Stepping off the escalator to the first level of ICD Brookfield Place in DIFC, five large inflatable sculptures float overhead.
Shaped in distinct forms, they hover in bright metallic colours such as orange, silver, pink and green. These colossal creations are one half of Kuwaiti visual artist Monira Al Qadiri’s current exhibition entitled Floating World.
This section of the show is entitled Benzene Float, and despite the pieces' awe-inspiring size, Al Qadiri is depicting magnified versions of invisible substances existing all around us: Oil-derived chemicals.
“I thought it would be interesting to exaggerate their presence in our lives so we cannot ignore them,” Al Qadiri tells The National. “They're like these huge balloons in the room that are overpowering everything.
“This is their reality in our lives. In the modern world, we can't live without them.”
Each floating sculpture is based on the drawing of what is known as a space-filling model that represents a molecular structure of a petrochemical substance such as benzene, propane gas, paradichlorobenzene or naphthalene.
Oil is a running theme in Al Qadiri’s work. From its invisible compounds to the methods of its extraction, to how it has defined nations and its necessary presence in our daily lives, she is fascinated with the many facets of it.
“Oil is like a mutant, it transforms into so many different things. There's something magical about it,” she says.
“This one material creates all of these different things, our clothes, shoes, glasses, the buildings that we live in, the shampoo we wash our hair with, it's all full of petrochemicals.”
In the gallery space of ICD Brookfield Place, Al Qadiri presents another body of work that grapples with the multifaceted presence of oil in modern life.
Entitled Nawa, the space is strewn with 50 two-dimensional metal sculptures of varying shapes and sizes. They are painted in glistening colours, tying in with the hovering pieces from Benzene Float. The sculptures also have a rainbow shimmer, often seen on the surface of oil.
Few stand straight, some lean, tilt and lie across the ground, while others hang on the wall. The collection of metallic sculptural forms have a delicate appearance reminiscent of the hexagonal prism shapes of snowflakes, and resemble – as Al Qadiri envisioned – a field of flowers.
“My idea was almost like somebody grabbed a bunch of flowers and just threw them in here,” she says gesturing across the gallery space. “I wanted it to look like they were dispersed in a kind of random way.”
The floral shapes of the sculptures are not of her own design but taken directly from an unlikely source. They are the composition of steel rope cables that carry oil from deep in the Earth up to the surface. When these cables are cut in half, they reveal a hyper-visual geometric pattern reminiscent of floral patterns seen in nature.
“The idea is that it's a field and the field is beautiful and seductive and looks like flowers,” Al Qadiri says.
“But behind it, if you dig into the subject, it's also about extraction, about pollution, about a lot of different things. My work is always playing on two planes: The positive side and the negative side at the same time because that's real life, isn't it?”
Al Qadiri makes no statements about our reliance on oil and its effect on society and the environment. She says she works as an observer revealing what already exists, narrating through intriguing and surprising means.
“I'm not criticising, my work is not activism,” she says. “I'm not a political artist, but I’m very interested in reflecting the status quo.”
Through another lens, Al Qadiri’s work speaks to the historical narratives that oil has shaped in the region. She compares oil to pearls, both connected through their rainbowlike sheen and their reverence as currencies at different times in the Gulf.
“Our whole society was about pearl diving once upon a time,” she says.
“My grandfather was a singer on the pearl-diving boats and I've also been thinking about how to relate myself to him. How do we create a kind of continuous history in these different industries?”
Similarly to her grandfather, Al Qadiri is a storyteller. She reanalyses and contextualises the power sources and currencies of culture, where they come from and how they are embedded into our lives.
“There is a beauty in recreating history, even if you do it artificially, even if it's wrong,” she says.
“There is a beauty in this laborious exercise of trying to rediscover your history and your ancestors, and the stories of your people.”
Monira Al Qadir's exhibition Floating World at ICD Brookfield Place runs until January 3
Chef Nobu's advice for eating sushi
“One mistake people always make is adding extra wasabi. There is no need for this, because it should already be there between the rice and the fish.
“When eating nigiri, you must dip the fish – not the rice – in soy sauce, otherwise the rice will collapse. Also, don’t use too much soy sauce or it will make you thirsty. For sushi rolls, dip a little of the rice-covered roll lightly in soy sauce and eat in one bite.
“Chopsticks are acceptable, but really, I recommend using your fingers for sushi. Do use chopsticks for sashimi, though.
“The ginger should be eaten separately as a palette cleanser and used to clear the mouth when switching between different pieces of fish.”
Farasan Boat: 128km Away from Anchorage
Director: Mowaffaq Alobaid
Stars: Abdulaziz Almadhi, Mohammed Al Akkasi, Ali Al Suhaibani
Rating: 4/5
SQUADS
South Africa:
Faf du Plessis (capt), Hashim Amla, Temba Bavuma, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock (wkt), AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Imran Tahir, David Miller, Wayne Parnell, Dane Paterson, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada
Coach: Ottis Gibson
Bangladesh:
Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), Imrul Kayes, Liton Das (wkt), Mahmudullah, Mehidy Hasan, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim (wkt), Mustafizur Rahman, Nasir Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Shakib Al Hasan, Soumya Sarkar, Tamim Iqbal, Taskin Ahmed.
Coach: Chandika Hathurusingha
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Profile of RentSher
Started: October 2015 in India, November 2016 in UAE
Founders: Harsh Dhand; Vaibhav and Purvashi Doshi
Based: Bangalore, India and Dubai, UAE
Sector: Online rental marketplace
Size: 40 employees
Investment: $2 million
Citadel: Honey Bunny first episode
Directors: Raj & DK
Stars: Varun Dhawan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kashvi Majmundar, Kay Kay Menon
Rating: 4/5
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
PROFILE OF SWVL
Started: April 2017
Founders: Mostafa Kandil, Ahmed Sabbah and Mahmoud Nouh
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport
Size: 450 employees
Investment: approximately $80 million
Investors include: Dubai’s Beco Capital, US’s Endeavor Catalyst, China’s MSA, Egypt’s Sawari Ventures, Sweden’s Vostok New Ventures, Property Finder CEO Michael Lahyani
MATCH INFO
World Cup qualifier
Thailand 2 (Dangda 26', Panya 51')
UAE 1 (Mabkhout 45 2')
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
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The design
The protective shell is covered in solar panels to make use of light and produce energy. This will drastically reduce energy loss.
More than 80 per cent of the energy consumed by the French pavilion will be produced by the sun.
The architecture will control light sources to provide a highly insulated and airtight building.
The forecourt is protected from the sun and the plants will refresh the inner spaces.
A micro water treatment plant will recycle used water to supply the irrigation for the plants and to flush the toilets. This will reduce the pavilion’s need for fresh water by 30 per cent.
Energy-saving equipment will be used for all lighting and projections.
Beyond its use for the expo, the pavilion will be easy to dismantle and reuse the material.
Some elements of the metal frame can be prefabricated in a factory.
From architects to sound technicians and construction companies, a group of experts from 10 companies have created the pavilion.
Work will begin in May; the first stone will be laid in Dubai in the second quarter of 2019.
Construction of the pavilion will take 17 months from May 2019 to September 2020.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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
PREMIER LEAGUE RESULTS
Bournemouth 1 Manchester City 2
Watford 0 Brighton and Hove Albion 0
Newcastle United 3 West Ham United 0
Huddersfield Town 0 Southampton 0
Crystal Palace 0 Swansea City 2
Manchester United 2 Leicester City 0
West Bromwich Albion 1 Stoke City 1
Chelsea 2 Everton 0
Tottenham Hotspur 1 Burnley 1
Liverpool 4 Arsenal 0
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%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Chad%20Stahelski%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Keanu%20Reeves%2C%20Laurence%20Fishburne%2C%20George%20Georgiou%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E4%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE
1 Man City 26 20 3 3 63 17 63
2 Liverpool 25 17 6 2 64 20 57
3 Chelsea 25 14 8 3 49 18 50
4 Man Utd 26 13 7 6 44 34 46
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5 West Ham 26 12 6 8 45 34 42
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6 Arsenal 23 13 3 7 36 26 42
7 Wolves 24 12 4 8 23 18 40
8 Tottenham 23 12 4 8 31 31 39
