[Dubai, UAE] How to do Dubai in 24 hours? Simple. Have a grant, centrally located hotel as your base. Hire a taxi for a few quick spins around the new Burj Dubai for photo ops, and a trip to the old creek area and souks. Finally, get really f***in’ lucky by hopping right across the street from the hotel for the fabulous exhibit, “Word Into Art.”
Sponsored/curated by the British Museum (and based on an earlier original exhibition presented in London), this show was oddly held on the vacant floor of an office building (versus traditional gallery or museum space – welcome to Dubai’s new vision for art!). This truly special collection illuminated the beauty of Arabic lettering in every possible medium. Just stunning. Check out highlights here, or click my photo of exhibition signage above (gorgeous displays and clear explanations of the work throughout, more samples at my Flickr gallery – totally compensated for the office building aesthetic). Below is a closeup of “The Religion of Love” 2003, Hassan Massoudy.
From there, I headed just across the office building concourse to view selections from the JP Morgan Collection of contemporary and modern art. I was just about the sole viewer of each show, which made me feel like art-fan royalty, and made the 24-hour detour through Dubai well worth it. (Was lucky enough to crash with a close friend at the always-luxurious and dripping-with-marble Emirates Towers, an old favorite from my previous visits while consulting with Gulf News. You can check out the rest of my collection of Dubai photos here. I think I somehow took three weeks of photos in 24 hours; a favorite stop, oddly, was my final trip through the airport, where I tricked an angry German nun, a couple of fat and happy Arabs and a few others into wishing my mom a happy 70th birthday.)
This was my sixth visit to UAE but, because I was unencumbered by my day job, it was the first foray here that really allowed me to check out the exploding contemporary art scene, and to explore the place photographically. Missed Art Dubai festival by one week (damn!) but this was a great consolation prize. From here, on to Nairobi ….
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