli, the virtual communities produced by the visitors to Eco Future are perhaps more realistic; they show how the future is always a work in progress.

Eco Future introduces the problems that Abu Dhabi faces in the broadest terms without any attempt to convey their immediacy and grave seriousness.

But this exhibition is probably not the appropriate forum - nor the audience - in which to entertain such prophecies of doom.

The harsh and complex business of adapting behaviour and the city as it exists today - rather than having the luxury of starting again with the wisdom of hindsight - is something that Abu Dhabi's current crop of grown-ups have to confront.

If events such as Eco Future are to succeed in their efforts to foster a change in behaviours then perhaps it is more appropriate to leave the last word to the next generation, the one to whom Eco Future is actually speaking.

As Ali, the exhibition's "argumentative" guide says: "Remember the future is not set. We can all do things to shape it and make it better. What are you going to do today to make the tomorrow you want? Remember, you have the power to shape tomorrow. Yallah!"

Eco Future: our planet, your choice opens tomorrow and runs until September 2013.

The exhibit is open daily from 10am to 8pm. Adult tickets cost Dh30, with Dh25 entry for children under 15.

For more details, click here.

Second ODI

England 322-7 (50 ovs)
India 236 (50 ovs)

England win by 86 runs

Next match: Tuesday, July 17, Headingley 

Need to know

When: October 17 until November 10

Cost: Entry is free but some events require prior registration

Where: Various locations including National Theatre (Abu Dhabi), Abu Dhabi Cultural Center, Zayed University Promenade, Beach Rotana (Abu Dhabi), Vox Cinemas at Yas Mall, Sharjah Youth Center

What: The Korea Festival will feature art exhibitions, a B-boy dance show, a mini K-pop concert, traditional dance and music performances, food tastings, a beauty seminar, and more.

For more information: www.koreafestivaluae.com

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Rooney's club record

At Everton Appearances: 77; Goals: 17

At Manchester United Appearances: 559; Goals: 253

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Starring: Mirfat Amin, Boumi Fouad and Tariq Al Ibyari

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Rating: 3/5

MATCH INFO

Liverpool 4 (Salah (pen 4, 33', & pen 88', Van Dijk (20')

Leeds United 3 (Harrison 12', Bamford 30', Klich 66')

Man of the match Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)

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Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
 
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia

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Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna

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Name: HyperSpace
 
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The goal should be for grade 1 and 2 students to become fluent readers

Subjects like technology, social studies, science can be taught in later grades

Grade 1 curricula should include oral instruction in Standard Arabic

First graders must regularly practice individual letters and combinations

Time should be slotted in class to read longer passages in early grades

Improve the appearance of textbooks

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match info

Union Berlin 0

Bayern Munich 1 (Lewandowski 40' pen, Pavard 80')

Man of the Match: Benjamin Pavard (Bayern Munich)

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Director: Clint Eastwood

Stars: Clint Eastwood, Dwight Yoakam

Rating:**

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• Denny Strong, 20
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• Rikki Olds, 25
• Tralona Bartkowiak, 49
• Suzanne Fountain, 59
• Teri Leiker, 51
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• Kevin Mahoney, 61
• Lynn Murray, 62
• Jody Waters, 65

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Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

THE LOWDOWN

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Rating: 4/5

Produced by: Poetic License Motion Pictures; RSVP Movies

Director: Ritesh Batra

Cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Sanya Malhotra, Farrukh Jaffar, Deepak Chauhan, Vijay Raaz

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Starting price: Dh79,000

On sale: Now

SPECS

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Power: 235hp
Torque: 350Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Price: From Dh167,500 ($45,000)
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