Our government has always welcomed a variety of cultural projects deriving from international, innovative artists. Not only is the variety of cultural projects intensifying but also now even the locations of the cultural projects are shifting, from the cities to the Empty Quarter desert of Abu Dhabi.
A "new" location near the Liwa oasis, 160 kilometres away from downtown Abu Dhabi, is ready for the artwork called Mastaba from Christo, who is 77 and a well-known experimental Bulgarian-American avant-garde artist.
The Mastaba, a project for Abu Dhabi, was conceived in 1977. After 35 years on the drawing board, it is set to become the largest sculpture in the world. It will be made from 410,000 multi-coloured petrol barrels to form a mosaic of bright sparkling colours, echoing Islamic architecture.
All of Christo's artworks are known to be an international spectacle. He has wrapped the Berlin Reichstag in fabric, and surrounded Miami's Biscayne Bay with 600,000 square meters of pink polypropylene floating material.
The Mastaba, which literally refers to the ancient Egyptian stone benches, will be Christo's latest project, consisting of a huge trapezoid sculpture made out of the oil barrels. It is planned to be 150 meters high, which will make it taller than the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. Its planning has been 30 years in the making, but its implementation started in 2012.
Its costs are estimated to be more than $340 million (Dh1.2bn) and with that, it may become the most expensive artwork in the world. Moreover, the Mastaba could enjoy the same status as wonders of the world, such as Macchu Picchu, the Taj Mahal or Petra.
What makes Christo and his artwork unique? Well, for one thing, his friendly personality and the way he approaches Emiratis with his artwork.
During his last visit in the UAE, he talked to residents living in Liwa to ask them for permission to build artwork near their homes, gave lectures at the local universities, presented a documentary of his artwork at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival this year and recently launched the Art Award for students in Abu Dhabi. Christo doesn't intend to encourage associations with the oil barrels but rather wants to highlight their beauty in form of "poetry and not propaganda".
With his approach and skills, our country will only be recognised as a unique place for artists, so let's welcome more cultural projects that contribute to making our cultural diversity a more extraordinary, visible, dynamic and vivid feature.
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
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
The drill
Recharge as needed, says Mat Dryden: “We try to make it a rule that every two to three months, even if it’s for four days, we get away, get some time together, recharge, refresh.” The couple take an hour a day to check into their businesses and that’s it.
Stick to the schedule, says Mike Addo: “We have an entire wall known as ‘The Lab,’ covered with colour-coded Post-it notes dedicated to our joint weekly planner, content board, marketing strategy, trends, ideas and upcoming meetings.”
Be a team, suggests Addo: “When training together, you have to trust in each other’s abilities. Otherwise working out together very quickly becomes one person training the other.”
Pull your weight, says Thuymi Do: “To do what we do, there definitely can be no lazy member of the team.”
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
