Author and cultural historian Omar Kholeif will be curating My Life in the Metaverse at Abu Dhabi Art.
Kholeif, who was previously a guest curator for Abu Dhabi Art’s gallery section, is returning to the fair with the Gateway exhibition, an expansive showcase exploring the history and aesthetics of digital culture.
“My attention is and always has been on storytelling and its creative potential — indeed, its possible for the collective imagination,” Kholeif tells The National.
“I have used the context of the increased fascination in this specific field of art and technology as a jumping-off point to build a historical exhibition that seeks to create a context for the emergence of these creative practices.”
My Life in the Metaverse will be a multi-disciplinary exhibition using sculpture, painting, photography, video and NFTs as well as a journey through a simulation, guided by Kholeif’s alter ego Dr O.
Earlier this year, Kholeif launched the artPost21 podcast as Dr O, which takes listeners into today’s complex world of art and culture.
“Within minutes of being in the studio and behind the mic, I found myself speaking an Octave lower than usual, adopting a different voice and personae — I was now Dr O,” Kholeif says.
“I have since then, used Dr O as an avatar to tell the kinds of playful, semi-fictional stories that I feel that I, in my professional capacities, am not always able to do. One of those adventures is the exhibition My Life in the Metaverse.”
Visitors to the exhibition will enter into the world of Dr O, a figure living in their computer, while curating the world from their desktop and reflecting on the nature of technologies within art as well as how it continues to evolve.
The show features a comprehensive chronology of work including that of influential artist Nam June Paik and his 1973 performance, Global Groove. A version of the work was also turned into an NFT. Andy Warhol’s infamous Polaroids, which were influential in how culture explores and views the idea of the self, will be on show along with Trevor Paglen’s grand sculpture, The Standard Head.
Visitors will also see the rise and fall of Web 2.0 and what is likely to be its successor Web3, which incorporates concepts such as blockchain technologies, token-based economics and decentralisation.
“My Life in the Metaverse adopts a playful approach to explore, examine and critique the different possibilities of the field,” Kholeif says.
“The audience is invited to make their own inferences, and also have the tools and resources to go beyond the realm of the exhibition to keep on asking questions.”
The exhibition begins and ends with a concept store entitled Dr O’s Pop Shop: The Blockchain Edition in collaboration with the Emirati brand Kran. Inspired by celebrated artist Keith Haring’s Pop Shop of the 1980s, Kholeif’s concept store will invoke an immersive retail experience for today’s world.
“Here, audiences can immerse themselves in artist-designed merchandise, including newly commissioned works, but they cannot buy it,” Kholeif says.
“Rather, they’d need to look up the smart contract and investigate the terms — they can choose to hire or lease the Pop Shop, or any other number of things, just as they would any other number of conceptual artworks.”
Kholeif’s upcoming book Internet_Art: From the Birth of the Web to the Rise of NFTs is due to be published by Phaidon Press early next year.
My Life in the Metaverse, was partially curated from Kholeif’s research for the book, which plots the history of art making within the world wide web showcasing work spanning a range of media from influential artists and innovators alongside Kholeif’s own career as an artist over the last two decades.
“The reason these artists are here is because they are all making history,” Kholeif adds. “I can’t wait to invite you all to join us on this journey.”
My Life in the Metaverse will be part of Abu Dhabi Art’s artistic programme and is on display at Manarat Al Saadiyat from next Wednesday to January 22.
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Teams
Punjabi Legends Owners: Inzamam-ul-Haq and Intizar-ul-Haq; Key player: Misbah-ul-Haq
Pakhtoons Owners: Habib Khan and Tajuddin Khan; Key player: Shahid Afridi
Maratha Arabians Owners: Sohail Khan, Ali Tumbi, Parvez Khan; Key player: Virender Sehwag
Bangla Tigers Owners: Shirajuddin Alam, Yasin Choudhary, Neelesh Bhatnager, Anis and Rizwan Sajan; Key player: TBC
Colombo Lions Owners: Sri Lanka Cricket; Key player: TBC
Kerala Kings Owners: Hussain Adam Ali and Shafi Ul Mulk; Key player: Eoin Morgan
Venue Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Format 10 overs per side, matches last for 90 minutes
Timeline October 25: Around 120 players to be entered into a draft, to be held in Dubai; December 21: Matches start; December 24: Finals
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US households add $601bn of debt in 2019
American households borrowed another $601 billion (Dh2.2bn) in 2019, the largest yearly gain since 2007, just before the global financial crisis, according to February data from the New York Federal Reserve Bank.
Fuelled by rising mortgage debt as homebuyers continued to take advantage of low interest rates, the increase last year brought total household debt to a record high, surpassing the previous peak reached in 2008 just before the market crash, according to the report.
Following the 22nd straight quarter of growth, American household debt swelled to $14.15 trillion by the end of 2019, the New York Fed said in its quarterly report.
In the final three months of the year, new home loans jumped to their highest volume since the fourth quarter of 2005, while credit cards and auto loans also added to the increase.
The bad debt load is taking its toll on some households, and the New York Fed warned that more and more credit card borrowers — particularly young people — were falling behind on their payments.
"Younger borrowers, who are disproportionately likely to have credit cards and student loans as their primary form of debt, struggle more than others with on-time repayment," New York Fed researchers said.
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Rating: ****
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RESULT
Arsenal 1 Chelsea 2
Arsenal: Aubameyang (13')
Chelsea: Jorginho (83'), Abraham (87')
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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.
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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.
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In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
How to play the stock market recovery in 2021?
If you are looking to build your long-term wealth in 2021 and beyond, the stock market is still the best place to do it as equities powered on despite the pandemic.
Investing in individual stocks is not for everyone and most private investors should stick to mutual funds and ETFs, but there are some thrilling opportunities for those who understand the risks.
Peter Garnry, head of equity strategy at Saxo Bank, says the 20 best-performing US and European stocks have delivered an average return year-to-date of 148 per cent, measured in local currency terms.
Online marketplace Etsy was the best performer with a return of 330.6 per cent, followed by communications software company Sinch (315.4 per cent), online supermarket HelloFresh (232.8 per cent) and fuel cells specialist NEL (191.7 per cent).
Mr Garnry says digital companies benefited from the lockdown, while green energy firms flew as efforts to combat climate change were ramped up, helped in part by the European Union’s green deal.
Electric car company Tesla would be on the list if it had been part of the S&P 500 Index, but it only joined on December 21. “Tesla has become one of the most valuable companies in the world this year as demand for electric vehicles has grown dramatically,” Mr Garnry says.
By contrast, the 20 worst-performing European stocks fell 54 per cent on average, with European banks hit by the economic fallout from the pandemic, while cruise liners and airline stocks suffered due to travel restrictions.
As demand for energy fell, the oil and gas industry had a tough year, too.
Mr Garnry says the biggest story this year was the “absolute crunch” in so-called value stocks, companies that trade at low valuations compared to their earnings and growth potential.
He says they are “heavily tilted towards financials, miners, energy, utilities and industrials, which have all been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic”. “The last year saw these cheap stocks become cheaper and expensive stocks have become more expensive.”
This has triggered excited talk about the “great value rotation” but Mr Garnry remains sceptical. “We need to see a breakout of interest rates combined with higher inflation before we join the crowd.”
Always remember that past performance is not a guarantee of future returns. Last year’s winners often turn out to be this year’s losers, and vice-versa.
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The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
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Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
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