This month a unique exhibition opens at the Barbican, Europe's largest multi-arts venue, nestled amid the concrete jungle of the City of London. With its odd amphitheatres and jagged high-rises, elevated gardens and glittering windows, it's an appropriate setting for The Surreal House, an exhibition-cum-installation that juxtaposes classic surrealist works with those of newer artists in an innovative and enveloping experience.
"The house has always been a rich area for artists, and a laboratory for architects," says Jane Alison, the curator. "We wanted to plunder the realm of the alternate or 'other' house, which is of course a loaded area for memory, anxiety, play and domesticity. We also felt that surrealist architecture hadn't really been covered in an exhibition like this before".
But this is far from being an exhibition of architecture - the first name that comes to mind, Gaudi, is represented only second-hand through a pair of Man Ray prints. This is the house as a collection of interiors, and as expression of introversion. The exhibition is housed in a site-specific network of rooms, roofs and walkways designed by the architects Carmody Groarke, that fill the two-storey exhibition space with light and dark, openness and enclosure, compression and expansion. When the first room is basically a shrine to Sigmund Freud, you know something unusual is afoot.
The exhibition is supported by the Freud Museum, a townhouse just off London's Finchley Road that houses the doctor's memorabilia, including his legendary consulting room. One of the exhibits here is his leather desk-chair which, displayed behind glass against a background of deepest black, looks shockingly human. Its scarred head, back and arms are like a totem, a voodoo doll or one of the tribal fetishes that Freud loved collecting. Displaying what is essentially memorabilia as art is also in itself a nod to Marcel Duchamp.
The room is dominated by the artist Rachel Whiteread's modern sculpture Black Bath. Against the sensory-starved black backdrop, the concavity left by a rubber-cast moulding of a bathtub suddenly looks like a sarcophagus. It is a reminder of death, sinking, of the submerged subconscious. Over it all gazes a photograph of the spy-hole on Freud's consulting room door.
This is what the exhibition does so well. It is a dark labyrinth where the context is as important as the content.
The usual suspects are all here - Dali, Man Ray, Duchamp, Andre Breton - but they're not the stars of the show. Dali's famous Sleep sits peacefully at the top of the stairs. "The real idea was to explore what a surreal space could be," says Alison of the relationship between works and rooms. "We are bringing together paintings which depict the house, films which perform the house, and architecture which designs and builds the house." There are individual treasures to be found at every turn, often emerging slowly from the surrounding strangeness. A seemingly chaotic little heap of scrap metal on the floor turns out to be casting a shadow of two rodents against the wall.
A tiny house made of diaphanous tissue held together with a single pin turns out to have been made by a dying artist from his own surgically-removed skin, reminding us that our first home - the structure that most shelters and sustains us - is our own body.
Surrealism at the Barbican is not silly, zany, wacky art. The juxtaposition of pieces here tends toward philosophy and psychological comment rather than humorous theatrics. Not that drama is lacking. The weird soundscapes and blacker-than-black settings give The Surreal House an atmosphere unlike most exhibitions you'll see. Wandering away from the Freudian shrine, viewers enter a seemingly empty room. Yet above them, suspended upside-down from the ceiling, is a grand piano - Rebecca Horn's Concert for Anarchy (1990). Suddenly it creaks, clatters, and jolts towards you, the lid flying open and the keys bursting out of the casing like teeth from a busted mouth.
Not everything in the exhibition is Surrealist with a capital S. It combines the unexpected, the ponderous, the playful and the practical. Architecture and design are not wholly absent, with the postmodern master Rem Koolhaas' Villa Dall'Ava and an unexpectedly carefree Le Corbusier represented by his Beistegui Apartment, the roof garden of which comes on like a De Chirico painting with its whitewashed walls deliberately obscuring the Parisian panorama, and an outdoor fireplace providing a cheeky visual echo of the Arc de Triomphe.
The Surreal House ranges so widely with its theme that it sometimes requires us to work backwards to the idea of home from a Man Ray photograph of a giant egg, or Jan Svankmayer's blissfully inventive 1971 film Jabberwocky, which has little to do with the poem and much to do with childhood, fantasy and the innocence and darkness of the nursery. But these excursions from the straight and narrow are at once necessary and welcome. Svankmayer's film is a highlight - made in Czechoslovakia using naturalistic stop-motion techniques, the 14-minute caper stars a marauding wardrobe and a flying sailor suit, families of creepy cannibal dolls and an irrepressible blob of ink. Political undertones abound, but the net result is a film that has a roomful of grown men in fits of giggles.
Having traversed The Surreal House, climbed its stairs and looked down on the other visitors, gaining a second remove from the works on show, the viewer escapes with regret into the concrete city outside it. But the knowledge that each window hides bizarre interiors, dark secrets and endless possibilities, leaves it richer as a result.
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
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pakistan Test squad
Azhar Ali (capt), Shan Masood, Abid Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Asad Shafiq, Babar Azam, Fawad Alam, Haris Sohail, Imran Khan, Kashif Bhatti, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Abbas, Yasir Shah, Usman Shinwari
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
WORLD CUP SEMI-FINALS
England v New Zealand
(Saturday, 12pm UAE)
Wales v South Africa
(Sunday, 12pm, UAE)
The biog
Favourite film: Motorcycle Dairies, Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday, Kagemusha
Favourite book: One Hundred Years of Solitude
Holiday destination: Sri Lanka
First car: VW Golf
Proudest achievement: Building Robotics Labs at Khalifa University and King’s College London, Daughters
Driverless cars or drones: Driverless Cars
THE BIO
Bio Box
Role Model: Sheikh Zayed, God bless his soul
Favorite book: Zayed Biography of the leader
Favorite quote: To be or not to be, that is the question, from William Shakespeare's Hamlet
Favorite food: seafood
Favorite place to travel: Lebanon
Favorite movie: Braveheart
2020 Oscars winners: in numbers
- Parasite – 4
- 1917– 3
- Ford v Ferrari – 2
- Joker – 2
- Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood – 2
- American Factory – 1
- Bombshell – 1
- Hair Love – 1
- Jojo Rabbit – 1
- Judy – 1
- Little Women – 1
- Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You're a Girl) – 1
- Marriage Story – 1
- Rocketman – 1
- The Neighbors' Window – 1
- Toy Story 4 – 1
A new relationship with the old country
Treaty of Friendship between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates
The United kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates; Considering that the United Arab Emirates has assumed full responsibility as a sovereign and independent State; Determined that the long-standing and traditional relations of close friendship and cooperation between their peoples shall continue; Desiring to give expression to this intention in the form of a Treaty Friendship; Have agreed as follows:
ARTICLE 1 The relations between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates shall be governed by a spirit of close friendship. In recognition of this, the Contracting Parties, conscious of their common interest in the peace and stability of the region, shall: (a) consult together on matters of mutual concern in time of need; (b) settle all their disputes by peaceful means in conformity with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations.
ARTICLE 2 The Contracting Parties shall encourage education, scientific and cultural cooperation between the two States in accordance with arrangements to be agreed. Such arrangements shall cover among other things: (a) the promotion of mutual understanding of their respective cultures, civilisations and languages, the promotion of contacts among professional bodies, universities and cultural institutions; (c) the encouragement of technical, scientific and cultural exchanges.
ARTICLE 3 The Contracting Parties shall maintain the close relationship already existing between them in the field of trade and commerce. Representatives of the Contracting Parties shall meet from time to time to consider means by which such relations can be further developed and strengthened, including the possibility of concluding treaties or agreements on matters of mutual concern.
ARTICLE 4 This Treaty shall enter into force on today’s date and shall remain in force for a period of ten years. Unless twelve months before the expiry of the said period of ten years either Contracting Party shall have given notice to the other of its intention to terminate the Treaty, this Treaty shall remain in force thereafter until the expiry of twelve months from the date on which notice of such intention is given.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned have signed this Treaty.
DONE in duplicate at Dubai the second day of December 1971AD, corresponding to the fifteenth day of Shawwal 1391H, in the English and Arabic languages, both texts being equally authoritative.
Signed
Geoffrey Arthur Sheikh Zayed
Citizenship-by-investment programmes
United Kingdom
The UK offers three programmes for residency. The UK Overseas Business Representative Visa lets you open an overseas branch office of your existing company in the country at no extra investment. For the UK Tier 1 Innovator Visa, you are required to invest £50,000 (Dh238,000) into a business. You can also get a UK Tier 1 Investor Visa if you invest £2 million, £5m or £10m (the higher the investment, the sooner you obtain your permanent residency).
All UK residency visas get approved in 90 to 120 days and are valid for 3 years. After 3 years, the applicant can apply for extension of another 2 years. Once they have lived in the UK for a minimum of 6 months every year, they are eligible to apply for permanent residency (called Indefinite Leave to Remain). After one year of ILR, the applicant can apply for UK passport.
The Caribbean
Depending on the country, the investment amount starts from $100,000 (Dh367,250) and can go up to $400,000 in real estate. From the date of purchase, it will take between four to five months to receive a passport.
Portugal
The investment amount ranges from €350,000 to €500,000 (Dh1.5m to Dh2.16m) in real estate. From the date of purchase, it will take a maximum of six months to receive a Golden Visa. Applicants can apply for permanent residency after five years and Portuguese citizenship after six years.
“Among European countries with residency programmes, Portugal has been the most popular because it offers the most cost-effective programme to eventually acquire citizenship of the European Union without ever residing in Portugal,” states Veronica Cotdemiey of Citizenship Invest.
Greece
The real estate investment threshold to acquire residency for Greece is €250,000, making it the cheapest real estate residency visa scheme in Europe. You can apply for residency in four months and citizenship after seven years.
Spain
The real estate investment threshold to acquire residency for Spain is €500,000. You can apply for permanent residency after five years and citizenship after 10 years. It is not necessary to live in Spain to retain and renew the residency visa permit.
Cyprus
Cyprus offers the quickest route to citizenship of a European country in only six months. An investment of €2m in real estate is required, making it the highest priced programme in Europe.
Malta
The Malta citizenship by investment programme is lengthy and investors are required to contribute sums as donations to the Maltese government. The applicant must either contribute at least €650,000 to the National Development & Social Fund. Spouses and children are required to contribute €25,000; unmarried children between 18 and 25 and dependent parents must contribute €50,000 each.
The second step is to make an investment in property of at least €350,000 or enter a property rental contract for at least €16,000 per annum for five years. The third step is to invest at least €150,000 in bonds or shares approved by the Maltese government to be kept for at least five years.
Candidates must commit to a minimum physical presence in Malta before citizenship is granted. While you get residency in two months, you can apply for citizenship after a year.
Egypt
A one-year residency permit can be bought if you purchase property in Egypt worth $100,000. A three-year residency is available for those who invest $200,000 in property, and five years for those who purchase property worth $400,000.
Source: Citizenship Invest and Aqua Properties
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