Category: Entertainment – Art, Culture, theatre, film

The origins of Islamic Art

Leave a comment

dome rock

Dome of the Rock. Jerusalem. Completed AD 691

I’ve always been a big fan of Art Sawa and their next few classes are particularly on subjects I am passionate about. Marta Ameri will touch on the origins of Islamic art on the 23rd of September.

The middle of the 7th century A.D. saw with the rise of Islam the creation of a new religion and of a great military empire.  It was in these early years that Islamic Art developed and coalesced into a definitive style. By looking at early monuments such as the Dome of the Rock and the Great Mosque of Damascus, this class will explore the ways in which the rulers of the first Islamic empires combined existing artistic styles with new Islamic elements to develop what we now identify as Islamic art.

The class will also discuss issues such as how the precepts of Islamic belief affected early Islamic Art, and the ways in which the early Islamic rulers used art and architecture to express their growing power.

If you are in Dubai and interested in Islamic Art history, then learning about at after work may be a perfect start to your evenings over the next few weeks.

Celebrating Women Entrepreneurship at the 15th Women’s Exhibition

Leave a comment

image001

It’s the time of the year when preparations have begun for the awesome Women’s exhibition we have been enjoying the last few year thanks to Thoraya Al Awadhi, Founder and CEO of Thoraya Al Awadhi Group of Companies.

The realization of a vision comes to life with Women Entrepreneurs, Trailblazers and Industry Supremes coming together in a celebration of ingenuity…. hence this is an ideal platform to participate in the “15th Women’s Exhibition” to be held on October 31 to November 03, 2013 at the Dubai World Trade Center, Zabeel Hall 2.

This year’s 15th Women’s Exhibition will continue in the fashion of the previous 14th Women’s exhibitions, however on a much larger scale, with over 100 stands for exhibitors to showcase their products and services from the region and abroad.

This year’s sector variety is also expanded to include fashion, jewellery, spas and wellness to travel agencies, financial services, medical supplies and health products in addition to many other sectors.

Personally I have enjoyed the exhibitions tremendously and have always commended the work Thoraya does to elevate the women, be they entrepreneurs or women already in business or any organization whose target happens to be women. The ambience is always fun, friendly and you feel like its more a festive atmosphere than an exhibition for visitors, hence the excitement in visitors and exhibitors returning year after year.

Registrations and bookings of exhibition stands are now officially open. For more information about this event and past events please visit www.thorayagroup.com or write to info@thorayagroup.com

thoraya exhibition shereen

Intensive Camera Workshops by Icon Art Production

2 Comments

Workshop shereen shabnam

It was a long time ago I did a camera workshop with Icon Art Production but it feels like yesterday. When I received the workshop details from the trainer a couple of days ago, I felt I had to put it online to share with others what the workshop is all about as I learned more than I thought I would and  it turned out to be one of the best weekends I had. I treasure the knowledge I gained from Zakir the trainer who is an amazing teacher.

Following the success of the past camera workshops, an Initiative of Icon Art Production, photography enthusiasts, film makers, cameramen, screen writers and individuals have now the opportunity to get hands on training on latest cameras with well experienced team of cameramen, sound assistant as well as have an Executive Producer and director to guide and share their experiences, demonstrate technique and methods to make short films and documentary Films.

The workshop, held this weekend on the 23rd and 24th of August, provides practical training on 12 professional cameras Handy cam, Sony PD-170, Sony DSR 450, Canon 5D Mark II and 5DMark III, 7D Mark II, Sony EX3, Sony PMW F3, Sony PMW 350,Arri Alexa Plus, Red Epic, Black magic cinema camera. The cameras used in the workshop as kits value ranging from Dhs. 20,000/- to 500,000/-.

This Workshop is designed for anyone with a passion to pursue his or her career in Filmmaking or Videography/cinematography with no age limit and experience.

To ensure participants get full benefit, only 2-3 People will work on each camera as they get training hands on training for all Levels of Cameras. Focusing – Film, Documentary, TV Program, Corporate and editorial. The course also focuses on the basics of Light Control, Under Water and several necessary tools Technical and legal guidelines to produce your own film.

The workshop Topics cover:

  • Camera Features & Technical aspects of cameras
  • Cameras Influence on films, Story and its Budget.
  • Shooting Methods and 50 types of Shot by Shot Guideline.
  • Various Cameras Show reels.
  • Under Water Kits and Shoulder Mounts, Tracks and other grips
  • Structure and job responsibilities of the camera.
  • Cost Analysis for small, medium and large Production
  • Dos & Don’ts in Shooting and Post Productions.

After completing this workshop, students will be able to identify which camera is best for which production, know the right techniques and methods and easily identify the budgets etc. when producing a short film.

The workshop targets Filmmakers, cameramen, screenwriter or individuals, producers, directors and Individuals who are Looking for hands on experience & understanding of overall cameras & production to record family/personal videos. The cost for the workshop is Dhs. 2,500/-

Workshop Venue

Icon Art Production

Al Thuraya Tower, M Floor Office no 27-28

Email:workshop@iconartproduction.com

Tel: +971 04 3515511

For Further Details Contact

Registration : Mr. Adeel Mustafa

Technical : Mr. Zak – 050 7845135

Personal Benefits: Any one wants to shoot their personal video / Events / functions / sports etc.

Media Students:  They will learn to understand all types of cameras existing in the industry and It’s a first step in film making career.

Professional Benefits: Journalists can do video interviews and promote webcast online.

Photographers: Photographers can upgrade their skills by learning 8 different cameras and it could be a additional income to their profession.

Film Industry: Workshop will help all levels of Filmmakers, Cameramen, Producers, directors, Production Managers and screen writers to understand like cameras RED Epic & Arri Alexa & Many more used in movies of Bollywood and Hollywood.

Testimonials: Below is a link to testimonials from a previous workshop Testimonial that had students from different industries with zero knowledge.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Jvi1_d5YmA&list=TLiRJ662-6a_k

DNA workshops and murder mystery by forensic scientist at Bahrain Science Centre

Leave a comment
Visiting forensic scientist, Professor Valerie Corfield, explains the intricacies of the DNA spiral to young visitors to the Bahrain Science Centre during a 'DNA Detective' workshop

Visiting forensic scientist, Professor Valerie Corfield, explains the intricacies of the DNA spiral to young visitors to the Bahrain Science Centre during a ‘DNA Detective’ workshop

Bahrain Science Centre, part of the Ministry of Social Development in Bahrain, is  currently hosting a real forensic scientist from the Medical Research Council in South Africa, Dr Valerie Corfield.

Professor Valerie Corfield is a retired medical researcher who is very well known in South Africa for her involvement in informal education on medical issues, including HIV-Aids and the use of DNA in forensic science and genetics. She is holding ‘DNA Detective’ workshops and one ‘DNA Murder Mystery’, which will allow visitors to get involved and discover the wonder of DNA. She will also do staff training on how to use DNA in teaching about forensics and genetics.

The ‘DNA Detective Workshop’ is suitable for visitors aged 9 years and older and the ‘Murder Mystery’ is suitable for visitors 12 years and older.

Later today, a ‘murder’ in a make-believe space ship (BSC 13) will be enacted at the Bahrain Science Centre this Thursday evening and everyone is invited to come along and help solve the ‘crime’.

The Commander of the Space Ship BSC 13, Astro Naut, is mysteriously murdered and every member of the crew is a suspect.

Is the murderer Cosmo Naut, the jealous younger brother of the Commander, or Mike Apollo, a space tourist, or the unhappy wife of the Commander, Countfore Naut, the pompous and unbearable Max D Oderant, sponsor of the space tourists, or the heavily armed Flight Chef Para Noyd? Perhaps it is the programmer of the androids, Maida Blunder, or even one of the androids itself, C3PO. Or maybe it is Detective Conan from the No.1 Ladies Detective Agency, who is a guest onboard of ultra rich Lady Bonnie Bigbux, herself a prime suspect?

Date:Time:Venue: 30 May 2013 5: 00 to 7pm pm – Murder Mystery “Death in Orbit “ play

Bahrain Science Centre, Building 334, Road 109, Block 801, Riyadh Avenue, Isa Town, Kingdom of Bahrain.

 

 

 

 

The Bahrain Science Centre is located in Building 334, Road 109, Block 801, Riyadh Avenue, Isa Town, Kingdom of Bahrain and can be contacted on 17686466.

For more information, please contact:

Shereen Shabnam

BH Mob: +973 39511234

UAE Mob: +971 50 4828177/7690087

Bahrain Science Centre to host a unique Sound of Music show

Leave a comment
Our colleague Mohammed does the Sound of music show at Bahrain Science Centre

Our colleague Mohammed does the Sound of music show at Bahrain Science Centre

Bahrain Science Centre, part of the Ministry of Social Development in Bahrain will actively focus on exploring science shows on music this month sparked by the famous South African science show presenter, Derek Fish who visited the science centre last year.

Derek gave some terrific performances of his ‘Sounds of Music’ show to capacity audiences, encouraging facilitators to teach science using music in Bahrain. Two of the centre’s Facilitators, Mohammed Alkooheji and Hafsa Rahman, have taken the lead in this exciting initiative.

Sound travels in waves, but what do these waves look like?  The centre has bought some software that shows, on the screen, what high and low-pitched sound waves look like. There are already downloaded sounds made by different musical instruments and visitors can watch the waves that they make.

Further research reveals that the shortest strings on string instruments, such as the guitar or violin, produce the highest pitch sounds and the longest strings produce the lowest pitch sounds. Likewise, wind instruments with large or long sound chambers (tuba, baritone saxophone, French horn, trombone) produce deeper sounds than instruments with small or narrow sound chambers (piccolo, flute or clarinet). To learn more, visit the Bahrain Science Centre.

The Bahrain Science Centre is located in Building 334, Road 109, Block 801, Riyadh Avenue, Isa Town, Kingdom of Bahrain and can be contacted on 17686466.

Press release issued on behalf Bahrain Science Centre. For further information, please contact Shereen Shabnam on +971 507690087/ 504828177/ shereen@mtestudios.com. For information on the weekly programmes at the Bahrain Science Centre, please contact Amna Aldoseri at amna@mtestudios.com.

 

Sotheby’s celebrate Doha auction success in Qatar

Leave a comment
Sotheby's Doha auction in progress

Sotheby’s Doha auction in progress

Today is an awesome day in London…apart from the fact that I brought sunshine to the city like I always do when I step out of the plane, I will see my first Sotheby’s auction in progress in London this afternoon – Arts of the Islamic World.

More will come later on this as the auction I will go and see covers Middle Eastern and Turkish Art so it deserves a full new dedicated blog.

Meanwhile the auction in Doha,  (Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Doha auction) achieved the strong total of $15,199,750, solidly between the pre-sale expectations of $11.1/16.1 million, establishing the highest price for an auction of Contemporary Art in the Middle East region.

I saw some of the pieces that are in Doha now at an exclusive VIP preview that was held at the Royal Mirage in Dubai…they were really nice and I met lots of interesting people. It would have been great to see the auction in Doha as it was very successful.

The sale was 89.1% sold by lot. Records were set for nine artists, including a record for a living Arab artist. The top lot of sale was Donald Judd’s Untitled (Bernstein 90-01), which sold – after an extended bidding battle among four people – for $3,525,000.

Rising Down, set an auction record for Ethiopian-born artist Julie Mehretu titled when it achieved the strong price of $3,077,000*, over its high estimate of $3 million, after competition from four bidders.

Four bidders competed for a commanding installation work by Minimalist artist Donald Judd, Untitled (Bernstein 90-01), dating from 1990, which achieved $3,525,000 against a high estimate of $3.5 million. Judd was one of the leading pioneers of new sculptural forms and concepts within America during the latter half of the twentieth century and this work shows his brilliantly imaginative mind at the very pinnacle of its creative powers.

Four bidders competed for a work of monumental scale by Chant Avedissian, Icons of the Nile, which set a record for a living Arab artist when it fetched $1,565,000 (est. $1/1.5 million). Created in 2010, this gouache, stencil and acrylic paint on cardboard, in one hundred and twenty parts, is the largest piece the artist has created to date. It presents a mosaic of Egyptian culture that retraces the country’s past through nostalgic imagery and iconographical motifs.

Prominent among the group of works sold was a supreme series of paintings by the influential Iranian artist Mohammed Ehsai, entitled ‘Eshgh’ or ‘Love’ and dated 2012, which fetched $437,000 (est. $300/400,000, pictured left). His distinctive style is shown at its best in the ‘Eshgh’ series, which blends traditional calligraphic techniques with modern graphics.

Suspended Together fetched the remarkable sum of $329,000 (est. $100/150,000), achieving an auction record for the artist. Magnificent in scale and epic in conception, Suspended Together is one of the most important and celebrated works of Manal Al Dowayan’s career to date and the first of her installation works to appear at auction. Utterly elegiac in its beauty, the work has a distinguished exhibition history, having been displayed at major international shows, such as Edge of Arabia in Dubai and The Future of a Promise at the 54th Venice Biennale (both in 2011).

A myriad of snow white porcelain doves hover in the air, the wings and body of each bird stamped with an exact reproduction of the permission document a Saudi woman needs from their male guardian to travel.

Ya’illahi (Dear Lord), one of the most important paintings ever to come to auction by Ayman Baalbaki, achieved a record for the artist when it reached a final sum of $377,000 (est. $100/150,000). Depicting the shrouded face of a lone, heroic figure gazing up to the skies, the powerfully charged work explores the acute tension and ambiguity within the kaffiyeh, an everyday garment.

The highly desirable portrait by Mahmoud Said, Profil, dating from 1950, attracted competition from no fewer than five bidders and achieving $125,000, many multiples of its high estimate of $50,000.

Seeing how successful the Doha sale was, I am excited to see the London auction which fits in perfectly with my trip…..for me, although it was a dream to see a Sotheby’s auction, what is nice is that I get to  see an auction that covers a subject I love – Middle Eastern and Turkish Art  or Arts of the Islamic World.

I just can’t wait to see the pieces that are from the sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries, especially the art of the Indian Deccan dated 1684.

The most efficient vehicle – Learn about bicycles at Bahrain Science Centre

Leave a comment

Bicycle exhibit Shereen Shabnam

During April and May 2013 the Bahrain Science Centre part of the Ministry of Social Development in Bahrain is celebrating the theme ‘Machines & Mechanisms’. One of its displays and activities during these theme months is on the most efficient vehicle ever invented, the bicycle.

The bicycle display demonstrates why the bicycle is so efficient due to its ergonomic design that uses the human body as a source of power, its light weight, streamlining, reduced rolling resistance on the road and reduced friction resistance in the chain and sprockets.

Furthermore, the rider is seated and does not have to support his/her weight, and the reciprocal cycling action allows one leg to recover while the other leg is pushing. Bicycles also have gears that provide mechanical advantage when riding uphill or against the wind, and can free-wheel downhill without any use of energy.

The display also emphasizes that the bicycle is the most environmentally friendly form of transport as it reduces air pollution, does not produce greenhouse gases and therefore reduces our carbon footprint. It also reduces noise levels, consumes fewer resources to make and use, and uses less space than cars and therefore reduces traffic congestion. Bicycles also facilitate healthy exercise and promote a healthy outdoor life style.

The discussion and workshops around the display will focus on the design of the mechanics of the bicycle and should be of interest to people of all age groups.

Don’t miss the display, discussions, debates and workshops on the bicycle in the Bahrain Science Centre during April and May 2013.

The Bahrain Science Centre is located in Building 334, Road 109, Block 801, Riyadh Avenue, Isa Town, Kingdom of Bahrain and can be contacted on 17686466.

Press release issued on behalf Bahrain Science Centre. For further information, please contact Shereen Shabnam on +971 507690087/ 504828177/ shereen@mtestudios.com.

Uchiwa fan brings memories

Leave a comment

For the third time in 2 years, I am preparing to move home – lock, stock and barrel. It’s not a fun task packing stuff of a huge 4 bedroom villa and its amazing what you find when you delve through myriads of books and knick knacks that no family member wants to part with.

After facing 3 huge piles of paperwork on my living room table, I decided this evening to get rid of some display items (it’s now a joke between Eric and Tash that the pile grows bigger instead of smaller despite me spending hours in the evenings de-cluttering while being distracted with the computer, TV, phone calls etc)

After much rummaging, tearing of pages and throwing candles etc, I came across a Uchiwa fan, which always reminds me of Japanese elegance and tradition.

These fans are cherished by the people of Japan, not just to cool down but for getting shade and in my case, it was used as decoration – that is until my last house move. I received it from a dear University mate who had taken me under her wings when I first visited KL.

The Uchiwa fans from Edo, first made in the 18th century are crafted by taking Japanese ‘washi’ paper cut in ovals and placed on a finely sliced bamboo frame. The woodblock printing technique was then used by the craftsmen to decorate the fans artistically…. I wish I was good in art so I could do something creative like that.

Common subjects used in the artwork often included pretty women, kabuki performers, scenic nature/gardens etc, depending on what was in fashion.

While I am still not happy about having to relocate thousands of books from libraries at every corner of the villa, its fun coming across some nice objects collected over the last twenty years of extensive travel and visiting cultural and heritage exhibitions.

Now all I need to do to find an equally huge villa that has a spare room for my shoes, books and collectibles … does anyone know a really cool real estate agent with lots of patience to put up with diva demands?

Week of Chemistry’ at the Bahrain Science Centre

Leave a comment

Detlef 3

Detlef presenting a chemistry show

During the week of 22nd to 25th April 2013, the Bahrain Science Centre, part of Ministry of Social Development, will be featuring an intensive week of chemistry shows, discussions and debates.

World famous science educator, Detlef Basel from the Cape Town Science Centre in South Africa will present nine, one-hour ‘Hooked on Science’ chemistry shows throughout the week.

Detlef has over 40 years experience doing science shows and has performed on television and in front of huge live audiences. He is an expert at creating big (but safe) bangs, whizzes and pops and will enthrall you with his mastery of simple chemical elements, many of which can be found in your kitchen cupboard.

The ‘Hooked on Science’ shows are suitable for all age groups and will be presented during the mornings for school groups and during the afternoons and evenings for families. Visit the Science Centre’s website for more details.

The Bahrain Science Centre is located in Building 334, Road 109, Block 801, Riyadh Avenue, Isa Town, Kingdom of Bahrain and can be contacted on 17686466.

MTE Studios currently manages and operates the Bahrain Science Centre. For further information, please contact Shereen Shabnam on +971 507690087/ 504828177/ shereen@mtestudios.com. For information on the weekly programmes at the Bahrain Science Centre, please contact Amna Aldoseri at amna@mtestudios.com.

Zandonai’s Francesca Da Rimini @MeydanIMAX

Leave a comment

Its been weeks since Tasha and I went to see the a MET Opera production….it was Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda so news that another MET production is coming to IMAX was music to our ears. This time it’s Zandonai’s ‘Francesca Da Rimini’. The good thing is that both Tash and I don’t know the storyline or have read any reviews so this will be a total surprise and what’s great is that we will once see it on the biggest screen in Dubai at Meydan Imax. I reckon the best thing I’ve done since I met Afsana is get registered for updates via email on what’s happening at IMAX….I keep getting their latest schedules and my viewing pleasure has improved ten-fold.

The next MET Opera is at 7pm on the 25th of March. It’s perfect timing as I usually leave the office at Media City at 6pm and arrive  at Meydan IMAX just in time to meet Tash, buy popcorn and see the show…plus indulge in their amazing oreo cake that is sinfully delicious and takes you to heaven for the evening.

As I keep talking endlessly about how much I enjoy the MET shows, ticket costs for everyone who makes a booking and say’s ‘Fijianchick’ get AED 50/- off their tickets. So…if you like opera and like to see the show, mention my blog and get the tickets for AED100/- instead of AED150/-. Enjoy!

MET Opera Shereen Shabnam