E-Issue 07 –– AUH
Winter 2023-24

January 29th, 2024



  1. Editor’s Note
  2. What’s On in Abu Dhabi/Dubai
  3. Cover Interview: Shaikha Al Ketbi on Darawan
  4. Rapport: Public Art in the Gulf and a Case Study of Manar Abu Dhabi
  5. Hashel Al Lamki’s Survey Exhibition Maqam Reflects on a Decade of Practice in Abu Dhabi
  6. “You Can’t Stand on a Movement”: Michelangelo Pistoletto Interviews Benton Interviewing Pistoletto

E-07++
Winter/Spring 2024



About ––

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    Mission
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    Contributors
    Contact

Interviews ––

    Selected Archive

Open Call ––

    Policy
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Newsletter ––




Chronological Archive ––

    Selected Archive

Artist Interview November 18th, 2016
AUH Raed Yassin in Abu Dhabi

Editorial March 1st, 2018
AUH Abu Dhabi Is The New Calabasas

Exhibition Listing May 22nd, 2018
DXB Christopher Benton: If We Don't Reclaim Our History, The Sand Will

Artist Interview June 15th, 2018
TYO An Interview with BIEN, a Rising Japanese Artist

Artist Interview July 17th, 2018
TYO Rintaro Fuse on Selfies and Cave Painting

Artist Interview August 28th, 2018
BER Slavs and Tatars: “Pulling a Thread to Undo The Sweater”

Artist Interview September 1st, 2018
NYC Shirin Neshat In Conversation with Sophie Arni and Ev Zverev

Artist Interview September 1st, 2018
PAR Hottest Spices: Michèle Lamy

E-Issue 01 –– AUH/DXB
Summer 2020

August 1st, 2020



  1. Editor’s Note
  2. What’s On in the UAE
  3. Pop(Corn): Hashel Al Lamki
  4. Tailoring in Abu Dhabi
  5. Rapport: Dubai
  6. Michael Rakowitz From the Diaspora


E-01++
Fall/Winter 2020-21


Artist Interview August 23rd, 2020
LHR/MCT Hanan Sultan Rhymes Frankincense with Minimalism


Artist Interview August 24th, 2020
DXB Augustine Paredes Taking Up Space

Artist Interview August 26th, 2020
AUH Sarah Almehairi Initiates Conversations

Market Interview August 28th, 2020
AUH/DXB 101 Pioneers Ethical and Curious Art Collecting


Exhibition September 1st, 2020
DXB Alserkal Arts Foundation Presents Mohamed Melehi


Market Interview September 4th, 2020
DXB Meet Tamila Kochkarova Behind ‘No Boys Allowed’


Artist Interview September 7th, 2020
DXB Taaboogah Infuses Comedy Into Khaleeji Menswear

Artist Interview September 10th, 2020
LHR/CAI Alaa Hindia’s Jewelry Revives Egyptian Nostalgia

Curator Interview September 14th, 2020
UAE Tawahadna Introduces MENA Artists to a Global Community

Exhibition Review September 24th, 2020
MIA a_part Gives Artists 36 Hours to React


Artist Interview September 27th, 2020
AUH BAIT 15 Welcomes New Member Zuhoor Al Sayegh

Market Interview October 14th, 2021
DXB Thaely Kicks Off Sustainable Sneakers


Exhibition Review October 19th, 2020
DXB Do You See Me How I See You?


Exhibition October 22nd, 2020
TYO James Jarvis Presents Latest Collages at 3110NZ


Exhibition Review October 22nd, 2020
AUH Ogamdo: Crossing a Cultural Highway between Korea and the UAE


Book Review October 28th, 2020
DAM Investigating the Catalogues of the National Museum of Damascus


Exhibition Review November 13th, 2020
DXB
Kanye Says Listen to the Kids: Youth Takeover at Jameel Arts Centre


Exhibition Review November 16th, 2021
DXB Melehi’s Waves Complicate Waving Goodbye


Exhibition Review November 19th, 2020
DXB Spotlight on Dubai Design Week 2020


Exhibition Review November 21st, 2020
DXB 101 Strikes Again with Second Sale at Alserkal Avenue


Exhibition Review
November 23rd, 2020


AUH SEAF Cohort 7 at Warehouse 421


Exhibition Review December 9th, 2020
SHJ Sharjah Art Foundation Jets Ahead on the Flying Saucer


Curator Interview January 25th, 2021
DXB Sa Tahanan Collective Redefines Home for Filipino Artists


Exhibition Review February 21st, 2021
GRV MIA Anywhere Hosts First Virtual Exhibition of Female Chechen Artists  

🎙️GAD Talk Series –– Season 1 2020


November 1st, 2020
1. What is Global Art Daily? 2015 to Now

November 16th, 2020
2. Where is Global Art Daily? An Open Coversation on Migration as Art Practitioners


November 29th, 2020
3. When the Youth Takes Over: Reflecting on the 2020 Jameel Arts Centre Youth Takeover

December 20th, 2020
4. Young Curators in Tokyo: The Making of The 5th Floor

January 27th, 2021
5. How To Create Digital Networks in The Art World?

E-Issue 02 –– NYC
Spring 2021

February 21st, 2021



  1. Editor’s Note
  2. What’s On in NYC
  3. Pop(Corn): Zeid Jaouni
  4. You Can Take The Girl Out Of The City
  5. Rapport: NYC
  6. Kindergarten Records Discuss The Future of Electronic Music
  7. Sole DXB Brings NY Hip-Hop To Abu Dhabi
  8. Wei Han Finds ‘Home’ In New York
  9. Vikram Divecha: Encounters and Negotiations

E-02++
Spring/Summer 2021

Exhibition Review March 3rd, 2021
DXB There’s a Hurricane at the Foundry


Exhibition Review March 7th, 2021
AUH Re-viewing Contrasts: Hyphenated Spaces at Warehouse421


Curator Interview March 21st, 2021
DXB Permeability and Regional Nodes: Sohrab Hura on Curating Growing Like a Tree at Ishara Art Foundation


Exhibition March 28th, 2021
DXB Alserkal Art Week Top Picks


Exhibition Review April 1st, 2021
DXB A ‘Menu Poem’ and All That Follows


Exhibition Review April 5th, 2021
DXB A Riot Towards Landscapes


Exhibition April 16th, 2021
RUH Noor Riyadh Shines Light on Saudi Arabia’s 2030 Art Strategy


Artist Interview April 26th, 2021
CTU/AUH/YYZ Sabrina Zhao: Between Abu Dhabi, Sichuan, and Toronto


Exhibition Review April 27th, 2021
TYO BIEN Opens Two Solo Exhibitions in Island Japan and Parcel


Artist Interview April 28th, 2021
DXB Ana Escobar: Objects Revisited


Exhibition May 9th, 2021
LDN Fulfilment Services Ltd. Questions Techno-Capitalism on Billboards in London


Artist Interview May 11th, 2021
BAH Mihrab: Mysticism, Devotion, and Geo-Identity


Curator Interview May 20th, 2021
DXB There Is A You In The Cloud You Can’t Delete: A Review of “Age of You” at Jameel Arts Centre

Market Interview May 26th, 2021
TYO Startbahn, Japan’s Leading Art Blockchain Company, Builds a New Art Infrastructure for the Digital Age

Exhibition June 11th, 2021
TYO “Mimicry of Hollows” Opens at The 5th Floor


Exhibiton Review June 20th, 2021
AUH “Total Landscaping”at Warehouse 421


Artist Interview June 30th, 2021
OSA Rintaro Fuse Curates “Silent Category” at Creative Center Osaka


Exhibition Review August 9th, 2021
DXB “After The Beep”: A Review and Some Reflections

E-Issue 03 ––TYO
Fall 2021

October 1st, 2022



  1. Editor’s Note
  2. What’s On in TYO
  3. Pop(Corn): Nimyu
  4. Ahmad The Japanese: Bady Dalloul on Japan and Belonging
  5. Rapport: Tokyo
  6. Alexandre Taalba Redefines Virtuality at The 5th Floor
  7. Imagining Distant Ecologies in Hypersonic Tokyo: A Review of “Floating Between the Tropical and Glacial Zones”
  8. Ruba Al-Sweel Curates “Garden of e-arthly Delights” at SUMAC Space
  9. Salwa Mikdadi Reflects on the Opening of NYU Abu Dhabi’s Arab Center for the Study of Art

E-03++
Fall/Winter 2021-22


Market Interview October 6th, 2021
RUH HH Prince Fahad Al Saud Discusses Saudi Arabia’s Artistic Renaissance


Exhibition October 7th, 2021
RUH Misk Art Institute’s Annual Flagship Exhibition Explores the Universality of Identity


Curator Interview October 15th, 2021
IST “Once Upon a Time Inconceivable”: A Review and a Conversation


Exhibition Review October 16th, 2021
AUH Woman as a Noun, and a Practice: “As We Gaze Upon Her” at Warehouse421



Exhibition Review February 11th, 2022

Artist Interview February 26th, 2022
TYO Akira Takayama on McDonald’s Radio University, Heterotopia, and Wagner Project


Artist Interview March 10th, 2022
DXB Prepare The Ingredients and Let The Rest Flow: Miramar and Zaid’s “Pure Data” Premieres at Satellite for Quoz Arts Fest 2022


Exhibition March 11th, 2022
DXB Must-See Exhibitions in Dubai - Art Week Edition 2022


Exhibition Review March 14th, 2022
DXB Art Dubai Digital, An Alternative Art World?

E-Issue 04 –– IST
Spring 2022

March 15th, 2022



  1. Editor’s Note
  2. What’s On in IST
  3. Pop(Corn): Refik Anadol
  4. Rapport: Istanbul
  5. Independent Spaces in Istanbul: Sarp Özer on Operating AVTO

E-04++
Spring/Summer 2022


Curator Interview March 21st, 2022

Market Interview March 28th, 2022
DXB Dubai's Postmodern Architecture: Constructing the Future with 3dr Models


Exhibition April 23rd, 2022
HK Startbahn Presents “Made in Japan 3.0: Defining a New Phy-gital Reality”, an NFT Pop-Up at K11 Art Mall


Exhibition May 6th, 2022
IST
Istanbul’s 5533 Presents Nazlı Khoshkhabar’s “Around and Round”


Artist Interview May 13th, 2022
DXB
“We Are Witnessing History”: Ramin Haerizadeh, Rokni Haerizadeh and Hesam Rahmanian On Their Retrospective Exhibition at NYU Abu Dhabi Art Gallery

Artist Interview June 13th, 2022
DXB “Geometry is Everywhere”: An Interview and Walking Tour of Order of Magnitude, Jitish Kallat’s Solo Exhibition at Dubai’s Ishara Art Foundation


Exhibition June 21st, 2022
DXB Art Jameel Joins The World Weather Network in a Groundbreaking Response to Global Climate Crisis

Exhibition June 27th, 2022
UAE
What’s On in the UAE: Our Top Summer Picks

Curator Interview July 9th, 2022
IST Creating an Artist Books Library in Istanbul: Aslı Özdoyuran on BAS

E-Issue 05 –– VCE
Fall 2022

September 5th, 2022



  1. Editor’s Note
  2. What’s On in VCE
  3. Pop(Corn): UAE National Pavilion
  4. Rapport: Venice
  5. Zeitgeist of our Time: Füsun Onur for the Turkish Pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale
  6. GAD’s Top Picks: National Pavilions
  7. Strangers to the Museum Wall: Kehinde Wiley’s Venice Exhibition Speaks of Violence and Portraiture
  8. Questioning Everyday Life: Alluvium by Ramin Haerizadeh, Rokni Haerizadeh and Hesam Rahmanian at OGR Torino in Venice

E-05++
Fall/Winter 2022-23


Market Interview June 28th, 2022
HK
How Pearl Lam Built Her Gallery Between China and Europe


Exhibition November 11th, 2022
TYO
“Atami Blues” Brings Together UAE-Based and Japanese Artists in HOTEL ACAO ANNEX


Exhibition December 2nd, 2022
TYO Wetland Lab Proposes Sustainable Cement Alternative in Tokyo

Artist Interview December 9th, 2022
DXB Navjot Altaf Unpacks Eco-Feminism and Post-Pandemic Reality at Ishara Art Foundation

Artist Interview January 8th, 2023
TYO Shu Yonezawa and the Art of Animation

Artist Interview January 19th, 2023
NYC Reflecting on Her Southwestern Chinese Bai Roots, Peishan Huang Captures Human Traces on Objects and Spaces

Exhibition Review February 9th, 2023
DXB Augustine Paredes Builds His Paradise Home at Gulf Photo Plus

Artist Interview February 22nd, 2023
DXB Persia Beheshti Shares Thoughts on Virtual Worlds and the State of Video Art in Dubai Ahead of Her Screening at Bayt Al Mamzar

E-Issue 06 –– DXB/SHJ
Spring 2023

April 12th, 2023



  1. Editor’s Note
  2. What’s On in the UAE
  3. Pop(Corn): Jumairy
  4. Rapport: Art Dubai 2023
  5. Highlights from Sharjah Biennial 15
  6. Is Time Just an Illusion? A Review of "Notations on Time" at Ishara Art Foundation
  7. Saif Mhaisen and His Community at Bayt AlMamzar









DXB Christopher Joshua Benton to Debut Mubeen, City as Archive at The Third Line Shop in Collaboration with Global Art Daily

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Shirin Neshat In Conversation With Sophie Arni and Ev Zverev


By Sophie Arni and Ev Zverev

Published on September 1st, 2018
Originally published in GAD Magazine Issue 02 (Fall 2018).

        Shirin Neshat, throughout her long career, has been redefining what it means to be a woman artist. From visual arts to film, she provokes an emotional response rather than divisive rhetoric on the gender-segregated realities of her native Iran. Her split-screened video Turbulent (1998) won the First International Prize at the Venice Biennale in 1999. ‘What power in this video!’, ‘I’ve seen my fair share of art, but this is by far the most powerful experience I ever experienced’ are amongst hundreds of comments below the video, available on Youtube. In 2009 she was awarded the Silver Lion for Best Director at the 66th Venice Film Festival for her directorial debut Women Without Men.


1. “Shirin Neshat In Conversation with Sophie Arni and Ev Zverev”, GAD Magazine Issue 02, Fall 2018. Image courtesy of the artist, including stills from Shirin Neshat, Looking for Umm Kulthum (2017). Copyright Razor Film.


Neshat has received many accolades, but they have not steered the artist away from taking risks and remaining consistently honest in her work. Her latest film is dedicated to Umm Kulthum, the legendary Egyptian singer. Neshat went out of her comfort zone by venturing out in another cultural context. To represent an icon whose story is known to millions across the Middle East was no easy task. Looking for Umm Kulthum is a product of seven years of research and filming. It is, in many ways, an autobiographical film of a woman artist dealing with her ambition and passion for another woman artist.

After screening it at MoMA, Neshat spoke to Ev Zverev and later went on a phone call with Sophie Arni about what success looks like as a woman and how doubt is a necessary part of being an artist.


2.  “Shirin Neshat In Conversation with Sophie Arni and Ev Zverev”, GAD Magazine Issue 02, Fall 2018. Image courtesy of the artist, including stills from Shirin Neshat, Looking for Umm Kulthum (2017). Copyright Razor Film.


Sophie Arni: When did you start thinking about directing a film on Umm Kulthum?

Shirin Neshat: I always idealized her. She was a legend I looked up to ever since I was a child in Iran. I was fascinated with how she managed her career and her audience. Her voice united the opposites: Jews and Muslims, poor and rich. She was not only a great artist but a legendary woman too. She did not fit the traditional mold. Her life was so unusual. It’s an incredible story, really.

S.A. Umm Kulthum is an icon. But that also means that many people have strong opinions about her. I’m sure it was challenging to create a new representative figure who crafted her image so well. How did you build up that confidence, or acquired the “creative license” so to speak, to represent your version of Umm Kulthum?

S.N. That’s a good question. I still get criticized by people in the Arab world about it. It is almost impossible to make a pure biography about her and capture the essence of who Umm Kulthum is. In my case, there was no way I could have done it. We don’t speak the same language, so it would have been very difficult to catch all her nuances.

I always said: I’m not doing a biopic. This is not a biographical, historical film. It’s a personal film about my own story looking for her, hence the title Looking For Umm Kulthum. Framing it this way has allowed me to stay very honest. Throughout the film, the audience can follow the filmmaker’s debates with her producers. The people complaining that the director doesn’t speak Arabic, that the film wasn’t supposed to end this way, that the story is historically incorrect: I decided to put this criticism inside the film. The critics become part of my story, of my character’s story.


I always said: I’m not doing a biopic. This is not a biographical, historical film. It’s a personal film about my own story looking for her, hence the title Looking For Umm Kulthum.



S.A. It is a film within a film, a filmmaker's film, similar to Federico Fellini's .

S.N. Eight and A Half is a beautiful film. It was hugely influential. I admire Fellini’s imagination. The film shows the separation between fantasy and reality - seen from a filmmaker’s own dreams.

S.A. This film also opened MoMA’s Future is Female screening series. I was wondering if you consider the feminist reading to reduce your intentions as a filmmaker in any way.

S.N. All of my work deals with women. I’m not shy about that. This is a film about what it means to be a woman artist from that part of the world. We see three different women representing three generations, three points of view, three conditions of being an artist: an ultra-successful diva, a young, ambitious filmmaker, and a woman trying to emulate Umm Kulthum. I detail each woman’s desires, expectations, relationship to their art, to motherhood, and the sacrifices they had to make along the way.


All of my work deals with women. I’m not shy about that.



S.A. Your film was screened around the world at countless film festivals. Where has it resonated the most? Did you show it in Egypt?

S.N. Yes, the film was screened in Egypt. The film was shocking to Egyptians, and there was an article written about whether or not it was permissible to screen it. People were confused if I was attacking or praising Umm Kulthum.

Recently, I showed the film in Tunisia, and it was a fantastic experience. It was a true Arab audience, and they started to sing along to the soundtrack during the screening. Istanbul was also memorable; the Turkish public resonated a lot with Umm Kulthum’s story. I also showed it in Brooklyn, at the Academy of Music in front of a young and diverse audience: Arabs, Iranians, Egyptians, Americans. The energy was so high, and it provoked the right kind of conversation after the screening. That’s what I can hope for as an artist: that I can open up space for the right conversation.


The energy was so high, and it provoked the right kind of conversation after the screening. That’s what I can hope for as an artist: that I can open up space for the right conversation.



Ev Zverev: I want to talk about the ending. There are two different endings to this film. First is one in which Umm Kulthum’s song is playing on the radio, showing her legacy shining on. But Mitra [the protagonist] chose a different ending, where the diva loses her voice in front of a live audience. How was the process of picking the right ending?

S.N. The character in the film definitely mirrors my own experience directing this film. The first idea was to end the film with Umm Kulthum as a hero. I supported that idea. But it is inevitable for an artist to suffer. Mitra kept thinking, ‘Umm Kulthum could suffer too.’ She isn’t an indestructible hero; she is also a human being. Mitra surprised her audience like I did when she presented Umm Kulthum losing her voice. The singer never lost her voice at any concert. Even when this happened in a fiction film, people got angry. It’s like Umm Kulthum could never be brought down to this level of humanity.

S.A. Do you think failure is an essential part of artistic success?

S.N. As artists, we are always expected to make masterpieces after masterpieces. This always ends up disappointing people: if you make the same thing, you’re repetitive, and if you change, you’re taking a big risk. Artists, at every level, get criticism. I heard this quote once, and it stuck with me: “Never take rejection too seriously, and never take praise too seriously.”

I’m often wrong about the value of my work: I might think it’s a bad film, but everyone around me feels the opposite. You just have to take criticism and move on with it. Mitra will never be able to please everyone. She is going to fail like all of us do at some point. Doubt is part of the artistic process. The beauty is in doing it anyway and giving it your best.


I heard this quote once, and it stuck with me: “Never take rejection too seriously, and never take praise too seriously.”



S.A. What about Umm Kulthum? She seemed indestructible.

S.N. Umm Kulthum worked hard to frame the legacy of her own career. She wanted to be remembered as a household name. And she ended up being that. She was a myth, even when she was alive. There are very few people who could be so stoic and unbreakable.


I’m often wrong about the value of my work: I might think it’s a bad film, but everyone around me feels the opposite.



E.Z. I liked the way you mastered the Q&A after the MoMA screening. There seems to be a similar relationship between Mitra and her male co-director and you and your own co-director. Could you tell us a little more about the collaboration aspect of making this film?

S.N. In the final scene, when Umm Kulthum asks Mitra: “Why did you do that? Why did you make me lose my voice at this important moment of my career?” Mitra answers: “You’re so arrogant.” This was directly taken from a real-life conversation I had with my co-director. We had agreements and disagreements, and I found it funny how that line ended up in the film. It’s true; the filmmaker was arrogant in some ways; she was determined to get her point across. Viewers often get confused by that line, but art mirrors life. I wanted to end the film on the idea of doubt and self-realization.


In the final scene, when Umm Kulthum asks Mitra: “Why did you do that? Why did you make me lose my voice at this important moment of my career?” Mitra answers: “You’re so arrogant.” This was directly taken from a real-life conversation I had with my co-director. 





This article originally appeared in GAD Magazine Issue 02, All Girls Are Spicy, Fall 2018. Printed in Japan. Read GAD Magazine Issue 02 in full here.

 


Many thanks to Shirin Neshat.
Some images have been removed for the purpose of formatting.


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