Virtual-reality pioneers Gabo Arora and Mohab Khattab were in Abu Dhabi last weekend, bringing their latest VR experience to a few lucky ticket holders at the Abu Dhabi Ideas Weekend. The show, Zikr: A Sufi Revival, is a 17-minute, immersive, 360-degree experience that takes participants to the heart of the Sufi experience, even allowing them to partake in an interactive Sufi ritual.
The film seemed to be well received by the select few who were able to see it – the show can only accommodate an "audience" of four at a time – with viewers dancing and swaying to the hypnotic rhythms and images unfolding on their headsets.
Why Sufism?
I ask executive producer Khattab why his production company, 1001 Media, chose the topic of Sufism for its latest venture into VR. "Part of our mission as a company is to try to humanise Arabs to the West and build bridges between our cultures," he says. "We wanted to connect the western love of Sufi poets like Rumi and Hafez back to their inspirations, which were Islam and the Quran, to build bridges between East and West."
Director Arora is of the same mindset. “I wanted to do something playful yet profound, and that’s not easy,” he says. “I was thinking about the ‘Muslim ban’ in the US and thought: ‘If more people understood that being Muslim is not just one monolithic thing, that there are loads of different things, including Sufism, maybe they’d understand better.’”
Arora adds that Sufism lends itself well to the platform. "VR is experiential and Sufism is experiential, and I figured this technology could make people understand what Sufism is, which you can't do through books or a traditional documentary. With VR, we can actually bring you into the ritual and have the same feeling as you would have when you're there, interacting as well as seeing interviews."
The project had its debut at Sundance in January, and had the rare honour, for a VR film, of gaining international distribution at the film festival. Zikr has already been installed at a number of museums and film festivals, with talks for more taking place, but Arora admits that the film's exclusive nature, and VR movies in general, makes reaching wide audiences a challenge. "We're currently trying to demonstrate the viability of return on investment because you can only get four people in at a time," he says. "We recently put an installation in LA, and that sold out for four months solid and more than made its money back.
"Looking ahead, though, we're building an online platform where people can network into it online from wherever they are. Right now, you need a gaming computer and graphics cards and technology, so we're limited in who can access it, but technology is moving fast and the day is coming when people will have headsets and equipment at home. Then there'll be a huge market, and we're aiming to be ahead of the curve on that."
Developing a VR project
Access to the technology may be one of the main hurdles currently facing VR, but Khattab says filmmakers shouldn't get too wrapped up in the technology. "When I first got involved with VR I got really excited," he says. "I set a gaming room up with sensors in my living room, much to wife's distress, and was really excited for a while, but it was all about the effects and the novelty. I got bored after that wore off, and hung up my headset."
As with any film, Khattab says, the story is key: "Without a story, you don't keep the audience, and the technology is not the story. I do see a lot of people working in VR who are all about the technology, and that's going to kill VR if there is no story. That's why I was so supportive of this project – it's when people empathise that they get hooked, not when they see impressive special effects."
Arora agrees that just because the technology is there, that doesn't necessarily mean you should use it. "The number one question to ask is: 'Why VR?'" he says. "Because it's more experiential, it's a lot harder to relay information like you would in traditional media. The grammar of cinema took decades to evolve. If you think about things we take for granted now, I think it was 20 or 30 years before somebody even thought to do a close-up, so we're in the very early stages when it comes to thinking about the grammar of VR.
You have to think: ‘Where could VR take me that I couldn’t go another way? Where can it provide me access to something that’s interesting that I wouldn’t normally have?’ You’re able to provide the feeling of a total sense of being there in that experience, total empathy, and that can make people very emotional.”
The future of VR
Arora admits that he still has respect for "flatties" [his term for 2-D media], but as technology develops, he thinks that VR will be "the dominant art form of the 21st century".
For Khattab, there is one other key factor about Zikr that appeals to audiences – the movie's subversiveness. "It's a very subversive film. Not politically, but in that you drop your barriers and become more accepting," he says. "These walls that people are building, literally in the US, they come down and people are dancing and saying: 'I get this.' That was the most interesting thing."
Khattab found that sense of acceptance at the movie's Abu Dhabi screenings and everywhere else it has shown since Sundance.
“We had guys in robes and women in abayas just dancing around – they wouldn’t do that without the headset,” he says. “They weren’t paying attention to me or anyone else, because they were just there, not thinking about anything else. Being able to bring down barriers like that is something really subversive, and really amazing, too.”
________________________
Read more:
Cult Sci-Fi films are virtually our reality
Flight to nowhere: Japan airline introduces VR trips without ever leaving the ground
Our reliance on technology is having an effect on us all
________________________
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
The%20Color%20Purple
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EBlitz%20Bazawule%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFantasia%20Barrino%2C%20Taraji%20P%20Henson%2C%20Danielle%20Brooks%2C%20Colman%20Domingo%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
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
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
The Old Slave and the Mastiff
Patrick Chamoiseau
Translated from the French and Creole by Linda Coverdale
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Mina Cup winners
Under 12 – Minerva Academy
Under 14 – Unam Pumas
Under 16 – Fursan Hispania
Under 18 – Madenat
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The biog
First Job: Abu Dhabi Department of Petroleum in 1974
Current role: Chairperson of Al Maskari Holding since 2008
Career high: Regularly cited on Forbes list of 100 most powerful Arab Businesswomen
Achievement: Helped establish Al Maskari Medical Centre in 1969 in Abu Dhabi’s Western Region
Future plan: Will now concentrate on her charitable work
Expo details
Expo 2020 Dubai will be the first World Expo to be held in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia
The world fair will run for six months from October 20, 2020 to April 10, 2021.
It is expected to attract 25 million visits
Some 70 per cent visitors are projected to come from outside the UAE, the largest proportion of international visitors in the 167-year history of World Expos.
More than 30,000 volunteers are required for Expo 2020
The site covers a total of 4.38 sqkm, including a 2 sqkm gated area
It is located adjacent to Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai South
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
Biography
Favourite Meal: Chicken Caesar salad
Hobbies: Travelling, going to the gym
Inspiration: Father, who was a captain in the UAE army
Favourite read: Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter
Favourite film: The Founder, about the establishment of McDonald's
MATCH INFO
Delhi Daredevils 174-4 (20 ovs)
Mumbai Indians 163 (19.3 ovs)
Delhi won the match by 11 runs
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
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
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
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
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
