Syrian artist Sara Naim partners with Clinique La Prairie for Art Dubai

Swiss wellness centre Clinique La Prairie has once again returned to host the Longevity Lounge at Art Dubai.

Conceived as space to rest, restore and recharge, the lounge offers healthy snacks at the Detox Bar and nutritional advice at the Holistic Health bar. It also offers massages in the Luxury Experience Room, given by therapists from the newly launched Dubai Longevity Hub, inside the recently opened One&Only One Za’abeel hotel in Dubai.

In keeping with the ethos of creativity at Art Dubai, however, Clinique La Prairie has commissioned an artwork around the theme of longevity by the Syrian multidisciplinary artist Sara Naim.

Living between Dubai and London, Naim's work deals with the concept of boundaries as points of connection.

"My practice is really interested in perception and its ability to shift through polarity. Within that, I've explored sea to landscape, ideal and real, and now birth and death through the materialisation of sunrise and sunset itself," she tells The National.

The site specific work Naim created is – as with many of her pieces – deceptively simple. A free-standing sculpture, it comprises a tall board held upright by sacks on the floor. A closer look reveals a multitude of materials and techniques including aluminium, epoxy resin, digital print and digital photography.

The board has an amorphous, rounded outline and is painted sea green. On it are five horizontal lines with semi-circles that seem to denote different phases of a setting or rising sun. Surrounding these are suggestions of images, that could be bubbles on the surface of the sea, light reflected in water, or even, perhaps, the sun itself. “You're not really sure if you're looking at the water, or the landscape, inside or outside,” Naim explains.

Artwork created by Sara Naim for Clinique La Prairie. Photo: Clinique La Prairie

Naim's latest piece uses abstract imagery and deliberately oblique references to force the viewer into a new way of looking. “I have used minimalism as a way to simplify representation because I believe that that's a default setting in which we see. I would define [this work] as sculptural photography," she says.

The space around the free-standing artwork encourages the viewer to move around it, and observe it from multiple angles. “It's very four-dimensional because you have to operate around it. It was really important for me to have a front and back, although the image at the front and the back are mirroring one another. They are completely identical," she says.

The bags on the floor, she explains, are also printed with elements of the imagery, now heavily pixelated, thanks to magnification.

“I often use microscopy as a way to play with the dialectic of scale, as when you zoom in you expect that you understand something more clearly, but actually you sometimes get pushed into abstraction.”

The use of digital prints only emphasises this. “You get furthered by this kind of digitisation or glitch or pixelation. You kind of have a moving in and moving out."

The Clinique La Prairie Longevity Lounge at Art Dubai. Photo: Clinique La Prairie

While this is Naim's first time collaborating with Clinique La Prairie, it is not her first time at Art Dubai – she has exhibited her work across several seasons with the gallery The Third Line. On how this particular commission came about, she explains it was a simple process. "Clinique La Prairie approached Art Dubai, and Art Dubai then contacted me, I didn't apply for it."

Creating the work was equally straightforward, she says, with Clinique La Prairie careful to respect her integrity as an artist, never dictating what the final result should be. “They were very open and accommodating, and not limiting with what I was interested in or trying to say or trying to do, which was great.”

Sara Naim shared this image of her making the artwork on social media. Sara Naim / Instagram

"Clinique La Prairie was so open, only telling me to play with wellness and longevity. I work with aspects of time, and deconstructing the notion of time, which for me is connected with longevity because I don't believe that there's a beginning, middle or end.”

Art Dubai 2024 takes place at Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai, from Friday to Sunday. More information is available at www.artdubai.ae

Dhadak 2

Director: Shazia Iqbal

Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri

Rating: 1/5

THE SPECS

Engine: 4.4-litre V8

Transmission: eight-speed automatic

Power: 523hp

Torque: 750Nm

Price: Dh469,000

The specs: 2018 Mercedes-AMG C63 S Cabriolet

Price, base: Dh429,090

Engine 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8

Transmission Seven-speed automatic

Power 510hp @ 5,500rpm

Torque 700Nm @ 1,750rpm

Fuel economy, combined 9.2L / 100km

While you're here

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Company%20Profile

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WORLD CUP SEMI-FINALS

England v New Zealand

(Saturday, 12pm UAE)

Wales v South Africa

(Sunday, 12pm, UAE)

Which honey takes your fancy?

Al Ghaf Honey

The Al Ghaf tree is a local desert tree which bears the harsh summers with drought and high temperatures. From the rich flowers, bees that pollinate this tree can produce delicious red colour honey in June and July each year

Sidr Honey

The Sidr tree is an evergreen tree with long and strong forked branches. The blossom from this tree is called Yabyab, which provides rich food for bees to produce honey in October and November. This honey is the most expensive, but tastiest

Samar Honey

The Samar tree trunk, leaves and blossom contains Barm which is the secret of healing. You can enjoy the best types of honey from this tree every year in May and June. It is an historical witness to the life of the Emirati nation which represents the harsh desert and mountain environments

Palestine and Israel

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Bundesliga fixtures

Saturday, May 16 (kick-offs UAE time)

Borussia Dortmund v Schalke (4.30pm)

RB Leipzig v Freiburg (4.30pm)

Hoffenheim v Hertha Berlin (4.30pm)

Fortuna Dusseldorf v Paderborn (4.30pm)

Augsburg v Wolfsburg (4.30pm)

Eintracht Frankfurt v Borussia Monchengladbach (7.30pm)

Sunday, May 17

Cologne v Mainz (4.30pm),

Union Berlin v Bayern Munich (7pm)

Monday, May 18

Werder Bremen v Bayer Leverkusen (9.30pm)

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Volvo ES90 Specs

Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)

Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp

Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm

On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region

Price: Exact regional pricing TBA

Pharaoh's curse

British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.

Vidaamuyarchi

Director: Magizh Thirumeni

Stars: Ajith Kumar, Arjun Sarja, Trisha Krishnan, Regina Cassandra

Rating: 4/5

CHATGPT%20ENTERPRISE%20FEATURES

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MO

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