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ENGLISH VERSION ORIGINS

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, in a two-kilometer circuit in which hundreds of drones draw in the sky in corniche
that makes up ten large-scale works. The most 3D six of the iconic cultural facilities already But not all works are installed in places with
impressive of these is Collider , made up of completed or under construction in the city›s complex access. At least half of the facilities
hundreds of robotic beam spotlights that can be cultural district. Among them are the Louvre are along the Corniche, a promenade facing
seen from a radius of no less than five kilometers. museum, the Guggenheim and the House of the the Persian Gulf. There you can find, for
“There was nothing here, we installed Abrahamic Family, the only complex outside example, Water , by Argentinean Luciana Abait,
everything”, says Palestinian Reem Fada, Jerusalem that houses a Catholic church, a an immense electronic panel that projects a kind
curator of the exhibition, together with Alia synagogue and a mosque in the same area, of waterfall, a natural phenomenon that does not
Zaal Lootah, who is from the United Arab opened a few months ago. exist in the Emirates _not even perennial rivers
Emirates, during the exhibition’s opening The visual spectacle takes place above the exist in the desert country.
dinner, for around 500 guests, maintaining Louvre’s rounded dome, designed by French “They hijacked my work”, commented
the superlative tradition . architect Jean Nouvel, and can be seen from Reem ironically, upon realizing that in front
Reem is responsible for the Public Art different points of the city, given its size, with of Luciana’s work an ephemeral area had been
section of the Abu Dhabi Department of a reflection in the sea. Between each of the set up to promote sports, as if the installation
Culture and Tourism (dct), which has a budget visualized cultural spaces, the drones create were part of the marketing action. This is the
of us$35 million (about R$175 million) and, next abstract images. According to Christophe type of appropriation that ends up happening
year, she organizes the first Abu Dhabi Biennial, Berthoneau, ceo and creative director of when it comes to work in public spaces.
together with the Israeli Galit Eilat, one of those Groupe F, in a debate held shortly before the In total, Corniche houses nine works,
responsible for the 31st São Paulo Biennial, in inauguration of the work, “the use of drones including video projections by Palestinian-
2014. A few kilometers away, another emirate, in instead of fireworks has been more recurrent American Samia Halaby and an interactive work
this case Sharjah, already organizes a biennial, due to the lower environmental impact”. by Carsten Höller, a German born in Belgium.
which in 2023 had its 15th edition . Despite the cutting-edge technology, he Born in Jerusalem and based in the United
What is impressive about Lulu Island is the states that technical problems similar to those States, Samia studied paintings as early as
perfection of its occupation: as the exhibition with fireworks occur with drones: “In fact, it is a the 1950s and the two works on display are
takes place at night, since the vast majority performance because we are never guaranteed kinetic and abstract paintings, created in
of the works are made up of light, there is an that everything goes as planned, there are 1992, one of the first works in visual arts to be
extremely organized circuit, with sophisticated cases where the drone never returns.” created using computers. What was originally
lamps, bathrooms with air conditioning and made for a small screen gained much larger
rest areas. archipelago dimensions for Manar, in two led screens.
Lozano-Hemmer’s ten works are all large- Abu Dhabi is an archipelago and, because of Carsten participates in Abu Dhabi Dots , a
scale. This is the case with the four thousand this, many of the works are arranged on islands. type of interactive game on the sand, where lights
lamps on Pulse Island , scattered among The only one who needs a boat to visit, in fact, of different colors are projected and participants
bushes and trees, creating a topology based is Lulu – her name, in fact, is one of the ways can walk with these colors and, when meeting other
on the pulse that is captured from each visitor of saying pearl, which was one of the activities people, they can “steal” the color that is illuminating,
by a machine. As a result, the lamps vibrate in the region, long before the discovery of oil, a proposition that especially children have fun with.
based on the heartbeat of each person who when families Those who took care of this It is there from the Corniche that you can also
passes by the work. “Our concern is also economy became billionaires. see Memories of a Port, by the UAE artist Ahmad
with sustainability and these four thousand “This is an exhibition made in Abu Dhabi for Saeed Al Areef Al Dhaheri, with projections of
lamps use the same energy as just one vacuum Abu Dhabi, so we use its own geography, with archive images on the Chamber of Commerce
cleaner”, says Reem. the islands and mangroves as an exhibition headquarters building, one of the f rst modern
Interaction mediated by technology is one space”, explained Reem at the opening of the buildings in the United Arab Emirates. It is a mix
of the Mexican artist’s main investigations event. The mangroves, in fact, are one of the of scenes, some that portray modest life before
and a condition of all works on Lulu Island. most unusual places in the exhibition. They the explosion of wealth in the region with oil.
In the case of Collider , this interaction does are occupied by three works created by three The United Arab Emirates was created in 1971,
not take place with humans, but with Geiger artists together: Shaikha al Ketbi, Radwha al therefore one of the youngest countries on the
counters equipped to detect protons and alpha Ketbi and Ayesha Hadhir, all born in the United globe, from the union of seven monarchies. Its
particles that constantly arrive at Earth, such Arab Emirates. population of around 10 million inhabitants has
as cosmic rays created by stars and black They are sculptures that float and have lamps no less than 80% of it made up of foreigners.
holes. With this, the light curtain reacts to that are located around their edges, like three The power of money is visible all the time –
collisions by creating cascading patterns female figures that carry instruments on their everything seems newly built in the country,
of wave movement that are never repeated heads, which could represent women who and it is no coincidence that it is one of the
and that make the invisible connection with washed clothes in the mangroves. new members of the Brics economic bloc.
outer space tangible. It is one of those truly “When talking to the artists, it was they The relevance of art and culture in this
impressive and unforgettable works. themselves who chose this location, because scenario ends up being a differentiator, as
they live here, they know it well and decided to in “hyperlative” dimensions. But the female
performance in the sky use the mangroves for their works”, explains presence in command is also an element
Hyperbólica is also the work of the Alia, curator of the exhibition. To access these worth noting – in the government, 50% of
French company Groupe F, specialized works you need to go to a pier and from there ministers are women. “I suffered much
in participating in the opening of the take a 20-minute boat ride. As the works can more from the patriarchal culture in the
Olympics, including Rio in 2016, and similar only actually be seen af er sunset, the best United States than here”, says Reem, who
major events. In Abu Dhabi, she presents time is right af er sunset, when the view of is also linked to the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi,
Persistence of Form , a 20-minute performance, the mangroves is breathtaking. scheduled to open in 2025.

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