The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has held the Presidency of the Executive Council of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) since 2022; He was re-elected to this position in October 2023. It is also home to the World Tourism Organization’s first regional workplace in the Middle East.
Dubai Design Week opened on Tuesday and brought together more than 500 designers and architects, showcasing conceptual and structural work, as well as design projects specially decided for the event.
The occasion also included panel discussions and workshops on sustainability, emerging techniques, and adjustments in the world of design.
Held in the Dubai Design District, the event will run until November 12 and will be free to the public.
Dubai Design Week is made up of several exhibitions, the most anticipated of which is “Downtown Design”, which celebrates its tenth anniversary this year.
It kicks off on Wednesday and welcomes designers and architects from the region and around the world to showcase the latest trends and innovations.
Downtown Design is a bridge that connects artistic designers and global brands by offering a platform that showcases the latest creations from foreign brands, emerging studios, and independent designers from around the world.
The Downtown Design program gives exhibitors the opportunity to network with peers and new customers.
This massive annual occasion raises questions about the extent to which designs can replace people’s lives and whether life adjustments can simply impose other designs and trends on designers.
Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Mette Degn-Christensen, director of Downtown Design, believes that design provides answers to the demanding situations faced by people, communities, and industries, whether they are functional objects, such as furniture and lighting, or internal subjects. such as ornaments and accessories.
Downtown Design is home to a wide diversity of brands and businesses from around the world, as well as exclusive exhibitions showcasing limited editions and one-of-a-kind designs created through Americans and studios.
For the tenth edition of Downtown Design, exhibitors were challenged to contemplate the venue space to propose and create their own designs and ideas, so that it seemed to be an integral component of the overall theme of the exhibition.
Each edition is developed in collaboration with the artistic community, taking into account the demands and interests of the market, and fulfilling the main mission of the exhibition, which is to offer new creations that meet the standards of visitors, Degn-Christensen said.
The director of Downtown Design doesn’t like to put labels on this year’s design trends, noting that, for the first time, the exhibition features reports that celebrate the beauty and importance of nature to the country. elements of nature: the sea, the sky, the earth and the greenery.
The narrative of the tenth edition of Downtown Design aims to speak to and highlight the importance of plant resources and outdoor spaces. When visitors enter the exhibition, they are greeted through exhibits that emphasize this concept. For example, the creations of the Spanish company Cosentino. , among others, provoke a sense of calm and harmony with the main theme: nature.
Other Dubai Design Week occasions include an exhibition of UAE designers, sponsored through Fatima al-Mahmoud, more than 25 UAE-based innovators; an independent presentation by Omar Al Gurg; and a limited-edition collection of wood and stone sculptures by designer Fadi Sarieddine.
The events will address sustainability and address the major challenges facing the world today with artists such as Wafaa al-Falahi, Marwa Abdulrahim, Mariam al-Attar, and Mohammed al-Najjar.
The Exhibition of Saudi Culture, organized through the Commission of Letters, Publishers and Translation in Paris, attracted French and Europeans through the other pillars of the exhibition.
Alexandria Heritage Week celebrates the monuments of Alexandria, one of the most beautiful cities in the Mediterranean, with seminars, exhibitions, theatrical and musical performances.
The event, which began on Sunday, is organized through the Center for Alexandrian Studies and is held through the Greco-Roman Museum, which reopened its doors on October 11.
Dr. Walaa Mustapha, director general of the Greco-Roman Museum, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the week is organized through various organizations, including the National Museum of Alexandria and the French Cultural Center, to revitalize Alexandrian heritage in other degrees, exhibitions and seminars. and cultural activities.
Mustapha pointed out that this birthday party is the first since the reopening of the museum, specifying that it will have a theatrical performance in which a musical organization from the Great Library of Alexandria will participate.
“We have signed a protocol with the Tourism Development Authority to plan visits to Alexandrian museums, the Greco-Roman Museum,” he said, stressing that “this contributes significantly to the revitalization of Alexandrian heritage. “
Alexandria has a large number of museums, such as the National Museum of Alexandria, the Greco-Roman Museum, the Royal Museum of Jewelry, as well as the Museum of Antiquities of the Great Library of Alexandria.
Dr. Hassan Abdul Bassir, an Egyptologist and director of the Museum of Antiquities, told Asharq Al-Awsat that this annual birthday party puts Alexandria’s monuments in the spotlight.
The Greco-Roman Museum was established in 1892, during the reign of Khedive Abbas Helmy II, to preserve the antiquities found in the city between the 3rd century BC and the 19th century. A. D. and the third century A. D. It was closed for recovery in 2005 and reopened last month.
Alexandria Heritage Week includes an exhibition featuring the works of the late artist Mahmoud Said, depicting ancient sketches encouraged through the Greco-Roman Museum’s exhibitions.
According to Abdul Bassir, Alexandria’s connection to the Mediterranean on all sides has made it an icon of civilization and culture, as its founder, Alexander the Great, intended. The Great Library of Alexandria and its Museum of Antiquities participate in this event. he said.
As a component of the Alexandria Heritage Week, the “Basili 110 Palace, Silk Road” was inaugurated at the National Museum of Alexandria by Dr. Ashraf al-Kadi, Director of the Museum.
“The exhibition is about the palace and its history through paintings, documents and photographs that belonged to the owner of the palace, Assad Basily Pasha,” Kadi said.
The Ministry of Culture has received ISO 31000 certification in threat control for applying the required criteria through a rigorous method to identify threats, identify appropriate threat control controls and deal with them preventively, minimize their impact, and strategically plan threat control.
It is a validation of the department’s efforts to expand the culture and its commitment to achieving its goals sustainably and effectively, and to ensure that control is based on proactive plans in line with International Organization for Standardization standards.
Located in the mountains of northern Lebanon, a museum dedicated to Gibran Khalil Gibran in Bcharre celebrates the centenary of the “Prophet”, the most outstanding work of the famous author.
Since its first publication in the United States in 1923, millions of copies of “The Prophet” have been sold worldwide, and the e-book is a literary harvest translated into dozens of languages from the original English.
“Every reader, wherever they come from, feels that this e-book considers them and touches them deeply. . . whether it’s Christian, Muslim, Jewish” or atheist, said museum director Joseph Geagea.
“It addresses the spirituality of the individual, addressing death, life, friendship, love, children” and other topics, he added.
A collection of poetic prose, “The Prophet” tells the story of Almustafa, who, before returning to his homeland, speaks to the population of the city of Orfalese about facets of life.
Divided into 26 chapters, the verses of the “Prophet” are quoted at births, weddings, and funerals around the world.
“Biblical taste is pervasive” in “The Prophet,” Lebanese Alexander Najjar said at a recent reading in Beirut, also noting the influence of Islam’s Sufi mystical tradition.
“The Prophet” won the hearts of scholars and hippies in the 1960s, Najjar said, adding for the passage: “Your children are your children. . . they come from you but from you. “
Elvis Presley “loved this book so much that he would give it to his friends on their birthdays,” he added.
Other celebrities and leaders, from John Lennon to former Japanese Empress Michiko to former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, also appreciated the book, the museum’s Geagea said.
‘Deeply religious vision’
Gibran was born in Bcharre in 1883, when Lebanon was under Ottoman rule, but he wrote most of his books in the United States, where he led the New York Pen League, the first Arab-American literary society.
Overlooking Lebanon’s Qadisha Valley, the museum was housed in a former 18th-century monastery and features some 150 paintings that show “his deeply religious view of existence,” Geagea said.
A table shows 11 translations of the “Prophet” between 1923 and 1931.
“Gibran was willing to return to Bsharre, where he left at the age of 12,” Geagea said, but died before he had the chance.
The priests sold the monastery and surrounding land to Gibran’s sister after the author’s death in 1931, when he was only 48 years old.
It has become a burial and then a museum for his art and other artifacts, and receives about 50,000 visitors a year from five continents, Geagea said.
Despite their popularity with readers, Gibran’s most prominent paintings have garnered a combined reception from American critics, who have criticized them as simplistic and prudish.
In April this year, an exhibition at the United Nations Headquarters in New York marked the centenary of the work.
The Saudi Ministry of Culture on Thursday announced the “The Voice of the Poem” contest, which will be held on a committed online platform and aims to improve the poetic recitation skills of people of all ages.
The festival is part of the “Year of Arab Poetry 2023” initiative and aims at the cultural significance of Arabic poetry in Arab culture over the decades.
The contest begins with a variety of eloquent poems of Arabic heritage for each age group. Participants can submit their recitations virtually through one platform, and a qualified and experienced jury will judge the entries taking into account artistic expression, vocal performance, and emotional communication. , innovation and originality.
A portrait of English playwright William Shakespeare and a speech from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” were sent aboard a weather balloon to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the publication of his first complete works.
Footage from the initiative is included in one of six short films celebrating filmmaker Jack Jewers’ fourth century, AFP reported.
Each film takes one of Shakespeare’s most prominent poems or speeches and reinvents it for the 21st century.
Topics include the impact of Covid 19, the war in Ukraine, space exploration, and social justice protests.
The first published edition of Shakespeare’s plays, known as the First Folio, was published in 1623, seven years after the bard’s death.
In one of the films, Jewers remotely directs Ukrainian civilians in Kyiv to create a new interpretation of Shakespeare’s “Band of Brothers” speech from his old play “Henry V. “
Another features “Our Revels Now Are Ended” from “The Tempest” and explores themes of loneliness and isolation during the pandemic, as well as the joy of reuniting with those we enjoy.
In another, real-life photographs of migrants at sea are combined with a discourse of refugee protection as opposed to a new work.
Jewers said he chose the themes of the films in parallel with 1623.
“Everything that has happened to us in the last few years of turmoil — mass illness, immigration considerations, protests, conflicts in Europe, a growing preference for defying authority and speaking out the facts by force — was also reduced in 1623,” he said.
When the first folio was published, there was an outbreak of plague and English immigrants were crossing the Atlantic Ocean in ships to start a new life in North America.
“The parallels are unsettling and Shakespeare’s words are fresher than ever in their ability to speak powerfully about our new lives,” Jewers added.
It will be screened in central London on 8 November.