tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51009653023296768952024-02-28T04:37:19.847-08:00IconoplasticKarl Sharrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442368022521436709noreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100965302329676895.post-73841316339531282602013-01-09T05:37:00.003-08:002013-01-09T05:37:39.596-08:00Dubai's Real Estate Bubble<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuja1C4_FEYlJD-STWmbqVIJzJA_vEKc_YskN2-K9vsPWkKina0s-m6gvV_-dfZl56S9OD28iDEqfxcSh8oOajRK1TtND8BH-Hlrt20OlbRxyY9CtiDaWOqwm08Sq-HrV5tLA4rYY_V4Cp/s1600/Dubai-bubble.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuja1C4_FEYlJD-STWmbqVIJzJA_vEKc_YskN2-K9vsPWkKina0s-m6gvV_-dfZl56S9OD28iDEqfxcSh8oOajRK1TtND8BH-Hlrt20OlbRxyY9CtiDaWOqwm08Sq-HrV5tLA4rYY_V4Cp/s400/Dubai-bubble.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
To signal its recovery, Dubai is planning to build a real estate bubble, literally. It's a 600 meter tall building shaped like a soap-bubble, that is largely empty except for a roof top space for bars and restaurants. The large lobby also has some retail space. The building is designed by renowned firm Hawks International, and will be developed by Dubai real developers Khayal Holdings. Works are expected to start in 2014. The building will be known as The Dubai Real Estate Bubble.Karl Sharrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442368022521436709noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100965302329676895.post-63804592839043636522010-10-05T08:22:00.000-07:002010-10-05T08:22:54.585-07:00Tour First - La Défense<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRIdPvBHr6hjc5cz9KcgZdash8OrmRxlu7-wSis8eq5zCqukcyoziatEB5Qolf2MnfDTJBT9v6M9zZATA7AIXFWhwhnbabUuqiLS5W2BbMCTRsFa-UUl1Pxbhzz4X9TU0DmZ5fMLepFyy0/s1600/tour-first-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRIdPvBHr6hjc5cz9KcgZdash8OrmRxlu7-wSis8eq5zCqukcyoziatEB5Qolf2MnfDTJBT9v6M9zZATA7AIXFWhwhnbabUuqiLS5W2BbMCTRsFa-UUl1Pxbhzz4X9TU0DmZ5fMLepFyy0/s640/tour-first-4.jpg" width="425" /></a></div><br />
Tour First (formerly Tour Axa) is nearing completion. I designed the tower's external envelope while at KPF 5 years ago.Karl Sharrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442368022521436709noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100965302329676895.post-53890764023706957762010-03-23T15:26:00.000-07:002010-03-23T15:26:18.323-07:00Jean Nouvel to design this year's Serpentine Pavilion<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpYnna94bxpdOgwkQ881cndHMhdeCBzHpi-usWZm2Uin3BnLaASw-SQ3GNjhapvKhFsjhBRCRMyNL9MJOXOwZWwptyjj1Gf_oG6hn9dikPxpCZM-iCwl-1rGgDn71Wibbpr3F9aJh7xy7e/s1600-h/serpentine1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpYnna94bxpdOgwkQ881cndHMhdeCBzHpi-usWZm2Uin3BnLaASw-SQ3GNjhapvKhFsjhBRCRMyNL9MJOXOwZWwptyjj1Gf_oG6hn9dikPxpCZM-iCwl-1rGgDn71Wibbpr3F9aJh7xy7e/s400/serpentine1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8inE-ntVme1FI4fvfzDCa02gPyIXWoCqPd_vncoYf4y8RAM5aw7M9xa-R73spddulrrn6aFMccb_9FIkU7GWu-AKOcnnb57LMt4jJo2y8iVb5VnutQJx8I7NhhhHhgpLv0O6feeQBQry0/s1600-h/serpentine2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8inE-ntVme1FI4fvfzDCa02gPyIXWoCqPd_vncoYf4y8RAM5aw7M9xa-R73spddulrrn6aFMccb_9FIkU7GWu-AKOcnnb57LMt4jJo2y8iVb5VnutQJx8I7NhhhHhgpLv0O6feeQBQry0/s400/serpentine2.jpg" width="318" /></a>Jean Nouvel has been chosen to design this year's Serpentine Pavillion. The bright-red structure, to be made from steel, glass, plastic and fabric, will feature table tennis tables and an audito<span id="goog_1269382532039"></span><span id="goog_1269382532040"></span>rium. It stands out from the schemes of the last few years which tended to be under-stated. The bright-red colour in particular is a nice touch, we've had enough modest white pavilions.Karl Sharrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442368022521436709noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100965302329676895.post-2414219379688356212010-03-15T04:27:00.000-07:002010-03-15T04:28:42.809-07:00Photographs of Le Gray Hotel, Beirut Central District<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The recently completed Le Gray Hotel in Beirut is the last project I worked on with Kevin Dash. It is operated by Gordon Campbell Gray, who's behind the One Aldwych and several other high-end hotels. The hotel is in a conservation area with very strict guidelines governing the exterior appearance of the building down to materials, details and massing. The hotel takes its cues from UFA building next door, matching the facade lines and providing a modern interpretation of the older building allowing the building from outside to fit within the urban context. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
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The story is different on the inside, a large conical atrium creates a large internal space topped by a 'lantern', a suspended timber and glass cylinder housing a bar on the last floor. The atrium lines are defined by closely-stacked timber shelves giving it an abstract quality. The top floor provides generous roof terraces covered by a radial timber structure and provides the special spaces within the hotel. There is a restaurant, two bars, a gym, and a delicately-detailed swimming pool with an infinity edge looking towards the sea. The glass detailing allows for continuity between the internal and external spaces which the over-hanging roof emphasizes. <br />
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Towards the back, the hotel faces the 'Garden of Forgiveness', which is yet to materialise, revealing more of the 'lantern' and the roof structure. On the east side, the hotel overlooks Martyrs' Square and on the west it can be seen through the denser arrangement of French mandate-era buildings around Place d'Étoile. Together with the other buildings that I worked on with Kevin Dash in the SOLIDERE, Banque Audi Plaza and the Gold Souks, it's one of the more successful attempts at integrating the building within the urban context while animating the interior with bold spatial moves. <br />
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I took those pictures back in November when the hotel was almost complete, the landscaping around is still missing and somebody has stuck an extra mechanical room on top of the east facade because these things just happen in Beirut. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Karl Sharrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442368022521436709noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100965302329676895.post-42140519842807944702010-03-01T02:35:00.000-08:002010-03-10T16:00:55.271-08:00Why London needs more skyscrapers.Read my argument for why London needs more skyscrapers in <a href="http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/the_mayor_who_sets_his_sights_low/">Culture Wars </a>Karl Sharrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442368022521436709noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100965302329676895.post-75142382781587339762010-02-26T02:27:00.000-08:002010-03-10T16:00:55.447-08:00Design your own London skyline.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPXBcGu95Za0fr-mQbqkkooGW8sUBC3DWfDJRtMokMjh8OQvR3-AUfCpGf7m_ANmHACUpujhulHU21iB0rb4wkqLXKWsNnYq-q-GQ3S_GWlZrePbsx8NDt9l7vA7K4mdBKJFGgKz2LosA/s1600-h/MySkyLineLondon1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="331" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPXBcGu95Za0fr-mQbqkkooGW8sUBC3DWfDJRtMokMjh8OQvR3-AUfCpGf7m_ANmHACUpujhulHU21iB0rb4wkqLXKWsNnYq-q-GQ3S_GWlZrePbsx8NDt9l7vA7K4mdBKJFGgKz2LosA/s640/MySkyLineLondon1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>A great tool has been launched by <a href="http://www.hayesdavidson.com/skyline/">Hayes Davidson</a> one of the leading visualisation firms in the UK, it lets you design your own London skyline. It does have some limitations because you can only use existing designs, but still great fun. So what did I decide to do with it? Of course, put the Burj Dubai in London. That immediately shows you how modest the buidlings that are considered tall in London are by comparison. I tried lpacing it within the City of London (above) and Canary Wharf (Below) and I think it looks great in both cases. I guess we need about 3 in London. What don't you try doing your own?<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtj7gPQAnTj4zyCAAE5e1_yjAgSS7F1m6yWiZY4ooo2sHpLi625cip6WZz0xxS7-5lrG7qBFdJbSgrgBX-VMUS1_5fU6F3MQxJHGu3V_sD-DiSV_iWlgPlm9D14BcWMv1fVoSMXojLg28/s1600-h/MySkyLineLondon2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="332" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtj7gPQAnTj4zyCAAE5e1_yjAgSS7F1m6yWiZY4ooo2sHpLi625cip6WZz0xxS7-5lrG7qBFdJbSgrgBX-VMUS1_5fU6F3MQxJHGu3V_sD-DiSV_iWlgPlm9D14BcWMv1fVoSMXojLg28/s640/MySkyLineLondon2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>Karl Sharrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442368022521436709noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100965302329676895.post-23016225770068401612010-02-23T15:02:00.000-08:002010-03-10T16:00:55.678-08:00iEmbassy: The new American Embassy in London looks like it's designed by Apple<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjcUu0KoSEVmw6551d9VxjjNfij_ZwwO7t9GpF_R_05xkLdWGbqbiJDj4ibEDxeZCmeFYdaZVJUAs6o7wzdh3jawZJPuoC4N6YtK_qvolEfgDkCUzt8z6Yh7VC8ZUjYY7D9lSGZagmFls/s1600-h/6a00d8341c630a53ef01310f2d2954970c-800wi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjcUu0KoSEVmw6551d9VxjjNfij_ZwwO7t9GpF_R_05xkLdWGbqbiJDj4ibEDxeZCmeFYdaZVJUAs6o7wzdh3jawZJPuoC4N6YtK_qvolEfgDkCUzt8z6Yh7VC8ZUjYY7D9lSGZagmFls/s320/6a00d8341c630a53ef01310f2d2954970c-800wi.jpg" /></a>My first reaction was that the building looks more like a dumpling than a beacon of democracy, but on further reflection, it looks like it's been designed by Apple. Welcome to the new iEmbassy!<br /><br />The proposals for the new American Embassy building in London were unveiled yesterday. The new building intended for a site close to the River Thames in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Wandsworth</span> will replace the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Eero</span> Saarinen embassy in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Grosvenor</span> Square which has been bought by the Qatari government. The scheme was designed by the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Philadelphia</span>-based practice <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Kieran Timberlak</span>, with security being one of the main drivers of the design. The building, a 12-storey glass cube sits within a 30m blast zones and is enclosed by a moat on one side. I hope they have provided some sheltered space outside for those long <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">hours</span> I will spend in the rain waiting to be interviewed for a visa...<br />The first <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Obambassy</span> to be <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">commissioned</span>, apparently it is intended to project a different image of America. As far as I can tell, it is an apt monument to the age of risk <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">assessments</span>. Although I hear that Richard Rogers didn't like it, so I might reconsider. More to follow..<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYOgTAHRFbkNk19InLTDYtzOOtL6XYRHytO3J30sOFUNaMT-xsfzvpszMR4i3z21j0RdfRgGiHGT9OKqYTh_IXPQT4zAfg1MVgMUlq3qCtxXjfgROcgRpnPpx9UKVl0tNXHcMFNE-fVTQ/s1600-h/6a00d8341c630a53ef01310f2d2c55970c-800wi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYOgTAHRFbkNk19InLTDYtzOOtL6XYRHytO3J30sOFUNaMT-xsfzvpszMR4i3z21j0RdfRgGiHGT9OKqYTh_IXPQT4zAfg1MVgMUlq3qCtxXjfgROcgRpnPpx9UKVl0tNXHcMFNE-fVTQ/s320/6a00d8341c630a53ef01310f2d2c55970c-800wi.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGshqWEMdTIIf_4En6Z4HH9wir2_HKbiJ7Hz-MSe1omarlrvaX6Wgjor9tj9fFuV_elkbcxiDUoHRxuuXj2M0Q4emZx9yrhr2xGsGrjS3rbIQuSSKvCYwkbuF8_tLjZ9KYK5d7PaUFN08/s1600-h/6a00d8341c630a53ef01310f1f199e970c-800wi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGshqWEMdTIIf_4En6Z4HH9wir2_HKbiJ7Hz-MSe1omarlrvaX6Wgjor9tj9fFuV_elkbcxiDUoHRxuuXj2M0Q4emZx9yrhr2xGsGrjS3rbIQuSSKvCYwkbuF8_tLjZ9KYK5d7PaUFN08/s320/6a00d8341c630a53ef01310f1f199e970c-800wi.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPCA2G1qESHoqSl5jYDbmem8cVc_PgiCmk2UWfmi0RwjjnuV50x49OJfJUUciaaCeIudXxCVXv9XCDl53nebbWb4F78aXnuJEdH-08qpN-r4FyBIc1xVk7lGXXwUYLdHzP60FwNV3YR_I/s1600-h/6a00d8341c630a53ef0120a8c65ac6970b-800wi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPCA2G1qESHoqSl5jYDbmem8cVc_PgiCmk2UWfmi0RwjjnuV50x49OJfJUUciaaCeIudXxCVXv9XCDl53nebbWb4F78aXnuJEdH-08qpN-r4FyBIc1xVk7lGXXwUYLdHzP60FwNV3YR_I/s320/6a00d8341c630a53ef0120a8c65ac6970b-800wi.jpg" /></a></div>Karl Sharrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442368022521436709noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100965302329676895.post-56643027076166483872010-02-23T04:36:00.000-08:002010-03-10T16:38:08.050-08:00Mumbai Shopping Malls: Evil Capitalism or Social Good?<a href="http://www.worldwrite.org.uk/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">WORLDwrite</span></a> are doing an excellent job as usual, their latest <a href="http://www.worldbytes.org/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">WORLDbytes</span></a> endeavour takes them to India, the first <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">installment</span> is available to watch online entitled <a href="http://www.worldbytes.org/programmes/013/013_006.html">Man-made <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Mumbai</span></a>. The brilliant <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Sadhvi</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Sharma</span> takes the crew around introducing them to the wonderful developments taking place in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Mumbai</span>. The sheer ingenuity and energy of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Mumbai</span> is astounding, this is where the future is.<br />
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In the first episode, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Sadhvi</span> goes to a shopping mall and <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">interviews</span> people who all seem to be in favour of shopping malls. This, <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">unsurprisingly</span>, goes against the prevailing western prejudices against shopping malls and 'consumerism', the catch-all phrase used to demonise material affluence. The programme got negative comments making precisely this moralistic critique without attempting to understand the importance of a modern retail network for India and the aspiration of its people. Some people are happy to see Indians living as poor peasants and maintain a romantic view of poverty.<br />
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But things are not that simple. Take food supply for instance, which is one of India's biggest problems. The Indian ministry of food estimates that about £12 billion worth of food is wasted annually in India. This wastage happens primarily because of a poor supply chain due to inadequate warehouse facilities and food spoilage due to lack of refrigeration.The fact that the Indian retail market consists predominantly (95%) of small retail outlets <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">exacerbates</span> this problem, meaning that efficiencies through economies of scale cannot be achieved.<br />
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Enter the large shopping malls and supermarkets that have grown rapidly in India over the past few years. Through proper investment in the supply chain and refrigeration, those stores have reduced the food wastage through their operations significantly, as well as lowering the price of food because of their efficient operations. Their percentage of the total market is still very small however, and they can only contribute to solving the problems of food shortage by expanding rapidly. What western misanthropes see as the expansion of consumerism is actually very vital for Indian society.<br />
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The same goes for all types of commodities, let's not make this a matter of <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">subsistence</span>. I for one don't feel at all like telling Indians that they shouldn't use shopping malls or buy cars, clothes and flat screen TVs. I loved India when I visited it, not because of the picturesque poverty as most westerners do but because of the amazing energy and the effort being made to transform Indian society and improve its material conditions. Shopping malls and large supermarkets have a big role to play in this transformation, and insisting on opposing them means insisting on maintaining the problems that India suffers from. Small traders may fit within a romantic ideal but ultimately they will not be able to overcome the problems of food wastage that India suffers from.<br />
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Visit the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">WORLDbytes</span> website and watch the programmes that do a much better job of understanding such dynamics, and donate some money for the great work they are doing entirely on a voluntary basis.Karl Sharrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442368022521436709noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100965302329676895.post-19745861734030839682010-02-18T07:44:00.000-08:002010-03-10T16:38:29.692-08:00The Poverty of EnvironmentalismI listened to Caroline Lucas, leader of the Green Party, announce this morning on the Today programme her party's <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">expectation</span> of a <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">breakthrough</span> in the next general elections. In response to John <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Humphrys</span> suggestion that her party might lose out as a result of the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">public's</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">scepticism</span> about climate change because of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Climategate</span> and recent revelations, Lucas claimed that the Green Party "has always been about both social and environmental justice" and is not a single-issue party. What? I thought the clue was in the name. Going for a bit of Red to spice up the Green brand, are we Caroline?<br />
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The Green Party's understanding of justice is <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Stalinist</span> in flavour. If everyone is equally poor, then we are all equal. This pretty much sums up not only the Green Party's programme, but of all those <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">anarcho</span> - anti-globalisation - anti-Capitalist groups sprouting everywhere these days. What unites them is the use of pseudo-Marxist language to say decidedly non-Marxist things. Marx would be turning in his grave if he didn't have that huge chunk of stone lying on top of him.<br />
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In 'The Principles of Communism' Marx says: "That big industry, and the limitless expansion of production which it makes possible, bring within the range of feasibility a social order in which so much is produced that every member of society will be in a position to exercise and develop all his powers and faculties in complete freedom." Against the 'limitless expansion of production', the Green Party, and just about everyone else these days, <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">propagates</span> the dubious notion of 'limits to growth'.<br />
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Communism's premise was the transformation of the social order to unleash the full potential of industrialisation to <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">fulfill</span> human needs. And Marx makes it clear that there is no distinction between needs that arise from want and those that arise from desire. By contrast, environmentalists want to limit our consumption to the bare minimum of essentials. Marx understood that liberating human beings from toil enables them to pursue other interests and seek self-<span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">fulfillment</span> in a broad sense. Environmentalists advocate that we all become self-<span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">sufficient</span> entities, producing our own food, energy, etc, in the process spending long hours of everyday to produce the very basic requirements of life.<br />
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Lucas proudly declared that the Green Party 'has the most ambitious environmental policies'. For 'most ambitious' read 'placing the severest restrictions on production and human activity'. Marx explained how true equality can be brought about when society produces enough to satisfy the needs of all citizens. Lucas wants to achieve the same target by reducing production severely and then 'redistributing the wealth'. For starters, there wouldn't be much wealth to redistribute, Lucas and her <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">comrades</span> confuse accumulated capital with actual production.<br />
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Moreover, redistribution is offered as a radical solution to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">socio</span>-economic problems, when in fact it is a conservative project that aims to preserve the current system while dealing with its less pleasant aspects. Environmentalists don't want to overthrow Capitalism, they want to fine-tune it. Don't be fooled by the pseudo-radical language, the convergence between Capitalism and Environmentalism is almost fully realized, that is why the so-called radical activists dressed as eggplants or some-such publicity-seeking gimmick sounded exactly the same like government officials in Copenhagen.<br />
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Going back to the Green Party's electoral ambitions, it is quite clear that the difference between them and the other parties is chiefly a quantitative one: they are willing to go further in imposing Green Taxes and putting up more barriers against industry and growth. In fact, their policies are the most anti-working class of all the other parties, they will certainly have the harshest impact on lower-earning groups should they come into power. At the moment, this remains a highly-<span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">theoretical</span> proposition, but the Green's job is being done to a certain extent by the other parties both on the left and on the right. The argument for growth and development should be put forcefully by progressives to stem this tide of reactionary anti-growth thinking.<br />
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There is, however, one very interesting policy in the Green Party programme, it supports the legalisation of marijuana. This is not, as the Greens claim, because they value individual freedom and personal choice, they are more than happy to restrict your freedom to drive, fly and buy a <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">flat screen</span> TV. It is because the Green's realize that life under them would be so harsh that you will need to be stoned all the time to deal with it. <strike></strike>Karl Sharrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442368022521436709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100965302329676895.post-35159065360445625702010-01-03T07:06:00.000-08:002010-03-10T16:39:40.302-08:00Burj Dubai: What's wrong with towering ambition?This is a historic day for mankind, a new era in the story of skyscrapers begins with the completion of Burj Dubai expected to be around 818 meters tall. It is almost a kilometer long of flats, offices, hotels and commercial space breaking every single record and in the process pushing construction technology to new realms. Rather than celebrate this achievement, most critics have treated this as an opportunity to kick Dubai while it suffers from a serious financial crisis, spewing all kinds of venom against its ambition and desire to push the boundaries. It is no surprise that these poisonous attacks are coated in the language of environmental concerns and social justice, we have become accustomed by now to this type of low-aspiration and reactionary critique masquerading as progressive thought. But those sour grapes should remember that history is not written instantly no matter how hard they wish Dubai to fail monumentally. If anyone had written New York off in the 30s and predicted that the depression meant its end, they would have been completely wrong. The city prospered again, and so will Dubai.<br />
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A proto-typical attack on Dubai came from Ben Macintyre in the Times, predicting that '<a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/ben_macintyre/article6971959.ece">towering ambition always comes before a fall</a>'. Bollocks to you Mr Macintyre, this kind of pseudo-biblical nonsense has no basis in reality, it is only the result of wishful thinking and animosity towards progress and ambition. Let me hasten to add that Macintyre is not alone in attacking Dubai, almost every single commentary on Burj Dubai is laden with tales of doom and gloom and warnings of imminent collapse and historic failure. Quite why western commentators get such a kick out of Dubai's predicted fall is beyond me, it's as if every single one of those wise sages and peddlers of the apocalypse have their brains hooked up to a giant Matrix-like machine that thrives on tales of disaster and sucks the soul and ambition out of them. It might also be writing their articles for them for all we know, there is very little difference in style and content in this flood of schadenfreude.<br />
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Part of this venom being dished out by Schadenfreude Central is of course pure good old Arab-bashing. How dare these camel-riding desert dwellers have the temerity to attempt to modernize their society and build ambitiously? The signs are always there, masquerading as concern for immigrant workers and the environment. A few months ago, Johann Hari wrote about the <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/the-dark-side-of-dubai-1664368.html">Dark Side of Dubai</a> in the Independent. Yes, Dubai unites left and right in the UK against it, both the Times and the Independent drool at the opportunity for some Arab-bashing, guilt-free . Hari, the enlightened progressive, summed up Dubai's history: 'They were largely illiterate nomads who spent their lives driving camels through the desert – yet now they had a vast pot of gold. What should they do with it?' Obviously in his mind, they should have remained as they were, and probably handed the money to the west to spend it wisely. The rulers of Dubai of course had other plans, Dubai today is a thriving metropolis that is buzzing with people from all over the world and it's their energy that drives the place.<br />
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This image horrifies western commentators. Mass immigration as a recipe for economic success? Shock, horror, imagine what would happen to Europe if this was allowed to happen here? More Africans and Asians coming in with their strange cultures and ways of life and threatening the old order! Dubai induces anxiety in the contemporary western mind because it seems to be a place with no history and no culture. This is certainly not true, but Dubai insists on looking towards the future and keeping its history and culture in museums. A few decades ago, Europe was doing the same, but nobody there has any appetite left for modernity anymore, and they insist that others shouldn't fulfill their appetites either.<br />
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Of course Dubai has its problems, but what society progressing at such a fast speed doesn't? And why would we assume that Dubai is devoid of social dynamics that would allow it to solve these problems and become better? Talk to any of the immigrant worker in Dubai, and I have spoken to many, and they will tell you that despite all the hardships they endure, Dubai is still their only way to make a living. Most of the workers who come from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh have nothing to do if they go back to their countries and would rather take their chances in Dubai or elsewhere in the Gulf. This is of course unfair, but to claim that they are slave laborers is a myth perpetuated by cynical western commentators. The only way out of poverty for them is for their countries to develop aggressively in order to provide the job opportunities that they deserve. Western countries don't seem to be supporting such a path of development, effectively asking poorer countries to be content with their lot. At least in Dubai they can get a living, and there are signs that all Gulf states are taking the issue of labor rights very seriously.<br />
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When it comes to Dubai, most people chose to see it through its outlandish signs rather than for what it really is. They dwell on the artificial islands and the enclosed ski slopes, and reduce the city to its most visible spectacles. This is like saying that Paris is the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame Cathedral or that London is Kew Gardens and the London Eye. But Dubai is a city with 1.5 million residents and should not be reduced to a few landmarks. Dubai's inhabitants wouldn't trade it for any other place, and there is a sense of pride that brings everyone who lives there together. Admittedly, it's not for everyone, but so is Manhatten. Who are we to make moral judgements about people who live in Dubai if they are content with their lives? Such moral sense of affront stems from an old fashioned conservatism and narrow-mindedness, using progressive language to mask deeply-held biases.<br />
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Back to Burj Dubai itself, it's a truly stunning building to contemplate, emerging out of the sea of tall buildings around and dwarfing buildings that are in themselves skyscrapers . You have to be really lacking in imagination not to be impressed by it, and I expect the experience from the inside will be more impressive. People who fail to be impressed by it are usually the same type of people who complain that mankind should have never visited the Moon. Dull, banal minds that thrive on their own lack of imagination and keeping their horizons firmly restricted to the ground. The rule book on designing skyscrapers had to be thrown out with almost every aspect of tower construction and design being reinvented, from structure to lifts and air-conditioning. It's a really remarkable accomplishment, and had we been living in a different time this would be celebrated for the human achievement that it is. Instead, we have to get used to the whining and moaning from bitter western commentators and Arab 'intellectuals' who've absorbed the lessons of low-ambition that are fashionable now in the west and are busy regurgitating banal 'observations' about why Burj Dubai is a pointless edifice. I for one will celebrate this great building, and I can't wait to visit the next time I'm in Dubai.<br />
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Dubai may not be perfect, but it's certainly buzzing with energy and ambition, characteristics that cities like London and Paris could do with today instead of fiddling around with lame schemes dreamt up by witless bureaucrats with no imagination or spine. Like all great cities, Dubai will bounce back from its problems to surprise us again and again. As I look at the slender profile of Burj Dubai rising elegantly to the sky, I pity those who lack the imagination and to feel excited about it. As Oscar Wilde said 'we're all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.' There's no shame in that.Karl Sharrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442368022521436709noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100965302329676895.post-56358970069576633112009-07-03T04:56:00.000-07:002010-03-10T16:00:56.523-08:00Renzo Piano @ St. Giles Court: The Biggest Lego Set in the World<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQgTZ-p3PwQafjoO2d0DZbFJVDHCK2267jfOESnLHtUXgarVB27LZIgf4nG7id0ZJ91C8TBNdfK5c8UO2iDegdkQxnhlnuUmfe7LvPp9ZZTHxUwx5sYTH4Lx2gkYePTzIfsbU1Wlw0U8Q/s1600-h/Image010.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354202676174022866" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQgTZ-p3PwQafjoO2d0DZbFJVDHCK2267jfOESnLHtUXgarVB27LZIgf4nG7id0ZJ91C8TBNdfK5c8UO2iDegdkQxnhlnuUmfe7LvPp9ZZTHxUwx5sYTH4Lx2gkYePTzIfsbU1Wlw0U8Q/s320/Image010.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />A couple of early construction images from Renzo Piano's mixed-use development at St. Giles Court in London, fantastic engineering but very bad architecture. Before the horrible cladding was applied, the building shells, a mixture of concrete and steel framed structures depending on use, looked very elegant and rational. Then came the architect....<br /><br /><a href="http://rpbw.r.ui-pro.com/">RPBW</a>'s description of the project is an exercise in how far semantics could be stretched before they snap: "the project is part of a complex urban patchwork of medieval streets, modern buildings, and traditional urban blocks." No it's not, it's the largest Lego set in the world, the designers are using color in this childish way to simulate variety and freshness. It doesn't work.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLwHm7n4XDXKlU3nHkPx2-6AjqcPVXXQxTQJK9zgC3yw-2B5IS1TZNdMzxcVwyGSRNElj_ey1btyA1upxZFbz78-ftPC7QzjNTAfSGI1ei9Eozgusmg1dE8X7PfPomxqvS6AMgN2sD7Wk/s1600-h/Image009.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354202608880552370" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLwHm7n4XDXKlU3nHkPx2-6AjqcPVXXQxTQJK9zgC3yw-2B5IS1TZNdMzxcVwyGSRNElj_ey1btyA1upxZFbz78-ftPC7QzjNTAfSGI1ei9Eozgusmg1dE8X7PfPomxqvS6AMgN2sD7Wk/s320/Image009.jpg" border="0" /></a> The project reveals how distinct and separate aesthetics and structures have become in contemporary architecture. Designing facades has become the equivalent of dressing up dolls, with no relationship to the spatial and tectonic aspects of the design. In this case, Renzo chose fancy summer ball dresses for his latest set of dolls.<br /><br />Renzo's experimentation with ceramics has been a complete failure so far, it didn't work in Potsdamer Platz and doesn't work over here. Renzo is trying return materiality to modern architecture, but the harder he tries the more plastic the ceramic looks, St. Giles Court is the most plastic so far.<br /><br />The pathetic lack of innovation in architectural technology especially when it comes to cladding systems has reduced this aspect of building design to two aspects: keeping the water out and meeting the ridiculous European codes for thermal performance of building envelopes. Anything else is a bonus. This is precisely the approach followed with the design of St. Giles Court, it's a direct translation of the codes with mathematical precision that governs even window sizes. Apply color, and presto! Bad design of the year award beckons.Karl Sharrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442368022521436709noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100965302329676895.post-39554122505855674712009-07-02T08:35:00.000-07:002010-03-10T16:00:56.608-08:00The Return of Primitivism in Architecture or Godzilla's Furball: MOS and P.S.1 AfterpartyThe winners of this year's MoMA and P.S.1's Young Architects Program, MOS, titled their project 'Afetrparty'; 'Wake' would have been a far better description. The deceased is Modern architecture and all that it ever represented: ambition, experimentation, industrial techniques, and rationality. 'Afterparty' is the antithesis of all those concepts: <a href="http://spaceinvading.com/entry/project_id/Young_Architects_Program_2009:_Afterparty200906301246376152">random, reactionary, patronising and furry</a>. P.S.1 had paved the way for this abomination with last year's winning entry 'Public Farm' by WORK architecture company, an exercise in autarky wrapped in a text whose level of naivety is hardly matched outside a Miss America contest. The trend can only intensify in the coming years, although it is hard to imagine anything more dreadfully reactionary than 'Afterparty'.<br /><br />According to the New York Times the project is <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/28/arts/design/28moma.html?_r=1">'a mix of what could be described as cones, domes, smokestacks, primitive huts, towers or industrial chimneys</a>.' Primitive hut would have done: the project's main distinguishing feature is its primitivism that, like biodynamic agriculture, represents a yearning for pre-modernity masquerading as radicalism. The project is so imprecise and accidental formally and organisationally that it is completely open for interpretation: this is the Rorschach Test of architecture, a three-dimensional accident of shapes or a giant furball thrown up by Godzilla after a night of rampage in a hippie market.<br /><br />Michael Meredith of MOS said the structures were meant to evoke the fading factory vernacular of the P.S. 1 area in Long Island City. “We’re interested in building typologies,” he said. They must have tried very hard to resist showing this interest in 'Afterparty'. Rather than evoking the 'factory vernacular' the project is symptomatic of America's ending love affair with industrialisation. For the second time in the space of a few decades America is losing nerve and turning to imported ideas from Europe for inspiration, the Green assault has truly began in the US. Three years ago it would have been really hard to find advocates of sustainability outside Hippie communities in Nevada, now architects are competing really hard to learn the New Speak of the environmentalist dogma.<br /><br />The connection between declining production and the recession has still not been grasped in America, so it's not strange to see MOS trying to pass off their cheap knock-off of a primitive village as a thoughtful response to the economic situation. There is still talk of an 'economic party' and an 'economic hangover', isn't it fun how eco-geeks always try to use words like party and hangover to pretend that they are cool? It still hasn't dawned on American intellectuals that financial hyper-activity is not equivalent to productive economic activity, never mind they are still willing to throw the baby out with the bath water, let them eat biscuits. The result in architecture? MOS's masterpiece, a monument to garage sales and Sunday markets across the land, where the fetishistic value of recycled materials is elevated above real innovation in architecture.<br /><br />The architects are obviously free to present whatever design they come up with, the real blame falls on P.S.1 and MoMA for encouraging and supporting this trend towards reactionary architecture and celebrating it as good architecture. This is not a one-off, it's a trend that started with last year's project and is bound to continue as long as architects will continue to pursue this obsessive form of self-harm that is passed off as 'environmental responsibility'. Solving challenging economic and environmental problems requires innovative thinking and advanced technologies, not the escape from modernity that is represented by projects like 'Afterparty'. Let's interrupt this assault on Modernity before it escalates into a full return to primitivism.Karl Sharrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442368022521436709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100965302329676895.post-90759696210227677832009-06-26T03:19:00.000-07:002010-03-10T16:00:56.693-08:00Michael Jackson: Eccentricity is not a crimeSo Jacko's gone, and the eulogies begin. The media that has for so long fed off the 'king of pop' and his tumultuous life are now trying to milk one more story out of Michael Jackson. The BBC was quick to shift into tabloid mode, interviewing anyone that has ever caught a whiff of Michael Jackson or even saw his reflection in a water puddle. Even Gordon Brown, ever eager to shelter in other people's glow, has come up with one of his pathetic statements lamenting the loss of the mega-star that was Michael Jackson. Shameful stuff, it's time to leave the man along and let his family deal with what is after all a private tragedy.<br /><br />There is one important lesson to be drawn our of Michael's bizarre life: eccentricity is not a crime. The media, shallow, populist and superficial, doggedly hounded Michael Jackson throughout his life, but sank to miserable lows when the allegations of abuse against him became public. In the most despicable example of trial by media, journalists used Michael's eccentricity to prove his guilt time after time, but they were ultimately defeated by the decision of a jury of his peers to clear him the last time around. God bless America and the right to trial by jury, not by a media that has forgotten a long time ago what the pursuit of truth means.<br /><br />Michael Jackson took eccentricity to new levels, and he was certainly conscious of public attention. Yet, there is a difference between being eccentric and breaking the law. Michael's eccentricity was gloriously audacious, he treated his body as a moldable entity shunning decaying flesh for the sake of plastic longevity. That is part of his appeal, with each re-invention a new Michael emerged, the ultimate fulfillment of the desires of a ravenous fan-base. Bare in mind that Michael Jackson managed to survive decades in the music business, whereas many of his contemporaries dropped off the scene a long time ago. He did not live long enough to have yet another come back, but no doubt it would have been equally amazing for his fans.<br /><br />Michael's eccentricity was part of his appeal, and the media savagely turned that against him but the public stood by him. Now as the fake tears and the insincere eulogies start, let us remember that the most important thing to take out of Michael's life is that eccentricity is not a crime.Karl Sharrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442368022521436709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100965302329676895.post-34437743528322390962009-05-23T07:40:00.000-07:002010-03-10T16:00:58.001-08:00Art becomes Eco-ConformistWriting in the times today, Kate Muir <a href="http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/visual_arts/article6341878.ece">announced that <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">eco</span>-art 'will be huge this summer'</a>, arguing with typically lame <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">eco</span>-speak that 'Preserving sharks in formaldehyde is over; the days of preserving sharks in the ocean are here." The <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Barbican</span> is leading the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">eco</span>-conformist assault with its upcoming exhibition <em>Radical Nature — Art and Architecture for a Changing Planet,</em> followed by Tate Britain's <em>Heaven and Earth</em>, featuring the works of Richard Long. Long in any other age would have been considered an eccentric gardener, today he is considered an accomplished artist by tapping into the sense of insecurity about our 'fragile planet'.<br /><br />Muir, as ever, knows a lot of big words, but doesn't have a clue how to make meaningful sentences out of them. Like many of her contemporaries, she absorbed a lot of concepts and phrases in college, without really understanding what they signify, but still has the audacity to use such concepts in print. She <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">epitomises</span> that breed of <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">journalists</span> who seem to think that the universe started in 1997, everything prior to that being a giant blob of events and concepts that are too hard to disentangle. This utter unawareness of history comes across in sentences like 'of course, Land Art has been around for ever'. Like, Kate couldn't be bothered to find out, like, when and why.<br /><br />Muir's complete ignorance is manifested even more painfully in her naive proclamations: '..the new <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">eco</span>-art movement is not merely about the medium, but the message too'. Read: 'on message'. It is not important how banal and mediocre your 'art' is, as long as it is on message, as long as you feel the suffering of Mother Earth in the depths of your soul, and use whatever medium at your disposal to express that pain: sand, snow, rock, and ultimately, and appropriately, manure. Muir is happily preaching us that art will no longer be a selfish endeavour, it shall be put to the service of the great collective <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">eco</span>-<span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">whinge</span>, the mighty bout of <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">never-ending</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">eco</span> self-<span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">flagellation</span>. Hurrah!<br /><br />What Muir, and every mediocre curator that has been promoted to a position of responsibility because they are 'on message', doesn't realize is that this vulgar reduction of art to a tool of <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">propaganda</span> is <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">antithetical</span> to the spirit of art. Art has to be free from any such intrusions and demands to be meaningful, art has to revolt and kick back against the prevailing assumptions, and art should never be restrained by the parameters of 'social responsibility'. Art has been used historically as a medium for political protest, but how is that relevant today when everyone has embraced environmentalism? How radical could <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">eco</span>-art be when it is merely repeating what politicians and journalists are constantly babbling about?<br /><br />Muir's attempt at making <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">eco</span>-art sound heroic are simply pathetic. She tries to portray two artists from Brighton as modern-day revolutionaries, claiming that their 'work exemplifies the combative mood around the country'. And I thought that people are actually worried about losing their jobs and paying their mortgage, silly me. Of course to Muir and her fellow 'organic-wine and fair-trade coffee' 'mentalists, such real-life concerns are not as important as the latest fad in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">eco</span>-whinging. And this is why she thinks the antics of Hanks and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">McCurdy</span>, the two <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">eco</span>-artists from Brighton, are examples of radical <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">eco</span>-art.<br /><br />The pair dabble in the sort of art that bored <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">teenagers</span> and pensioners on holiday usually do, except that they don't think of it normally as art: writing on snow and bio-degradable <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">graffiti</span>. Their cause? Brighton beach is dirty and polluted, plastic is to blame. In a heroic feat, they visit parliament to lobby on behalf the Marine Conservation Society, then they flip their T-shirts, selflessly showing their bras in the process, to reveal messages about the dirty beach. Muir is nearly in tears at this moment, 'as <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">MPs</span> fiddled their expenses in the background and the planet burnt'. Drama straight out of Hollywood.<br /><br />Of course the real message is: we are two smug, self-centred attention seekers who will do anything to get a bit of attention. That anyone could imagine that this has anything to do with art, or even politics, is a sign of how low public discourse these days is. And how degraded both art and politics have become, allowing such trivial concerns to grab media attention. Yet there is a danger in this trend to tame art and turn it into a medium for channeling social responsibility.<br /><br />Firstly, there's the unbearable prospect of art being judged not on its intrinsic merits, but in terms of how much it serves a bigger cause. For the record, this is what Fascism historically did, it appropriated art for its own needs. Simply because we imagine <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">eco</span> concerns to be a more noble cause does not justify such an appropriation. Secondly, there's the even more serious prospect of a rigidly conformist society where dissent is not tolerated. Art should strive to liberate itself from the demands of <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">conformity</span>, when it starts seeking to be conformist, we know we are in trouble.<br /><br />Kate Muir relishes the prospect of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">eco</span>-art taking center-stage, but this is based on a completely wrong understanding of the nature of art and the parameters within which it operates. The logic of <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26">environmentalism</span> has been internalised by the political classes and the media, and there are hardly any dissenting voices these days. Co-opting art into this <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27">un</span>-questioning arrangement will not help matters at all, but will lead to more of the banal art that justifies its mediocrity through its important 'message'. In a civilised society we should not tolerate mediocrity, art should strive for excellence not conformity.Karl Sharrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442368022521436709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100965302329676895.post-86404886106015075052009-05-13T14:09:00.000-07:002010-03-10T16:00:58.047-08:00The Green Intifada - Patronising the Noble Palestinian SavageTired of life in the materialist and consumerist West? Why not spend a few months in Palestine, away from it all, training the local population to keep their ambitions low and stay at the mercy of an agrarian mode of life? This is the vision that <a href="http://www.bustanqaraaqa.org/al2/web/page/display/id/15.html">Green Intifada </a>is promoting. A group of volunteers, mostly from the UK, "work in the community to implement initiatives for sustainable living and food production." For sustainable read pre-modern and backwards. These include "rainwater harvesting, vegetable gardens, tree planting, greywater reuse, composting systems and compost toilet building."<br /><br />The days of solidarity with the Palestinian people based on a healthy notion of human solidarity and active human agency are long gone. Today, the Palestinians have been turned into our poor cousins that cannot fend for themselves and solidarity has been replaced with pity. Hannah Arendt pointed out that pity dehumanises its receivers, and this outlook towards the Palestinians is as dehumanising as Israeli aggression. The Green Intifada is an example of this patronising expression of the contemporary Western outlook towards the Palestinians. Rather than seeing the Palestinians as a people fighting for self-determination and national liberation, they are reduced to helpless peasants that need to be taught even the basics of a primitive agrarian way of life.<br /><br />Time to start exposing these initiatives for what they really are: they are not motivated by concern for the Palestinian people but are an expression of western discontent with modernity. This is a form of escape from the demands of life in the west, a way of burying one's head in the sands of Palestine. In the process, the Palestinians are recast as pure, unspoiled peasants, the alternative to the modern corrupted western individual, the image of what could have been if modernity and industrialisation had not occurred.<br /><br />In itself, the Green Intifada is not a sinister or dangerous operation, the Holy Land has always attracted all manner of lunatics to go and pursue their own brand of millinerianism. However, what it says about the state of politics and the outlook towards the Palestinians is quite revealing. The Palestinian struggle has been emptied of any meaning and completely de-contextualised. Instead of a cry for freedom and an aspiration for universal change, it is now treated as a parable for the wickedness of humanity. It is easy then to take sides not based on a genuine understanding of the political dynamics, but on the basis of cartoonish over-simplifications that are entirely wrong.<br /><br />The Israelis are cast as the villains because they dared to spoil the virgin land with their western technology and intensive agriculture, while the Palestinians are the good guys because they retain the connection to the land. Aside from the fact that the relationship with the land is a Fascist invention that has its roots in Nazi ideology, it is also an extremely inaccurate depiction of Palestinian society. The Palestinian struggle for self-determination is the beginning of the process of by which the Palestinians can control their own destiny and build a modern nation. A modern nation, with modern infrastructure, not 'sustainable' compost toilets, there are plenty of those in the camps.<br /><br />"People are being driven from the land, denied access to essential resources, closed into urban ghettoes and severed from their natural heritage". A process known otherwise as urbanization which every modern society goes through. The Green Intifada eco-imperialists are not resisting Israeli occupation, they are trying to resist the process of modernisation, a sentiment expressed clearly on their website. If their vision prevails, and I have to admit their is no real danger of this because the Palestinian people have not struggled for decades to end up in the 19th century, but if their vision prevails it would be entirely consistent with what Israel wants: a docile Palestinian population that is happy to live off the land with no aspiration.<br /><br />Ain't gonna happen. Go look for your agrarian paradise somewhere else.Karl Sharrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442368022521436709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100965302329676895.post-69785152396201242382009-05-07T10:36:00.000-07:002010-03-10T16:00:58.524-08:00Surveillance societySurveillance society is once again a hot subject, in light of the DNA database debate. A reminder of my essay on the subject:<br /><br />"It’s been said before, I am aware, but Orwell was immensely prescient. 1984 has come and gone, leaving behind an entrenched legacy of surveillance made even more powerful by the advancements in monitoring technology in recent years. Query the phrase ‘eye in the sky’ in your search engine of choice, and instead of a biblical reference or even the Alan Parsons Project 1982 hit single, you are referred first to surveillance camera manufacturers. Meanwhile, the unblinking eyes of CCTV cameras keep a constant watch on every street in London, and it seems that the rest of the nation is catching up fast." Read on: <a href="http://karlsharro.co.uk/surveillance.html">http://karlsharro.co.uk/surveillance.html</a>Karl Sharrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442368022521436709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100965302329676895.post-33579447679690301382009-04-06T10:19:00.000-07:002010-03-10T16:00:58.763-08:00The Three Stooges of the ApocalypseForget about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, that’s way too dignified for the petty bourgeois grievances that manifested themselves in the Big Tantrum of 09 on the streets of the City of London this past week. The Three Stooges of the Apocalypse is a more apt moniker to describe those lost souls gathered outside the halls of the G20 proceedings, as opposed to their equally confused counterparts who had the pleasure of experiencing the event from within. The Three Stooges of the Apocalypse beautifully sums up the equal measures of banality and doom-mongering that fuelled this middle class tantrum, and as luck would have it, <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/7979608.stm">Newsnight assembled three guests</a> on the evening of that most insignificant of demonstrations, each representing one wing of the White Middle Class Anger and Doom-Mongering apparatus. For the duration of their chat with Jeremy Paxman, they faithfully re-enacted the antics of the original Three Stooges, although too much less humorous results. Like a bird with three wings, this is a freak of nature that didn’t fly far.<br />Our Three Stooges of the Apocalypse for the night were Barbara Stocking, the Director of Oxfam, or White Woman Knows What is Best for Africa, Mark King, from the Camp for Climate Action , or White Man Knows What is Best for the Planet, and the comedian Mark Thomas, or White Man Knows What is Best. (In some circles he is known as the least funny comedian in the universe, perhaps he should be investigated by the Trading Standards Agency).<br />Paxo was atypically restrained, focusing most of his characteristic ire on the International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander, the boy-wonder of New Labour, and gently sheltering his fellow members in The White Middle Class Liberal Club. Paxo gently prodded The Three Stooges, what’s their wish list for G20 decisions? Barbara Stocking: Financial Stimulus for poorer nations, presumably to be distributed through Oxfam and like-minded Neo-colonialists so that they can prepare poor African farmers for the challenges of goat-herding in the 21st century and shelter them from the nasty syndromes of development that the west is suffering from, such as clean drinking water and functioning public transport systems. Mark Thomas: Get rid of tax havens! For a self-described radical, Thomas is certainly tame, managing to agree with Angela Merkel and Nicola Sarkozy, perhaps the most conservative politicians in Europe today, and the two who have absolutely no clue about what to do except to appear to be challenging the US and the UK without actually doing so. Thomas thought that tax havens, where most hedge funds are based, are what caused the crisis. Forget about the de-industrialisation of the West and the lack of productivity in paper economies that produce very little but consume more than anyone else, and let’s demonise the faceless hedge funds. Mark King (ponytail? Seriously, dude?): Climate Change! (Surprise, Surprise!) He even came prepared with a sound byte, the climate doesn’t do bailouts! The greens are definitely getting better script writers these days, but you have to agree with Obama, put lipstick on a pig… (or even a ponytail).<br />Mark King doesn’t like the dinosaur that is high-carbon industry. But he and his fellow greens don’t like low-carbon industry either. They hate industry full stop. Why are they focusing on aviation, which is one of the smallest producers of carbon emissions? The Greens have consistently opposed any technological solutions for Climate Change preferring to reduce consumption and smother demand, and solve the problem at is root. Kill aspiration and progress, but save the planet. How do they square the circle between their demands for caps on CO2 emissions which would lead to more economic problems by reducing productivity, God only knows. Or Gaia.<br />Yet, it was entertaining to see The Three Stooges do their act and expose how little they know, and how little they understand the world we live in, and the real reasons for the economic slump. (I think the sound of the recession happening sounds somewhat like slummmmp.) The solution is more industry, in the West and the Rest, more productivity, more investment in real infra-structure as opposed to meaningless subsidies for inefficient energy technologies such as solar panels on flats in London. And while we’re at it, let’s not politicise the energy question, and release from the confines of the climate change discussion. The real energy question is how we can get more energy, way more energy, cheaper, cleaner and more available, everywhere. So that we can fly more, produce more, and have more. So that one, every family in Africa can have a large house, two cars, and take a holiday in Europe every year. (They can go somewhere else if they want, it’s merely a suggestion).<br />To The Stooges of The Apocalypse, the world is passing you by, you are holding centre-stage now, but you are irrelevant. The media’s obsession with your every little action or utterance does not mean anything in the real world, and your mates from Cambridge or Oxford will not dictate the course of events in the long run. One day, the workers in this country will wake up, and then your antics will be over. Think of your next show.Karl Sharrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442368022521436709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100965302329676895.post-83962645264021808552009-03-30T05:23:00.000-07:002010-03-10T16:00:58.803-08:00Thoughts on the Satanic Verses AffairI watched <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00j6bnt">The Satanic Verses Affair </a>late last night on the BBC, and thought it was really good. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Salman</span> Rushdie isn't the perfect hero of free speech, but who is? It's a great reminder that people's real character emerge through their conflict with the world, and their ideas are shaped by this encounters, life is not a Hollywood film. Rushdie made a lot of concessions, re-converted to Islam, issued apologies, and then announced that his experiment with Islam was over and admitted that he hadn't converted out of conviction.<br /><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Hanif</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Kureishi</span> came across as a more heroic figure, dismissing Rushdie's enemies as the 'bearded ones', but he didn't have to go through what Rushdie experienced. The real hero to me was Frances <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">D'Souza</span> entirely committed to the cause of defending Rushdie's right to free speech without compromise, she was very convincing in her defense of the principled stance that drove her and her colleagues to form the International Committee for the defence of Rushdie.<br /><br />The other notable contributor to the program was <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Inayat</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Bunglawala</span>, one of the Islamic activists who were shaped by the Rushdie affair and took their first steps in politics through the campaigns to ban the book. At the end of the program, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Bunglawala</span> admitted that they were wrong in calling for the book to be banned and for supporting the Fatwa against Rushdie. Instead, he said, they should have fought it on 'the plain of ideas'. It's an amazing admission, and shows that at least some people did learn from the whole episode.<br /><br />If Islamic 'fundamentalists' manage to learn the value of free speech, perhaps the environmental 'movement' should take notice that its tactics of intimidation and accusing people of denial do not serve its cause. Who's more reactionary today, an <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Islamist</span> whose willing to discuss his most sacred ideas publicly or an environmentalist who goes out of his or her way to silence opponents?Karl Sharrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442368022521436709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100965302329676895.post-51550687532268679692009-03-16T05:52:00.000-07:002010-03-10T16:00:58.857-08:00Lame Cultural Ideas -No.1- No Statue for Charlie ChaplinI hope this will become an online archive for lame ideas that come about because of the obsession with cultural identity. No 1 comes today from India, <a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5912873.ece">where Hindu activists are upset by a proposal for a 20m tall statue of Charlie Chaplin</a>, because he was a Christian. The activists have actually succeeded in preventing the statue from being built, however I don't agree with the Times' assessment that they are 'extremists'. This label is applied too easily these days.<br /><br />When cultural identity takes the place of politics, this is the kind of excess that you can expect. Such protests are motivated less by bigotry than by a sense of insecurity and a fragile identity. All over the world there are examples of how cultural identity is distorting politics and producing more examples of these lame protests. Please send in your examples to this post.Karl Sharrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442368022521436709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100965302329676895.post-71045143258363350902009-03-16T05:24:00.000-07:002010-03-10T16:00:58.873-08:00Pubs should return to the centre of public lifeIt's not everyday that I find myself agreeing with <a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article5913710.ece">Tristram Hunt</a>, reading his column in the Times today about controls on drinking was a pleasant surprise, until I got to the end and Hunt shows his true colours. Hunt argues that pubs should take their place at the heart of public life in Britain, and criticises measures like the smoking ban for driving people away from pubs. All very true, until Hunt says that the "...ban on smoking in public places has driven drinking back into the home, where social safeguards are absent".<br /><br />Hunt is not arguing for the freedom of drinkers, he wants them to drink in public where they can be monitored and controlled, by each other and by the state. It's another version of the 'eye on the street' that institutionalises suspicion between citizens, and is abhorred by what they might get up to in the privacy of their homes. Hunt has used a similar logic in the past to argue against suburbs, again blaming them for moral degeneracy.<br /><br />Hunt is not a campaigner for freedom, he's a pragmatic authoritarian who thinks it's better to monitor drinkers in public than attempting to limit their consumption of alcohol through punitive measure, simply because they haven't worked in the past. What a truly miserable view of humanity.<br /><br />On a similar subject, I am trying to oppose the proposal to turn the area around the Arsenal Emirates Stadium into a Controlled Drinking Zone, a measure that the metropolitan police has asked Islington Council to consider. Very few people know what CDZs are, and what they actually mean. Effectively, this gives the police extra powers to stop you and confiscate drinks you are carrying, even if they are unopened. Either the police have developed psychic skills, or as I am more inclined to believe, they would use these powers to make their lives easier, and in the process making everyone walking with a drink a suspect.<br /><br />The proposal is calculated and worded to create tension between the residents and the Arsenal fans, the fans are not being consulted only the residents are. What I found to my surprise, is that some Arsenal fans actually support this measure because they blame the away fans for bad behaviour. This is exactly the type of suspicion that such policies promote, and we should fight it.I agree with Hunt, let's put the pub at the centre of public life again, but let's remove all the constraints that have been imposed by the government and councils on public drinking to enable that.Karl Sharrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442368022521436709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100965302329676895.post-26388967186130892222009-03-10T10:55:00.000-07:002010-03-10T16:00:58.902-08:00ManTowNHuman: The Fountainhead Rewritten by Jeremy ClarksonBest description I ever heard of our <a href="http://www.karlsharro.co.uk/mantownhuman/index.html" target="_blank">manifesto</a>: "The Fountainhead re-written by Jeremy Clarkson." Thanks to Charles Holland, the director of FAT, for<a href="http://fantasticjournal.blogspot.com/2008/07/manifesto.html" target="_blank"> that</a>. I couldn't have thought of a better way of putting it myself. Second prize goes to Justin McGuirk in the Architects' Journal, who described ManTowNHuman as the "anti-sustainability manifesto". No link for that, you'll have to buy your own copy of the AJ for the pleasure.<br />Holland meant it as a critique, of course, but it's still a brilliant line. Back in October, I spoke on a panel with Holland's colleague from FAT, Sean Griffiths and I actually thought he was quite good as a speaker and he stood up for the freedom of architects. Admittedly, their stuff is a bit flippant, but those aren't heroic times. Perhaps the recession will sort that out, someone will realize that we will need genuine development and big ideas instead of messing around the edges.<br />Holland got everything else about us wrong. I don't think I've ever been called a conservative before, but there's a first time for everything. His grasp of politics is very shallow, but you can't expect nice white middle class boys to be Renaissance Men, that would be too old fashioned. Still, thank for the quote, Charlie Boy.Karl Sharrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442368022521436709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100965302329676895.post-27077179452433897882009-03-09T12:18:00.000-07:002010-03-10T16:00:58.916-08:00<a href="http://iloapp.karlsharro.co.uk/blog/blog?Home&post=8" jquery1236625922438="2">'Help' Lebanese Film and Freedom of Expression, or Christians Learn from Khomeini</a><br /><a class="categoryAnchor" href="http://iloapp.karlsharro.co.uk/blog/blog?Home&category=0"></a><br />‘HELP! was pasted all over Beirut in February on bright blue posters advertising the new Lebanese film addressing sex, prostitution, drugs and homelessness. But anticipation for the movie, which cost over $200,000 to make, came to nothing. The film's directors told NOW that the Censorship Department in the General Security withdrew permission for a planned screening on February 16.’ <a href="http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=82113" target="_blank">(NOW Lebanon)</a><br /><br />With Nadine Labaki's 'Caramel', it appeared that Lebanese cinema was taking a new direction. For starters, it was refreshing to see a film that addressed the contemporary reality of Beirut and moving away from the subject matter of the civil war that had for long occupied Lebanese filmmakers. Also, the film tackled, ever so gently, some of the 'taboos' in Lebanese society, such as homosexuality, virginity, and extra-marital affairs. Lebanese audiences were waiting for the release of Marc Abi Rached's film 'Help' which was expected to be more daring in dealing with such social issues, however this was not meant to be. As <a href="http://www.al-akhbar.com/ar/node/122627" target="_blank">Pierre Abi Saab reports today in Al-Akhbar</a>, the Lebanese film censoring authority has withdrawn a license that it had previously issued, meaning that the film has effectively been banned.<br /><br />There has been speculation since the license for the film was revoked about the reasons for this decision. One theory was that the officer in charge of the licensing the film was replaced, a bit flimsy in my opinion. Others said it was because of the nudity in the film, especially that the actress involved is the daughter of a Lebanese MP. But Abi Rached said in an interview that he stayed well within the limit allowed by Lebanese Law on nudity. The organization Skeyes, the Centre for Defending Media and Cultural Freedoms founded in memory of murdered Lebanese journalist Samir Kassir, claimed that a Catholic organization had a role in the decision to ban Abi Rached’s film.<br /><br />On the Lebanese Forces discussion forum, (don't ask) the contributors were in favour of showing the film, and someone suggested that it was because 'our southern Iranian neighbours don't like nudity'. (A not-so-subtle reference to the Shiite community). According to <a href="http://www.al-akhbar.com/ar/node/122624" target="_blank">Abi Saab's piece in Al-Akhbar today</a>, it appears that they are in for a surprise. Abi Saab attributes the decision to withdraw the license to a 'protest' made by the 'Centre Catholique d’Information', the mouthpiece of the Maronite church in Lebanon. Abi Saab does not cite any sources for his claim, but he is a good critic and a trustworthy journalist, and I would have no reason to doubt his claim.<br /><br />The film apparently describes the experiences of some of the ‘marginal’ characters of Beirut, a young prostitute, a homeless teenager, and an overtly camp gay character. Abi Saab thinks that it is this character in particular that seems to have offended the church authorities most, and he might be right. Such subjects have certainly been addressed by Lebanese filmmakers in the past, such in Mohammed Soueid’s 'Cinema Fouad' and Akram Zaatari’s 'Majnounak', but those were short ‘documentary’ style films, shown mostly to small audiences. With Help, Abi Rached was preparing to take those subjects to a mass audience in a feature-length format, which might still make it to Europe before it will be seen by Lebanese audiences.<br /><br />Like 'Caramel' before it, 'Help' appears to be influenced by Almodovar’s work, and certainly from the <a href="http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=82113" target="_blank">trailer available online</a> appears to be ‘polished’ technically. It was boldly advertised through a ‘teaser’ campaign, the aforementioned Help signs did not mention the film until sometime later. All of this is significant. Whereas Zaatari’s and Soueid’s work took advantage of the small ‘art house’ context to push the limits, it is high time that the wider audience gets the benefit of a similar experience. I have no idea if Help is any good, but I would have liked to have the opportunity to judge for myself.<br /><br />What is interesting about the whole episode is the extent to which the language of cultural sensitivity is being deployed nowadays. Those who argue that the Satanic Verses saga was about Islam, and its incompatibility with the modern world, are entirely wrong. It wasn’t Islamists that came up with the idea that speech hurts, in fact it was a by-product of feminism that found its way into the mainstream. Once feminism was dissociated from a wider idea of liberation and started arguing in favour of a particular experience that is distinct from the universal, it inevitably started dabbling with restrictions on speech and expression. That lesson has been learned by everyone, from cultural groups to religious organisations to gay rights campaigners, who all compete nowadays in what they see as defending their constituents from offense.<br /><br />In that sense, the Catholic Information Centre is not being an outdated religious institution, but a thoroughly postmodern one. Even if it turns out that it was not behind this particular decision to ban 'Help', it has certainly led campaigns in the past against some films and books that it considered offensive, such as The Da Vinci Code. The response should be not to blame religion, but to insist that there is no right not to be offended. This is even more important when the film in question is not an imported one, but someone holding a mirror to the society he lives in, as Abi Rached is trying to do. Let’s find out for ourselves whether we can see our reflection in that mirror.<br /><br />For more articles on film, see:<br /><a href="http://www.karlsharro.co.uk/Imagining%20the%20City.htm" target="_blank">http://www.karlsharro.co.uk/Imagining%20the%20City.htm</a><br /><a href="http://www.karlsharro.co.uk/syriana.html" target="_blank">http://www.karlsharro.co.uk/syriana.html</a><br /><a href="http://www.karlsharro.co.uk/architecture_film.html" target="_blank">http://www.karlsharro.co.uk/architecture_film.html</a>Karl Sharrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442368022521436709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100965302329676895.post-37451651269071784702009-02-14T06:02:00.000-08:002010-03-10T16:00:58.948-08:00Unveiled at the Saatchi Gallery: Middle Eastern ArtUnveiled: New Art From The Middle East is an exhibition which claims little beyond its title. There is no obvious reason why this particular group of artists should be brought together in the same exhibition, to claim that somehow they represent art practices in the Middle East would be misleading, there are no obvious stylistic connections or over-riding concerns among the various artists on show. Paradoxically, this liberates the exhibition and allows the visitors to relate more to the individual works on display. This show does what it says on the tin, and does it successfully.<br />In contrast to Catherine David's Contemporary Arab Representations, a series of exhibitions that ran for several years since 2001 in various cities, Unveiled does not assume the burden of representation, and does not expect the artists to give an insight into Arab culture, cultural ambassadors they are not. What they do is give us free-standing art works that can (mostly) speak for themselves. This was a breath of fresh air.<br />Take for example the two works by Marwan Rechmaoui Beirut, Caoutchouc and Spectre, previously exhibited as part of Contemporary Arab Representations. It's the first time that I've seen his work shown outside of that context and liberated from the company of Deleuzian texts and yet another grainy video of someone's aunt, and it was like seeing the artworks for the first time. Caoutchouc is a large scale map of Beirut reproduced in black rubber in relief, that represents the city in a surprisingly novel way. Common to the work of most Lebanese artists of his generation, the problem of knowing the city is a central theme in Rechmaoui's work, yet his take on it is very personal and specific. The abstract conventions of map-making are subtly manipulated, allowing us to look beyond the physical city.<br />In Spectre (The Yacoubian Building, Beirut) Rechmaoui creates a scaled-down version of an iconic modernist building in Beirut in concrete and glass. The building is depicted at a specific point in its history, after it was evacuated during the Israeli attacks on Lebanon in 2006, and bearing the traces of its decades of existence in a troubled city. The artist faithfully depicts the smallest details, such as the heavy metal doors that become common during the civil war, but this is far from a process of pure documentation. The tension between the building's abstract repetitive form and the little details that Rechmaoui chooses to highlight, the story of the decline of a city and the fate of its inhabitants is being told cleverly and sensitively.<br />Rechmaoui's works are representations of his unique and personal way of looking at the city, and his ability to translate that into material form without excessive expressionism but with the subtle hints that allow us to see the city through his eyes. Isn't this the unique skill of the artist? By contrast, Diana Al-Hadid's works take expressionism to a new high, vigorously melting the symbols of modernity into twisted lumps of plastic. If Rechmaoui's works are masterpieces in under-statement, Al-Hadid's works are loud and garrulous. Curiously, they seem to be less personal precisely because of this quality.<br />The Tower of Infinite Problems and the other pieces on display by Al-Hadid, are large shards of metal and plastic, constantly at odds with gravity and at various stages of collapse and ruin, some of have completely surrendered waiting, presumably, for the inevitable crawl of green that is the fate of all ruins. The works are masterfully produced, but that has long ago ceased to be a quality to be praised in art. What is genuinely disturbing about the shattered towers is not Al-Hadid's unique vision in as much as that images of catastrophe have become so common today to arouse any interest, in me at least. Rather than seeing an artist struggling with the world around her, all I could see is yet another Virilio inspired take on modernity and the implications of taking technology to an extreme.<br />Al-Hadid as a Syrian-American artist is trying to give expression to the two cultures that she belongs to and on the way highlight issues such as cultural conflict. But the impression that I get, and perhaps this is the one fault line that can be traced in the entire exhibition, is that this is someone who have accepted those categories such as culture uncritically, and her work becomes less personal because of that. To a certain extent, this is the main difference between the works of the artists who live in the Middle East and those who live in the west. The first group don't have the luxury of thinking of their context in terms of abstract categories; it is above all a lived reality that they have to struggle with on a daily basis. The second group seem to have escaped the confines of that reality, but it's a false liberation that gives their work that abstract distant quality.<br />This is particularly true of the paintings of Nadia Ayari. The catalogue says of her: "Ayari didn't start working with her Middle Eastern subject matter until she’d moved to America and notions of cultural heritage and identity came to the fore." And it shows. Only someone far removed from the lived reality of the Middle East can attempt to sum it up in such a collection of visual clichés. This is Orientalism for the 21st century, rehabilitated by the fact that it is being committed by a native. All the more cause for concern. The struggle of the people of Palestine and Iraq today is not so much to get recognition for their misery, but to stop the west from constantly portraying them as perpetual victims, and in the case of Ayari's paintings, literally in such a flat manner.<br />Flatness, that old paradox of painting, has been revisited by two of the Iranian artists in the exhibition, Ramin Haerizadeh and Ahmad Morshedloo. Not so crassly, of course, but with thought and sophistication that re-asserts the notion that are is truly universal, and an experiment began by a French artists a hundred years ago could be picked up again by someone in Iran today. Not as a distraction from life, but as a unique way of dealing with it and sharing that vision with others.<br />Haerizadeh's collages are powerful in combining the conventions of collage with traditional Persian painting and crafts, using mostly his body as raw material. The effect is astonishing, producing intriguing works that on closer inspection reveal the manipulation and distortion involved in re-packaging his severed limbs and his chubby face to produce hyper-real bodies suitable for our age where the body has lost its integrity and has been appropriated by various institutions.<br />Morshedloo's work is particularly powerful, not only because it declares that painting is not dead as an art form, but because of the insistence that his subjects caught in a moment of daily life are not the vacuous abstractions we have to expect from depictions of that part of the world, but are subjects in their own right regardless of how much their attire hides or reveals of them. The contrast between the naked men and over-clad women does nothing to distract from that, these are living breathing subjects. We are made even more aware, paradoxically, through Morshedloo's unique perspectives and foreshortening effects. This is not crass realism, but painting at its best. The less said the better.<br />Finally, the last piece which attracted the most attention from the visitors is Kader Attia's Ghost. The aluminium-foil empty shells that represent Muslim women in prayer, a hundred or more of them perhaps, are very powerful visually. Though to me personally the effect is not particularly due to Attia's social 'comment' in as much as it is the representation of the hollow body in that most fragile and transient of materials, aluminium foil. For all I care, they could have been a group of Jedi warriors looking for their contact lenses, the effect would have been the same. There is something about the power of visual depictions that we seem to have abandoned in favour of art with a message, and perhaps that is too much of a burden. Attia's work is an example of the power of that form of visual exploration that used to be called sculpture.<br />The last room in the exhibition is dedicated to old masters from the Middle East, and it suitably takes me to my conclusion. In societies where visual art was not an established tradition, those early masters embarked on what seemed to their contemporaries an alien endeavour, a career and a life in art. They did that for two reasons, one to create their own modernity in countries that were still ambivalent about it, and secondly, to become full-fledged individuals in societies where the concept was struggling to emerge against the tyranny of older institutions. In Unveiled, we see that struggle continue. There are artists who have to live in countries that find their activities superfluous, but in their struggle to assert their individualism they are producing thoughtful and engaging works of art. On the other hand, there are those who seem to have surrendered their individuality in favour of a formulaic and self-indulgent art that is obsessed with identity. It's a fine line, but this exhibition will allow discerning viewers to judge for themselves.Karl Sharrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442368022521436709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100965302329676895.post-28496003652850549682009-02-14T05:59:00.000-08:002010-03-10T16:00:58.980-08:00Cedars Island: What's the fuss about?It doesn't take much to provoke the Lebanese, so a project like Cedars Island (<a href="http://www.cedarsisland.com/" target="_blank">http://www.cedarsisland.com</a>) was bound to be controversial. The large development on the Lebanese coast proposed by Noor international is described as "a residential, commercial, recreational, and touristic site made for luxurious experience", built on reclaimed land in the shape of, what else, the Cedar Tree. Mind you, it's not really like a Cedar Tree, but the idealized shape of the national symbol that has been constantly re-drawn by everyone from the Lebanese flag designer to the national airline to the various political parties (mostly on the right).<br />Yet, the specific nature of the responses to Cedars Island is quite revealing. The 'protest' kicked off like much else with a Facebook group, that utterly meaningless form of desktop activism. Within a short period of type it attracted thousands of disgruntled Lebanese internet users. The objections ranged from the environmental to the aesthetic, the common denominator being that everyone was offended. It is not difficult to see why, to start with the development is a typical Dubai-style development, which is enough to send the Lebanese into fits of rage. Regardless that hundreds of thousands of them make a living in the Gulf, the attitude of the Lebanese towards that part of the world has always been a negative one. Dubai on the Damour coast, what an affront!<br />Some people were even annoyed with the fact that the project will have palm trees. Palm trees on our shores! Oh poor cedar tree... In a country where everything from the type of car that you drive to your favorite TV station is politicized, it's only natural that even trees can have such ideological significance. The Christians used to whine about the palm trees that the late Prime Minister Rafik Hariri (allegedly) planted in Beirut and Saida, importing that alien tree from the Arabian Peninsula to our 'virgin' coastline. Somehow they feared that those trees will subliminally take over their political affiliations to the land of the cedars.<br />Then, the environmentalists stepped in, naturally. Greenpeace Lebanon (how proud am I!) is conducting a study on the effect of island on the marine eco-system. Happily, we even have a proper green party in Lebanon now (in as much as a green party could be proper). I haven't found out what they have to say about it yet, but I am sure they will not be thrilled. In a brilliant article in Al-Akhbar ( <a href="http://www.al-akhbar.com/files/pdfs/20080820/p06_20080820.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.al-akhbar.com/files/pdfs/20080820/p06_20080820.pdf</a> ) Bassam Al-Qantar exposed the 'party' for what it is: an elitist club for the affluent and the well connected.<br />Like any 'protest' of that nature in Lebanon it is not the farmers of Baalbek and Hermel who are protesting, it is someone else protesting in the name of the Lebanese people. It is only those who don't have to live at the mercy of nature than can afford to idealize it. In a country where hundreds of thousands of people live in areas with no economic prospects whatsoever, the Greens will take it upon themselves to stop any development project that can offend their aesthetic sensitivities.<br />No one has yet looked at the number of jobs that such a development will create or the volume of economic activity that it could generate. Details. People don't like the Cedars Island and therefore it has to stop. This is from people whose understanding of economics is so distorted that thousands of them joined another Facebook group to nominate the governor of the Central Bank to the Nobel Prize because of his wisdom and genius. Presumably, the ultra-conservative economic policies of hording foreign cash reserves and promoting banking policies that are slightly more advanced than those of Hammurabi.<br />To make matters worse, thousands of Lebanese people have been going to the West to get degrees in American and European universities where they un-critically accept the prevailing orthodoxies of environmentalism and sustainability and then head back with a clear recipe of how to cure Lebanon from its ills. Thanks to the collapse of the Left in Lebanon, progressive voices have long ago died out completely. It used to be the Lebanese left that argued for more industrialization and development to give the Lebanese working classes a better future, while the "Right" (Kataeb and co) dreamt of milking their goats under the starry skies of Mount Lebanon.<br />Today, the political shades range from the conservative to the down-right reactionary, and all radical ideas have been discarded. Hezbollah long ago tore up its founding document, and with it its social radicalism. (See: <a href="http://www.culturewars.org.uk/2007-08/norton.htm" target="_blank">http://www.culturewars.org.uk/2007-08/norton.htm</a> ) The sole purpose of Hezbollah today is to keep the Shiite masses under control and contain their explosive potential. To that end it will pacify them with small 'gains' at the expense of the integrity of the Lebanese state.<br />Equally, the Tayyar has lost any radical potential it ever possessed. There was a moment in the late 90s when the Tayyar could have become a genuinely radical political movement, but the youth leadership chickened out and left it to Aoun to play the role of demi-god, a role currently performed at a cinema near you to devastating effect. What promised to be a genuine change in political consciousness among Christian youths (and a few Muslims) has been hijacked by the clan leaders.<br />Both Hezbollah and the Tayyar have departments for the environment, incidentally, so do several of the other parties. I am not singling out Hezbollah and the Tayyar, but it is important to understand that the parties with the most radical potential have become establishment parties, so we shouldn't expect much more from the proper bourgeois parties. And today both of those parties have developed a conservative outlook, and primarily one that has no political and economic vision for the country.<br />So, back to Cedars Island. In the absence of any real development in the country, why should a private project like this be opposed? So it might appear hideous to some people, is that enough to prevent a major economic development? In fact, I think there's even something subversive about the scheme, it's saying nothing is sacred anymore, even your blessed Cedar! Learning from Las Vegas, anyone? Should we give the arbiters of middle class taste the right to control the fate of such developments?<br />Living in such a small country, we have no option but make the most of what we have. I hope this will be the beginning of an ambitious project of sea reclamation that will stop when we hit Cyprus!Karl Sharrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442368022521436709noreply@blogger.com0