Today in the newspaper (I read the paper while I eat lunch) I came across an article about Lonely Planet’s top ten countries for 2011. Guess who made the list……Syria! Yay! Borrowing the words of one commentator on the article “Go Syria!”!
Filed under Articles …
36 Hours In Damascus
The New York Times recently published an article on how to spend 36 hours in Damascus. The paper seems to be writing quite a bit about Syria lately and I love that. However, I wish they weren’t so infatuated with just the sleek and polished. It seems that they’re only attracted to a country if there’s vodka and pricey night clubs. Then they’ll pay attention to the rest of a country’s treasure. Maybe that’s too harsh. Maybe I’m just taking out my homesickness on the NYT. Sorry New York Times. In any case, take a look at the article and let me know what you think.
Ali Kaaf
Here’s a brief Q&A with Syrian artist Ali Kaaf that I found on Syria Today (all text (and the photo) that follows (except for the smiley face) is from Syria Today and is edited only minutely in format).:
Earlier this fall, Rafia Gallery hosted Ali Kaaf’s second solo exhibition in Syria. The show inaugurates a new chapter for the young Syrian painter as he returns to Damascus from a 12-year hiatus in Berlin. Syria Today spoke with Kaaf about his artistic process and his return to his roots.
By Nouna al-Dimashqiya
Photo Adel Samara
How do you feel about returning to Syria and exhibiting your work here?
Every time I have an exhibit in Syria, I feel more apprehensive and anxious than I would in Europe. It is difficult for me because this is my homeland. I was raised here, and then I embarked on artistic study and development in Lebanon and Germany. But my roots are here. Syria is also where my life as an artist began; it is not a neutral place for me by any means. I am not able to easily separate myself from the emotion and memories that I feel here, which is something I do not experience when I exhibit in Europe. But this unique and deeply personal context always proves an excellent experience for me. Exhibiting in Syria always gives me a new sense of motivation.
Your work is deeply thematic. Tell us about what concerns you as you take on an artistic project.
I am deeply moved by something the poet Jorge Luis Borges wrote: ‘Happiness need not be expressed in art. One just lives it. Art comes from injury.’ This conflict is the crux of my artistic endeavours – the challenge of creating an image that portrays a sentiment, a state of being, and the many polar dichotomies that fill the human experience. Nothing in life is static. Little is as it seems. Conflict is everywhere.
I am not interested in aesthetics, in making something beautiful. I relish the challenge of catching and representing an idea, making it visual, then translating it into material. And I choose my medium accordingly: black and white, paper, gelatine, fire, glass. The fragility and risk involved in working on paper and with glass embody the impermanence with which I am theoretically concerned.
What’s next?
I have been quite busy in the last few months with exhibitions in Europe. I miss being in the studio. The winter in Damascus will offer me time to concentrate solely on my work, to spend my time in the studio and allow ideas and concepts to marinate. Damascus is an amazing place to work. It’s for me much more intimate, personal, rife with unanswered questions, dilemmas, memories – all rich juice for my creative process. I am working in cooperation with fellow artists – two German and one Peruvian – on a project for an exhibition in 2011. We’d like to establish a project and work together making art in Damascus inspired by Damascus.
By Nouna al-Dimashqiya
Photo Adel Samara
Photo Adel Samara
23 Inches of Comfort
This article scares me. “Think your seat in coach is cramped? Take a look at the SkyRider.”
“The new airplane seat, to be unveiled next week…would give passengers an experience akin to riding horseback.”
“They’d sit at an angle with no more than 23 inches between their perch and the seat in front of them — a design that could appeal to low-cost airlines that have floated the idea of offering passengers standing-room tickets on short flights.”
“Ryanair, the Irish low-cost carrier that has set trends such as charging for in-flight meals, has said it would let passengers stand during flights if the Irish Aviation Authority would allow it.”
I understand the airline industry is struggling economically, but they have got to come up with some other ways to save money. This is just cruel.
Note: Photo and quoted sections are all from hyper-linked article.
Forward Magazine Talks To Zaha Hadid
All of the following is from: http://www.forwardsyria.com/story/159/Zaha%20Hadid
and is by Sami Moubayed
Let’s start off with the purpose of your last visit to Damascus, the LET IT BE JEWELRY exhibition held by Sayegh at Art Gallery in June 2006. Can you tell us more about the project, which transforms artists, architects, and sculptors, into jewelry designers?
I have designed the Skein Sleeve for the exhibition. It is a multifaceted jewellery piece that is designed to entwine an arm inside the stretched and pulled latticework of filigree. The delicate complexity of the geometry is emphasized by the polished white gold that makes up the meshwork and the adorning white diamonds that flow down the piece like water droplets. The piece will be an excellent demonstration of the skills of the Damascean craftsman.
Moving on to Zaha Hadid Architects, which employees 250 people, trained under your watchful eye in London. What are the secrets of success that you are channeling to a rising generation of architects? Would you describe yourself as an “intellectual dictator” that tries to influence style and performance—with the Zaha Hadid hallmark, or do you encourage experimentation?
A lot of the people that work in our office have been taught by us. Maybe the model of the master making a sketch of an idea and having others take it from there is applicable to my early career, but now credit is due to the people who work in the office with me who contribute to the discourse and bring something to the table. Their ambition to improve the project’s impact on society is encouraged. You never know what can come out of the students and workers in the office when they’re given opportunity.
They may be scared at first—not of me, of course—but they just need to be given confidence to do their best—with a degree of freedom. I think that’s why people like to work in our office—their only obligation is to work hard and do their best. They feel they’re part of the process, and of the progress we make, and not just doing the detailing of some part of a building. You need to let people grow, and it’s exciting to see them and their work mature, contributing to the development of a project.
In 2008, you ranked number 69 on the Forbes list of The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women. Do you agree to that, and if so, how has ‘power’ changed you?
Perhaps it was my flamboyance that gave me such determination to succeed, but I have always been extremely determined. Now I’ve achieved the success, but it’s always been a very long struggle. In the early days we were all workaholics—spending all night working, this required incredible focus and ambition. I don’t take the acclaim terribly seriously, I’m very grateful for it, but it doesnt affect my life.
People have always been very kind and nice to me when they approach me; they say good things to me. It’s just exciting that people know about architects. Twenty-five years ago, they didn’t. I believe that when there are good moments, you have to recognize and enjoy them. One always has to look at things in a positive way. But there is a downside: a lot of travelling, and I do get tired of the constant movement.
You were recently granted an Honorary Degree from the American University of Beirut (AUB). Apart from that, are you still well connected to AUB, and if so, are you involved in any of the new projects that are underway to revamp the AUB campus?
We are building the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at AUB. Its designed not only to attract students and academics but also to draw local, regional and international researchers, thinkers and policy-makers. I strongly believe these institutes, which offer opportunities for discussion and discourse, are vital as a forum for the exchange of ideas.
In 2004, you were the first female recipient—and first Arab—of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, which is the Nobel Prize for Architecture. Can you tell us about that?
The winning of the Pritzker Prize represents the full recognition of what started 20 years ago as risky projections of possible future architecture. Whether the honor of winning the Pritzker Prize was the exception to the rule of male domination in architecture is yet to be seen.
On to Iraq, your native homeland that is going through difficult times and political turbulence. Do you visit frequently and do you plan to get involved, one way or another, with national reconstruction once the occupation ends?
I had a very nice childhood in Iraq. In the sixties, Iraq was a new republic looking to achieve a new identity by the sorts of buildings that were commissioned and the environment being created. At the time, in Iraq there was an unbroken belief in progress and a great sense of optimism.
I would be very happy to help with the reconstruction. It’s a very difficult situation. Iraq is an occupied country. I hope that soon there will be a place for people like me to contribute. Work is needed not only for individual buildings, but for urban planning and major infrastructure as well.
Syrian architects seem to be in a dilemma, preserving what is old, while adding a touch of modernity. If you were a decision-maker on the fate of Damascene architecture, what legislation would you take?
I can’t really talk about political decisions as I’m not privy to the specific points, but to lose the history would be a shame. It’s a very thin line between saying to people that ‘everything must be preserved’ and yet one also believes in new things. I don’t believe cities should be like Venice and not grow or change at all. It is important to intervene in a contemporary way – but you must do it in a very precise manner.
As mentioned above, you are known as the Queen of Architecture and have forcefully dominated the scene and profession. What made Zaha Hadid the woman she is today?
My parents gave me the confidence to do all these things. When I was a child I travelled every summer with my parents, and my father made sure I went to every important building and museum in each city. I remember going as a child to see Cordoba -I was seven years old- and that was the most stunning space. Of course there are lots of other truly great spaces but this mosque left a really tremendous impact on me. It’s very dark inside, but then there is the white marble inside the space. I remember visiting the spiralling Malwiya, the minaret of the ninth-century Great Mosque of Samarra in Iraq. It is a thousand years older than some of the modernist buildings that resemble it.
We also used to take along picnics for trips to the ruins of Samarra, in the Garden of Eden, where the Tigris and Euphrates meet in southern Iraq, you stand there and there is timelessness.
You see the rivers and trees and you know that 10,000 years ago it was like that.
My personal experience is that of being totally displaced. I am an Arab, but I have not lived there for some time, so in that sense I am maybe not a typical Arab. I am Iraqi. I live in London. I don’t really have a particular place, and I think those in my situation really have to re-invent your world.
A Fine Frenzy, Queen Noor, and Jeff Skoll
I thought the article below was cool. However, I do feel that some parts are a bit wishy-washy (“the universe’s negative forces”? Seriously?) and I also don’t agree with the Queen’s statement about the Middle East.
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[This article was written by Adam Trunell and is from this link.]
A queen, a philanthropic visionary, and a self-made musician walk into a living room. Sound like a joke? A quirky cable sitcom? Not even close.
In the quaint hamlet of Los Angeles, on the season’s first balmy afternoon, three separate lives came together for a spot of tea and a very serious talk. Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan, songwriter Alison Sudol of A Fine Frenzy, and Jeff Skoll of Participant Media had only one topic in mind: nuclear weapons.
Since the end of the Cold War, the once unavoidable issue of nukes has failed to inspire Americans to action; but after viewing Mr. Skoll’s upcoming film, Countdown to Zero, Ms. Sudol decided to make some noise.
“I saw the film and I was sobbing,” she said. “It’s shocking what could happen and how far out of control the issue is, and I was just like, ‘I have to do something.’ “
A week later, three worlds came crashing together. Queen Noor, pioneering champion of social issues from climate change to microfinance, arrived on Ms. Sudol’s unassuming doorstep, followed by Mr. Skoll and one reporter, hoping to capture the moment.
The reporter’s first question to the royal guest: “Do you play an instrument?”
“My musical talents were not instinctive,” the queen confesses with a smile. “I loved to sing when I was little, until one of my singing teachers at school offered to give me lessons on the side—which I’m not even sure I realized at the moment—was probably an indication that I needed lessons.”
But she has dreamt of being a rock star.
“I’ve always felt that music has an extraordinary power. The power to make people feel good, find peace, find harmony, find energy. I would love to be a part of that.”
Instead, the Jordanian queen entered the business of changing the world. Among the list of projects that bear Her Majesty’s signature, Queen Noor is a member of Global Zero, a worldwide campaign to eliminate the planet’s nuclear weapons.
For her part, Ms. Sudol, who once dreamt of being a princess, never dreamed that she’d have a queen for tea. She had never met royalty until this searing afternoon—not even Kings of Leon or Queen Latifah—although she concedes, “I once stood very close to Prince.”
Now in her own living room, Ms. Sudol is not only rubbing elbows with a living queen, they’ve joined hands against nuclear weapons.
And so these unlikely partners, who’ve each lived the other’s dream, now find their lives connected by the world’s most dangerous weapon. Faced with the threat of a nuclear event, the spoils of art, music and royalty quickly fade. Fortunately, grave issues inspire great minds.
Mr. Skoll serves evidence of that. By shepherding projects such as An Inconvenient Truth and Syriana, he’s fried the planet’s fishiest issues through film, wrapping up social messages in movies that matter. With Countdown, Skoll’s efforts have gone nuclear.
“One of the reasons we did this movie was we felt the issue had fallen out of public consciousness, especially among younger people,” says Mr. Skoll. “We want to reach people and let them know that this issue hasn’t gone away, that it’s vitally important, that there’s something we can do about it, and that we need to start now.”
So the trio got down to business in Ms. Sudol’s cozy living room, separating the issue of nuclear proliferation into its broken parts, and pledging all they could to fix it.
But even if the trio managed to rid the world of every last nuke tomorrow, the knowledge to build a nuclear weapon would remain. “The question then,” posed the reporter, “is what can we do to reduce the world’s need for nukes?”
Queen Noor, whose diplomatic mix of empathy and insight is as essential to her character as Vicks is to the reporter’s sinuses, took the point.
“You’ll never get rid of all the insecurities that drive nations to acquire weapons. The Middle East, for example, has the highest per capita spending on arms in the world, but it’s the least secure place in the world. So arms don’t actually provide any real security, and somehow we have to get that message across.”
As for the bomb, the queen urged nuclear nations to reduce their stockpiles, and called on India, Pakistan and Israel to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
With multilateral efforts to eliminate weapons, and every nation on board with the NPT, states such as Iran and North Korea could no longer justify their nuclear programs against those of their enemies.
Eliminating nukes, however, will take more than a few signatures on the NPT. Nuclear powers cling to their arsenals. Unless the movement to ban nukes is sustained by fresh, new faces, it’ll dry up.
Enter the DIY musician, scarlet-haired and radiating purpose. With more than 1.6 million followers on Twitter, Ms. Sudol reigns over a legion just shy of Queen Noor’s during her time on the Jordanian throne. As a piano-playing member of the youth set, Sudol represents the future of the movement to ban nukes.
Echoing an earlier sentiment expressed by Her Majesty, Ms. Sudol says, in an almost quiet promise to herself, “I’m trying to earn my space on this planet.”
Eliminating the weapon of most destruction would earn Ms. Sudol a place on the dollar bill. There are more than 20,000 nukes crowding the world, with enough material floating around to create at least 100,000 more.
With these distinguished guests, however, a genuine sense of possibility fills the room.
“When you want something,” says Mr. Skoll, quoting the words of Brazilian poet Paulo Coelho, “all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”
So-called realists may point out that Coelho’s quote fails to assume the universe’s negative forces want things of their own. Pakistan conspired with Iran and North Korea, North Korea conspired with Burma, and because of that, the world may see any number of new nuclear weapons.
But Mr. Skoll has numbers, too.
“There are 183 countries that don’t have nuclear weapons,” he says. “There could easily be 30 or 40 more nuclear countries within a few years. They have the technology and the capabilities, but they’ve chosen not to.”
Mr. Skoll, needless to say, is the sort of optimist who sees opportunity in every danger.
“We’re on the tipping point. We can either go in that direction or we can ratchet it back. And that’s why this is such an historic moment in time.”
Whether a movie and a movement is enough to stem the tide on proliferation has yet to be seen. What’s been proven time and again, however, is that there’s nothing like the power of music, film, and leadership to inspire stalemated multitudes to action. If anybody were to get non-proliferation right, they’d probably look a lot like the unlikely trio in Ms. Sudol’s living room.
With time for one more question, the reporter set his sites on Her Majesty, a woman who’s seen a lion’s share of thorny issues.
“Can the Lakers win the championship?”
After a thoughtful pause, the Queen leveled an unclouded gaze at the reporter’s dry, itchy eyes.
“Can they? Yes. Will they? We’ll see.”
The same, perhaps, for the trio’s effort to ban nukes.
Seven Top Airline Snacks
I saw this article a week or so ago and wanted to share it. I have one comment on it though: “Turkey has an airline? Yes…” What the heck people? Of course Turkey has an airline!
I’ve never had any of the snacks the article listed (mostly because I’ve never been on those specific routes). The best airline snack I’ve received was ice cream sandwiches. I think that was on a KLM flight. It was so good…What’s the best airline snack you’ve tasted?
Syria In The NYT’s Top Ten
I saw this on www.mideastalliance.org:
Posted January 14 9:59AM EST by Matt….
It’s official: Syria is one of the travel hotspots for 2010.
The New York Times puts Damascus at number 7. The paragraph sells the Syrian capital on the basis of its boutique hotels (really, is that the best you can come up with?), and was written by former Global Post Beirut correspondent Don Duncan (I’m still not sure why the NYT couldn’t bother to find someone actually living in Damascus).
“The next Marrakesh? Perhaps mindful of the way that renovations of historic riads have drawn upscale travelers to Marrakesh, Damascus hoteliers are trying to mine tourism gold in the rundown buildings of the Syrian capital’s Old City. These 18th-century homes — many with inviting courtyards and rooftop terraces — are now boutique hotels, like the nine-room Old Vine (www.oldvinehotel.com) and the Hanania (www.hananiahotel.com), which doubles as a hotel and a small museum.”
But if you’re worried that the NYT’s discovery might cause a flood of Americans to have their own Damascene conversions (sorry, I couldn’t resist), then don’t. Last year the NYT put Beirut at number 1, and what good did that do?….
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I agree with the author’s annoyance. There are so many good reasons to visit Damascus and the New York Times should have listed those instead of “boutique hotels”. Blach. I am glad though that they did advise Syria’s capital and other places that often don’t receive the attention they deserve. Check out their suggestions here.
What do you think of their list?
Note: The section from www.mideastalliance.org was edited slightly for clarity.
The German Top Model
From: http://fwmagazine.wordpress.com/2010/06/13/damascus-born-syrian-girl-becomes-german-top-model-2010/.
June 13, 2010
By Forward Magazine
Alisar Ailabouni, a 20-year old Syrian girl who lives in Austria, has been elected as German Top Model 2010, at a mega-event hosted by German supermodel Heidi Klum at the Cologne Lanxess Arena, attended by 15,000 spectators.
Alisar, who was born in Damascus then moved with her family to Europe, where she was raised in Mattighofen in Upper Austria. She is a tall, slender, and dazzling chestnut haired beauty whose hobbies include horseback riding, basketball, and skating. She now plans on making it big in the modeling business, having been crowned Top Model from among 23,000 contesters. Ailabouni has already signed up to appear on the cover of the German edition of COSMOPOLITAN Magazine after yanking the Top Model title from her predecessor, German-Ethiopian model, Sara Nunu….
Next Year
Ok, so like most of the articles I post here, this is old. Almost a year old. But what the hey:
Rose Design a Thorny Issue
By Maiken Enggaard
From syria-today.com
It emerges from the ground like a budding Damascus rose: tightly wrapped petals overlap and frame the exterior of the building, while the interior is bathed in bright light. Welcome to the Massar Rose, an interactive children’s museum taking shape on the site of the former fairgrounds in central Damascus. Project backers say the centre will enrich the capital with an iconic building, attracting visitors from around the globe. Others, however, are yet to be convinced, saying the radical design is out of place in the world’s oldest continuously inhabited city.
“The Damascus rose is very symbolic to Syrians, it’s close to people’s hearts,” Anne Marie Galmstrup, project architect from the Copenhagen-based architectural firm Henning Larsen Architects, said. “But the building is more than just a pretty image of a rose. The shape and thermal mass of the petal façade reduces the building’s energy loads.”
The centre, estimated by local media to cost SYP 2.4bn (USD 50m), will sit amid a new public park between two branches of the Barada River next to the National Museum, the University of Damascus and the opera house.
“For many years the site was an important area within the city,” Galmstrup said. “It is our hope that the place will again become a vibrant green destination for Syrians, part of a larger cultural valley walk running through the city.”
The 15,400-square-metre centre will create an interactive learning environment for children, containing hands-on, science-based exhibitions, research and innovation studios, media rooms, debating chambers, as well as a theatre, library and a number of cafés. The project is being backed by Massar, a children’s Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) which falls under the Syria Trust for Development, a NGO established by Syria’s First Lady Asma al-Assad in April 2007. Together with the president, she laid the centre’s foundation stone on July 2. Construction of the centre is expected to be completed by 2011 and it will eventually host half a million visitors each year.
“We are planning to create an interactive learning environment so young people and their families can learn new things with entertainment,” Anas Darkaoui, communications director at Massar, said. “Children will be able to live the experience they learn about.”
The centre’s unique design aims to give Damascus a building people around the world will associate the city with. Professor Mamoun al-Wareh, dean of architecture at the University of Damascus, is, however, sceptical of the building’s unconventional appearance.
“Damascus is an old city – if you want to build in the centre, the building should respect the tradition of the old surroundings,” he said. “If you want to build something modern, it is better to go out of the inner-city area. The centre should stay old.”
Galmstrup challenges this view, saying historic cities live and breathe and the old and the new can be successfully blended. Placing a new “cultural heart” in the middle of Damascus will bring new life to a derelict area. “You should not just restore everything,” she said. “You need to evolve and move on into the next century, otherwise you will end up with a dead Disneyland city only for tourists.”
The Massar Rose design was chosen via a global competition held in 2006, attracting local, regional and international submissions. The centre was further developed by a team of local and foreign architects.
Drawing on Damascus’s rich architectural heritage, Galmstrup said the centre incorporates numerous architectural features and building methods unique to the city. Similar to the traditional courtyard houses found in the Old City, the centre’s design plays on the contrast between a closed, neutral, external envelope and an open, organic and decorative internal space where the sky is the window. Internal spaces will be decorated with traditional mosaics and paste works made by local artists, while other walls will be clad in clay. The building’s layout is inspired by Syria’s labyrinthine souks, with their busy streets, narrow corridors and quiet courtyards. The centre’s external facade will be covered in limestone quarried in Palmyra and feature a relief which will play with light and shadow, changing the building’s appearance throughout the day.
“We are taking into consideration all the traditional elements to put the design in line with the old city atmosphere and heritage,” Hussam Hamwi, head of the project management unit at Massar, said.
The design team also travelled around Syria to gain inspiration for the building’s design. “This project is the first of its kind in Syria, so naturally we are nervous about the reaction to it,” Galmstrup said. “But we are also very confident in this building.”
The attempt to incorporate traditional elements into the design is, however, lost upon Wareh. “I can’t see this Syrian inspiration,” he said. “The designers have tried to learn everything about Syria and I respect that. But it is difficult to gain rapid in-depth knowledge of the culture, the buildings and the people. You need more time and a foreign architect will never have the same understanding of Syrian identity as a local architect.”
Still, Wareh concedes the building might just stand the test of time. “We don’t know whether it will succeed or fail,” he said. “Maybe one day it will be the symbol of Damascus, like what happened with Jorn Utzon’s Opera House in Sydney. People hated that building in the beginning, but now they love it.”
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What do you guys think of this? Do you agree with the Professor or with Galmstrup? Or neither…or both…or something else entirely?
