Born in Jerusalem in 1936, Palestinian artist Samia Halaby is known for her strong, joyful abstractions: chunky shards of colour that abut one another, eliciting excitement and compassion in the viewer. She is also intensely political, working as an activist in support of Palestine and other social justice causes in the US, where she has lived since the 1950s.
But in an online cultural forum run by Sultan Al Qassemi – a new version of his Cultural Majlis series of events being held amid the coronavirus outbreak – Halaby opened a window into a lesser-known part of her practice: her early computer works.
“If Leonardo [da Vinci] dissected a cadaver in the 15th century, why am I so scared?” Halaby said at the virtual majlis. “So I jumped in and started programming.” She began coding in the early 1980s, first on her sister’s Apple II computer and then on the Amiga 1000.
“In research for my art history, I realised that the most important things I have seen and respect are those that use the technology for their times,” she said. “All my questions, ever since the beginning of my education, have been looking towards art history to see what things have been done, and how I can add to them and be part of the continuum of culture.”
Images from the time show Halaby at her Amiga: a boxy, hulking object that was nestled into a nook next to a bookshelf. In the 1980s and '90s Amigas were at the height of their popularity. When Halaby bought the Amiga 1000 in 1986, it offered more colours and higher processing speed than its rivals, but its California company faltered in marketing the machine, and it eventually went out of business.
Halaby bought hers for $1,000 in a blowout sale in New York’s financial district, and began learning to code the Amiga Basic language.
If Leonardo [da Vinci] dissected a cadaver in the 15th century, why am I so scared? So I jumped in and started programming
“I cannot tell you how absorbed I got into it. It took over every part of my life everyday for three or four years,” she said. “I felt, and I still do, that programming is a very beautiful language. It imitates how a city works, it imitates so much that is in our life: the moving from part to part [is] what a function does.”
She shunned programs that approximated non-digital forms of art, such as faux pencil drawing or oil painting on the screen, and preferred to stay in the space of programming, where every appearance of colour and music came from her instructions. Coding became another way of exploring abstraction: organising light, colour and shape into formations that provide a new perspective or representation of life.
“These [digital animations] are some of the more profound things I have done in my life in painting, because it’s combining sound and motion and image in an abstract way. The sound is not planned as music, but as noises you hear in the street,” Halaby said. “A car beeps, a train shoots past you. They are not planned as a base rhythm with melody. We move, we see things in motion, we hear sounds behind us, but we don’t see anything connected to them, and we see things way in front of us that don’t have sound, because they are too far away. It’s about seeing the world in an abstract way, which is just as true as any film recording.”
By the mid-1990s, Halaby had written a program that transformed a keyboard into something akin to a piano, but one that would play sound and colour, live. For these performances, Halaby collaborated with Kevin Nathaniel and Hasan Bakr, two former students from the Yale School of Art, where she taught from 1972 to 1982.
As the Kinetic Painting Group, they played live sound and animations in art spaces across the US and the Arab region, including at the Atassi Gallery, then in Damascus; Birzeit University near Ramallah; and Darat Al Funun in Amman.
These digital works exhibit the same mastery over form and colour that Halaby displays in her paintings, expanded into the realms of sound and motion.
The computer-generated music at times echoes the reverberations of traditional Arab music, and at other points the percussiveness of African-American music, all with a distinct, other-worldly computer timbre. Some of her later works in the 1990s, made on Windows, comprised samples of analogue music.
The stunning Yafa (1992) – named after the home town that her family fled in 1948 – is a choreography that she created live with concentric circles, slowly growing and receding in size across the screen. It evokes the dynamism of the port city, whose ships, she recalled, would appear in harbours around the world.
Other works connect aesthetics and politics. Brass Women, which also began as a live performance in 1992, is an animation comprising relations between forms: splotches of bright colour repeatedly disrupt monochrome colours that spread, almost as paint dragged from a squeegee, across the screen – though that description is perhaps too narrative for a work that is firmly in the mode of abstract. Made at a time when she was politically active during the civil rights movement, Halaby calls it an homage to African-Americans and Latinos.
"I called it Brass Women because I would hear lots of African-American and Latino women talking at demonstrations," she said. "I loved how mouthy they were – if I may use a word that people think of as an insult – how bold and how assertive and how clear they were in their discussion."
Halaby’s work will soon be shown in the US at the Eskenazi Museum of Art at Indiana University, where the artist earned her master’s in fine arts and later also taught. It will be Halaby’s first solo exhibition in the country that she has called home for seven decades.
However, her work has been collected by major institutions in the US and elsewhere, such as the Art Institute of Chicago, National Museum of Women in the Arts, and Eskenazi, which owns five or six of her paintings and works on paper, says the museum’s curator of contemporary art, Elliot Reichert.
Halaby’s coding years, in retrospect, form an interlude between her early training in painting and her later work in the same medium, which she still makes in her New York studio. Even if it remains lesse -known, she said that her digital work had a lasting impact on her practice. The experience of being able to paint almost endlessly digitally – as opposed to leaving traces on a canvas – gave her insights into the creative process itself, which she recounted in a typically bravura description at the end of the majlis.
“I learnt that as an artist I have a wave motion that is like the wave motion of nature,” she said. “The waves coming into the seashore, whatever wave motion we see – spring, summer, autumn – all the motions, day and night, are in us. And my creative process also has a wave motion. I would paint and paint, and say: ‘Samia, this is a beautiful one, just one more stroke to really put the cherry on the chocolate sundae.’ And then it would be ruined. Every time I tried to improve it, I would ruin it. I would ruin and ruin and ruin.
“And then I would lose my temper. What is this mess? Bam, bam, bam, my intuition would take over and, before I knew it, it would be vastly improved. You go up and down, and up and down. I learnt that about myself. The creative process is a very interesting one. We think we can define it, but it keeps eluding us.”
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Fines for littering
In Dubai:
Dh200 for littering or spitting in the Dubai Metro
Dh500 for throwing cigarette butts or chewing gum on the floor, or littering from a vehicle.
Dh1,000 for littering on a beach, spitting in public places, throwing a cigarette butt from a vehicle
In Sharjah and other emirates
Dh500 for littering - including cigarette butts and chewing gum - in public places and beaches in Sharjah
Dh2,000 for littering in Sharjah deserts
Dh500 for littering from a vehicle in Ras Al Khaimah
Dh1,000 for littering from a car in Abu Dhabi
Dh1,000 to Dh100,000 for dumping waste in residential or public areas in Al Ain
Dh10,000 for littering at Ajman's beaches
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Results
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The biog
Siblings: five brothers and one sister
Education: Bachelors in Political Science at the University of Minnesota
Interests: Swimming, tennis and the gym
Favourite place: UAE
Favourite packet food on the trip: pasta primavera
What he did to pass the time during the trip: listen to audio books
Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff
By Sean Penn
Simon & Schuster
Day 3, Dubai Test: At a glance
Moment of the day Lahiru Gamage, the Sri Lanka pace bowler, has had to play a lot of cricket to earn a shot at the top level. The 29-year-old debutant first played a first-class game 11 years ago. His first Test wicket was one to savour, bowling Pakistan opener Shan Masood through the gate. It set the rot in motion for Pakistan’s batting.
Stat of the day – 73 Haris Sohail took 73 balls to hit a boundary. Which is a peculiar quirk, given the aggressive intent he showed from the off. Pakistan’s batsmen were implored to attack Rangana Herath after their implosion against his left-arm spin in Abu Dhabi. Haris did his best to oblige, smacking the second ball he faced for a huge straight six.
The verdict One year ago, when Pakistan played their first day-night Test at this ground, they held a 222-run lead over West Indies on first innings. The away side still pushed their hosts relatively close on the final night. With the opposite almost exactly the case this time around, Pakistan still have to hope they can salvage a win from somewhere.
The five types of long-term residential visas
Obed Suhail of ServiceMarket, an online home services marketplace, outlines the five types of long-term residential visas:
Investors:
A 10-year residency visa can be obtained by investors who invest Dh10 million, out of which 60 per cent should not be in real estate. It can be a public investment through a deposit or in a business. Those who invest Dh5 million or more in property are eligible for a five-year residency visa. The invested amount should be completely owned by the investors, not loaned, and retained for at least three years.
Entrepreneurs:
A five-year multiple entry visa is available to entrepreneurs with a previous project worth Dh0.5m or those with the approval of an accredited business incubator in the UAE.
Specialists
Expats with specialised talents, including doctors, specialists, scientists, inventors, and creative individuals working in the field of culture and art are eligible for a 10-year visa, given that they have a valid employment contract in one of these fields in the country.
Outstanding students:
A five-year visa will be granted to outstanding students who have a grade of 95 per cent or higher in a secondary school, or those who graduate with a GPA of 3.75 from a university.
Retirees:
Expats who are at least 55 years old can obtain a five-year retirement visa if they invest Dh2m in property, have savings of Dh1m or more, or have a monthly income of at least Dh20,000.
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
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Safety 'top priority' for rival hyperloop company
The chief operating officer of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, Andres de Leon, said his company's hyperloop technology is “ready” and safe.
He said the company prioritised safety throughout its development and, last year, Munich Re, one of the world's largest reinsurance companies, announced it was ready to insure their technology.
“Our levitation, propulsion, and vacuum technology have all been developed [...] over several decades and have been deployed and tested at full scale,” he said in a statement to The National.
“Only once the system has been certified and approved will it move people,” he said.
HyperloopTT has begun designing and engineering processes for its Abu Dhabi projects and hopes to break ground soon.
With no delivery date yet announced, Mr de Leon said timelines had to be considered carefully, as government approval, permits, and regulations could create necessary delays.
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The specs: 2019 Haval H6
Price, base: Dh69,900
Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 197hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 315Nm @ 2,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 7.0L / 100km
Get Out
Director: Jordan Peele
Stars: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Catherine Keener, Bradley Whitford
Four stars
BORDERLANDS
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis
Director: Eli Roth
Rating: 0/5
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
Second ODI
England 322-7 (50 ovs)
India 236 (50 ovs)
England win by 86 runs
Next match: Tuesday, July 17, Headingley
SQUADS
UAE
Mohammed Naveed (captain), Mohamed Usman (vice-captain), Ashfaq Ahmed, Chirag Suri, Shaiman Anwar, Mohammed Boota, Ghulam Shabber, Imran Haider, Tahir Mughal, Amir Hayat, Zahoor Khan, Qadeer Ahmed, Fahad Nawaz, Abdul Shakoor, Sultan Ahmed, CP Rizwan
Nepal
Paras Khadka (captain), Gyanendra Malla, Dipendra Singh Airee, Pradeep Airee, Binod Bhandari, Avinash Bohara, Sundeep Jora, Sompal Kami, Karan KC, Rohit Paudel, Sandeep Lamichhane, Lalit Rajbanshi, Basant Regmi, Pawan Sarraf, Bhim Sharki, Aarif Sheikh
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A German university was a good fit for the family budget
Annual fees for the Technical University of Munich - £600
Shared rental accommodation per month depending on the location ranges between £200-600
The family had budgeted for food, books, travel, living expenses - £20,000 annually
Overall costs in Germany are lower than the family estimated
As proof that the student has the ability to take care of expenses, international students must open a blocked account with about £8,640
Students are permitted to withdraw £720 per month
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
The specs
Engine: 2.4-litre 4-cylinder
Transmission: CVT auto
Power: 181bhp
Torque: 244Nm
Price: Dh122,900
