#interact2connect

Using slow-shutter photography on my iPhone, I captured images of women at an Ethiopian festival in Rome.  With the aid of various apps I then painted with and on my iPhone screen to create six artworks which I have had printed onto cloth cut from traditional Ethiopian shawls. These artworks make up my new series #interact2connect.

There is a short background to this in my last blog “Linda in Wanderland”. 

The almost see through, gauze like cloth of the shawls results in the pieces being fairly transparent.  The figures in them seem to be moving in a space/time beyond past, present and future, or simultaneously in all. As a cloth is held up, it interacts with the surroundings it finds itself in, incorporating objects or people that are behind it. This evokes different emotions in the viewer. We are reminded too that everything is connected. 

 

This is a photo of one of the shawls shortly after it was printed. 

I would very much like to display these pieces as an installation in a gallery. 

 

Each piece would be hanging draped on the gallery wall when encountered, but visitors to the gallery would be encouraged to take down an artwork, hold it open and even walk around with it, thus allowing the figures in it to interact with the surrounding architecture, art and space. 

At this point another dimension would be added.  Because I believe that the physical and online worlds can no longer be viewed as entirely separate, visitors would be requested to take photos with these pieces and share them via social media with the hashtag #interact2connect and any other hashtags they might wish to add. 

In this way both the ethereal figures in the artworks and the individual sharing the photo would simultaneously be entering the realm of cyberspace - the mindspace we find ourselves in when we connect online.  

Later when other images shared under this hashtag are seen, the possibility would exist to make new and interesting connections by engaging with others who, regardless of their physical location or time zone, have shared their archived experience of the event, or commented on a photo.

As I have used current technology to create the artworks, it is my wish that the heart of the art of this installation will be found in the connections made through online sharing.

The vibrant patterns on the borders of the shawls are a stark reminder of the beauty to be found in diversity within unity, and the harmony of the colors asks us to question how we view the other.

The age of connectivity calls for transparency.  The gauze like cloth of the shawls asks us to question whether we are authentic when online.

#interact2connect would further raise the question of whether photography should be allowed in galleries and museums in an age when most people want to archive experiences using the technology at their disposal. 

Until such time that these pieces find themselves together in a gallery, I have decided that I will carry different ones with me when I am out and about, and ask people to hold them up in their surroundings once I have given them a short background.

 

This week while in Dubai with two instagrammers, Nilufer and Femi, I allowed the first piece to make its debut in the new phase of City Walk.  That the venue included the word “walk” felt appropriate, and it was wonderful to see the background glass shining through, and the reflected green wall pick up the color of the one ladies’ dress. There even seemed to be similar shades of orange and yellow to the colors in the border of the shawl.  

 

The next day I asked a waiter in a cafe to hold up the same piece.  Ernesto willingly obliged.  I had seen beforehand that there were artworks up on the wall behind him but I only realized afterwards that they were of three women too! The green skirt of Maria Callas on the wall also picked up the color of the transparent lady on the right and the chairs behind the cloth, despite themselves being stationary, added a sense of movement to the transparent figures. 

 

Who knows what further journeys the figures in these cloths will make, and what connections they will lead to.

I wait with anticipation :) 

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Related: To see one of the journeys the figures have made, check out this steller story!

Linda in Wanderland

Ever the flâneur, a person who wanders through a city in order to experience it, I was excited to recently visit the Hermès Wanderland exhibition when it was in Dubai.

Having made its debut in the Saatchi Gallery in London, the traveling exhibition which showcases flânerie,  moved to Paris where it could be seen in a building on the left bank of the Seine. In Dubai, it was a floating exhibition in the Burj Lake near the Dubai fountain. The exhibition was outstanding allowing visitors to explore its magical arcades.   

My last two blogs were about arriving and departing.  Since I wrote them I have done much traveling, and as a result much wandering.  

In Portugal I walked the streets of Lisbon in search of its famous trams and street art.

 

Elevador da Bica

 

The face of Portuguese fado singer, Amália Rodrigues, in cobblestones, by the street artist Alexandre Farto, also known as Vhils. The other artwork I found by him can be seen on my Instagram account.  

Visiting Canada, it was wonderful to walk with my grandson at his pace and behold every little wonder along the way.  

On a short visit to Rome for the opening of Tutte le Strade I spent an early morning wandering the Via Cavour. As I turned a corner I came across an Ethiopian festival. 

Mesmerized I began to click away using my slow-shutter photography technique on my iPhone.  Since returning to Abu Dhabi, I have been working on a new series based on the images I captured that day. I hope to be able to share this project with you all soon. 

In Germany I wandered the streets of Munich.  We lived there for three years, but on every visit I still find places I have not seen before. On one of my strolls this time round, I was drawn to a window exhibiting the piece “Unendlichkeit” (translated “Infinity”) by sculptor Hajo Forster.  Stepping inside the entrance hall of the Hofgarten Palais, I was confronted by the beauty of his piece “Harmonie”

Harmonie

On yet another morning, we went off to find Munich’s infinite staircase by Ólafur Elíasson.

 

Umschreibung

I have been a fan for some time now of Ólafur's work so it was wonderful to see this piece.  You can find out more about him and his art on Artsy. 

Back in Abu Dhabi, I have walked slowly through oases in Al Ain, always on the look out for wonder. 

 

In Dubai I attended a book signing by Roland Michaud. Roland and his wife Sabrina have spent most of their lives on the road, photographing remote parts of Asia and Africa.  He shared that ultimately you see yourself in the other. 

 

Along with all of this, I have visited many countries online, chatting to others in different parts of the world via various social media platforms.  I still look back on “Linda in Wonderland” written four years ago and know that this particular way of journeying never fails to amaze me. 

At the beginning of his talk Roland Michaud emphasized that nothing should be done in life without taking one’s time. 

I know that my mindfulness practice has helped me to keep a regulated pace and not fall into the habit of rushing. 

“Speed, whether online or offline, is a characteristic of the modern world.  The flâneur reminds us to set the pace of our own lives”.  Mindfulness and The Flâneur 

Flânerie always goes hand in hand with wonder. With Wanderland, the artistic director for Hermès wanted to create an exhibition that would embody what wandering is all about. 

“Guided by instinct, senses all alert, flâneurs watch passing moments intently, all the better to seize them.  Flâneurs garner, forage and gather. They unearth the unusual in the mundane, the unnoticed in the already seen, the distant in the near, the visible in the invisible.” Pierre-Alexis Dumas. 

“My hope is that people come to the show, maybe forget reality, and then look at their own city with new eyes.  We must never lose our ability to dream, to wander, to go with the flow and let ourselves be surprised”. Pierre-Alexis Dumas.

A Place to Departure

In the flow of life, every moment is both an arrival and a departure. When I decided to write this piece, the first thing that struck me was that whereas my previous blog was called “Arriving”, this one would contain the word “Departure”. Presence goes beyond both and is fascinating.

When online, we sense the presence of others in various ways. We become familiar with the way an individual combines texts, visuals and sounds and the way they interact on websites and social media. We know the other is there interacting when we receive comments, emojis or voice messages in response to what we post We sense the movement of the other through the change of an avatar or profile picture, or we watch them and their movement via apps such as snapchat or periscope.

In the physical world, sensory stimulation received about the other person makes them feel more present. When we see, hear, smell or touch them we know they are there. Visual and auditory stimulation is becoming more and more sophisticated online, but the dimensions of touch and smell, two of the senses humans rely heavily on, especially during childhood, are still limited although developing.

I visited Dubai for three days last week for The Dubai Design Week. Upon arrival in the Al Fahidi District, formerly called Al Bastakiya, the first installation I saw was “A Place to Departure”, the inspiration for this blog.

The plaque next to it read:

“What you are looking at is half of the whole. Elsewhere there is an installation just like this one. With people like you. Come. Touch it. Feel the glass. May you and the other person touch the same spot, at the same time. You will both gently feel each other’s presence.”

Reading it was an immediate resonance with all I write about at here2here. A meeting in a special wespace despite the constraints of linear time and physical space was before me in a new way! 

Designed by D3 (Brazil), A Place to Departure uses a haptic feedback system and is an interactive installation allowing people to interact remotely with each other by touch, despite their distance. The further development of this concept will further revolutionize our current technology.

If you also own an Apple Watch, you and I can send each other our current heartbeats. How much more real you will be when I can actually touch you!

The first installations of A Place to Departure was in Beijing and Brazil and you can see it in operation here:

A Place To Departure from D3 on Vimeo.

The Dubai Design Week installation had the two pieces in the Al Fahidi District and the Dubai Design District. Made of glass and wood, digital interaction is taken to a new level. When the clear window is touched, the digital mark is transported to the second window, and when someone is touching that spot on the other window, you each gently feel it, despite your physical distance.

Whereas the glass section allows one to be connected in a mindspace by the moment, the wooden section is a reminder of where you are currently present in bodily form. The geographic coordinates of each spot are important for the windows, whereas the wood used in the pieces in Dubai had clear resemblances of the mashrabiya in their design.

There were awesome installations at the Dubai Design Week but I kept returning to touch the glass on numerous occasions over the next three days. I am happy to report that I was fortunate enough to touch another in this way.

On my last morning, I was fortunate enough to chat to two of the people involved in the project. I photographed the installation yet again and in keeping with the name of the installation, used it as a starting point of departure for a stroll through the sikkas (alleyways) of the surrounding area. I have included a gallery of pics which also shows you where I walked and has a few more links of interest.

Arriving

Today I share with you a poem by Derek Walcott entitled “Love After Love”:

The time will come

when, with elation

you will greet yourself arriving

at your own door, in your own mirror

and each will smile at the other’s welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.

You will love again the stranger who was your self.

Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart

to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored

for another, who knows you by heart.

Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,

peel your own image from the mirror.

Sit. Feast on your life.

— Derek Walcott

Derek Walcott, a West Indian poet and dramatist, was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1992.  In his works Walcott studied amongst other things his role as a nomad between European and West Indian cultures. 

Jon Kabat-Zinn used this poem as an inspiration for his book “Arriving at Your Own Door: 108 Lessons in Mindfulness”

Here is Walcott’s poem read by Jon:

Art has for centuries inspired poets and poetry has inspired artists.

“Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.” – Leonardo da Vinci

Certain galleries have experimented with poetry readings in front of artworks and found that this encourages active looking and listening. At the opening of “Unfolding”, a poem was recited in front of my artwork “Trinity”.

The reading gives the viewer a chance to stop and listen, and also to focus on a particular artwork for a while, as well as perhaps see the work from a different perspective or think about it in different ways as multiple senses come into play. Dialogue between the viewer and the artwork is encouraged.  

The poem “Love After Love” and the book “Arriving at Your Own Door” are the inspiration for my new series which I have entitled “Arriving”. The works, created entirely on my iPhone, are printed onto aquarelle paper and framed.

Unfolding

Having written recently about the fact that I believe a time will come when we will be able to communicate with each other without the use of words, I have decided that this blog will unfold mainly in images.

I am hoping that even if you decide not to read the captions under each image you will get a feel of the current exhibit of my iPhoneography artworks on canvas and wood, which can be seen in the Radisson Royal Hotel in Dubai from 9-16 September 2015.

 Preparations completed, the opening reception begins.

 Maja Bencic, who helped me prepare the show, joins me to welcome our guests.

The show had been advertised all over the hotel - in elevators

  and foyers,

 and at times, was even to be seen in the lobby. 

 I love photographing architecture so it was exciting to be exhibiting in a hotel that rises 51 storeys above the streets and has a metal and glass exterior. 

 My artworks are shown in the amazing Origami Room area - one of the reasons I chose the title “Unfolding”.

  Soon my photographer Helen David-Cuny arrives as do the other guests.

 Bahareh Amidi, dear friend and poetess, recites the poem “The Arrival of Space and Beauty and Light” about which she had also written a beautiful blog.

Guests mingle

and admire the pieces.

 A traditional igersdubai photo is taken!

  Soon a special guest, Farrukh Naeem arrives and surprises me by telling me that he is about to Periscope the event!  My last blog post had been about this new app so I was overjoyed.

 The periscope video may be found here to allow you to be part of the opening reception.

  The opening of "Unfolding" coincided with the Arab Women in Leadership and Business Summit

and while it was on the curtains to the foyer were closed. I believe that as moments occur, we have the choice to creatively partake in their unfolding - an apt message for the forum I felt, and another reason I entitled the exhibition “Unfolding”. 

  On the evening after the summit was over I made my way into the Origami Room and allowed the quiet, almost meditative space to surround me.

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Further images can be seen on my facebook page and more of my art can be viewed on my art website

If you'd like to see the above story unfold before you, here it is via Steller 

Here is the Periscope that Farrukh made of the event: