There’s a moment in most illusions that’s called the reveal, an intentional twist that surprises the viewer, plays with their mind and changes their frame of reference forever.
Edgar Rubin’s vase image is one of the most famous, a figure-ground exercise that shows a vase and opposing faces in profile. You can only see one at a time but once you’ve seen both, your eyes switch constantly and involuntarily between the two.
Renaissance artists such as Piero della Francesca played even subtler games with shadows in paintings such as The Flagellation of Christ, including multiple and contradictory light sources in their paintings to suggest the simultaneous presence of the natural and the divine.
Both techniques and more are on display in On Site, the inaugural exhibition at the new New York University Abu Dhabi Art Gallery on Saadiyat.
The show is ostensibly about landscape and the built environment and the relationship between the natural and the man-made, but a closer inspection reveals a series of works that use these categories to ask more profound questions about how we see, what we see and the role of culture in both.
As with the divine light in della Francesca’s flagellation, the shadows in Mary Temple’s trompe l’oeil murals are almost imperceptible, but once you notice their leaf shapes stretching across the walls of the gallery, you realise they are the product of a light that does not and cannot exist.
In Re-Mapping Al Fahidi, the Emirati artist Ebtisam Abdulaziz may employ the language of cartography, but there's a vertiginous moment when the work's flat planes of yellow, blue and white, which first appeared as contours and coastlines, flip to become horizons and roofs.
“If you don’t know the space or the reference, it may look like a map,” explains Maya Allison, the exhibition’s curator and the director of NYUAD’s new gallery. “But suddenly you realise you’re looking at a skyline and you experience this amazing shift in perspective. That visual shift is incredibly relevant, not just to this show but to the gallery and to being on Saadiyat Island.”
Allison admits that in many ways, her aim is to turn the new 7,000 square foot space into a classic example of a North American university gallery.
“The typical mission for an American university is to have a gallery dedicated to producing exhibitions roughly three times a year,” she says. “It’s sort of like having a good library. They want the students to have access to original works of art, to experience them first-hand, and to see in action what they’re studying in art history, contemporary art and in art practice.”
For Allison, however, the relative absence of other non-commercial art spaces in the capital means that NYUAD’s gallery will be a very different operation from its sister institution, the Grey Art Gallery in New York.
“The idea of our gallery is that it will be a space that will serve both the university and the public equally and bring them together in a way that creates dialogue,” the curator explains.
“It’s more experimental than what you might get at other places because we have some freedom to experiment with exhibition formats and topics and guest curators. It’s also non-commercial, so we aren’t limited by whether we can sell something. It’s really about creating a meaningful space for the communities we are serving.”
If the needs of the community are to be addressed, Allison insists, her gallery cannot simply import shows but must mount exhibitions that are relevant to a local audience, hence the ostensible theme of On Site.
“I think that as the art and exhibition community grows and changes, so will our mission but right now our goal is to do shows around three themes: one is landscape and the built environment, another is Islamic art and culture, the third is art in global dialogue. These themes are very broad, non-limiting and are relevant for the local audience.”
For Allison, On Site's star exhibit, A Room from Tate Modern by the Pakistani artist Rashid Rana is a case in point. Clad in a grid that's reminiscent of a sculpture by Sol Lewitt, the installation consists of a giant cube that contains another trompe l'oeil, a "room" from the London gallery, recreated using nothing more than digitally printed wallpaper.
“I first saw this piece when it premiered in Dhaka, Bangladesh,” Allison explains. “The idea of taking a room from the Tate and putting it in Bangladesh immediately brings to the surface conversations about how culture affects how you see art, how art is understood differently in different cultures and what it means to show art in different cultures. For me that is a central focus for what the gallery is doing here.”
Nick Leech is a features writer at The National.
THE SIXTH SENSE
Starring: Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, Hayley Joel Osment
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Rating: 5/5
Emirates exiles
Will Wilson is not the first player to have attained high-class representative honours after first learning to play rugby on the playing fields of UAE.
Jonny Macdonald
Abu Dhabi-born and raised, the current Jebel Ali Dragons assistant coach was selected to play for Scotland at the Hong Kong Sevens in 2011.
Jordan Onojaife
Having started rugby by chance when the Jumeirah College team were short of players, he later won the World Under 20 Championship with England.
Devante Onojaife
Followed older brother Jordan into England age-group rugby, as well as the pro game at Northampton Saints, but recently switched allegiance to Scotland.
Herc's Adventures
Developer: Big Ape Productions
Publisher: LucasArts
Console: PlayStation 1 & 5, Sega Saturn
Rating: 4/5
Gender pay parity on track in the UAE
The UAE has a good record on gender pay parity, according to Mercer's Total Remuneration Study.
"In some of the lower levels of jobs women tend to be paid more than men, primarily because men are employed in blue collar jobs and women tend to be employed in white collar jobs which pay better," said Ted Raffoul, career products leader, Mena at Mercer. "I am yet to see a company in the UAE – particularly when you are looking at a blue chip multinationals or some of the bigger local companies – that actively discriminates when it comes to gender on pay."
Mr Raffoul said most gender issues are actually due to the cultural class, as the population is dominated by Asian and Arab cultures where men are generally expected to work and earn whereas women are meant to start a family.
"For that reason, we see a different gender gap. There are less women in senior roles because women tend to focus less on this but that’s not due to any companies having a policy penalising women for any reasons – it’s a cultural thing," he said.
As a result, Mr Raffoul said many companies in the UAE are coming up with benefit package programmes to help working mothers and the career development of women in general.
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre 4-cylinder petrol
Power: 154bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Transmission: 7-speed automatic with 8-speed sports option
Price: From Dh79,600
On sale: Now
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Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Tips for job-seekers
- Do not submit your application through the Easy Apply button on LinkedIn. Employers receive between 600 and 800 replies for each job advert on the platform. If you are the right fit for a job, connect to a relevant person in the company on LinkedIn and send them a direct message.
- Make sure you are an exact fit for the job advertised. If you are an HR manager with five years’ experience in retail and the job requires a similar candidate with five years’ experience in consumer, you should apply. But if you have no experience in HR, do not apply for the job.
David Mackenzie, founder of recruitment agency Mackenzie Jones Middle East
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
Company%20Profile
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylturbo
Transmission: seven-speed DSG automatic
Power: 242bhp
Torque: 370Nm
Price: Dh136,814
TALE OF THE TAPE
Manny Pacquiao
Record: 59-6-2 (38 KOs)
Age: 38
Weight: 146lbs
Height: 166cm
Reach: 170cm
Jeff Horn
Record: 16-0-1 (11 KOs)
Age: 29
Weight: 146.2lbs
Height: 175cm
Reach: 173cm
SPECS
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The biog
Name: Dr Lalia Al Helaly
Education: PhD in Sociology from Cairo
Favourite authors: Elif Shafaq and Nizar Qabbani.
Favourite music: classical Arabic music such as Um Khalthoum and Abdul Wahab,
She loves the beach and advises her clients to go for meditation.
Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
BORDERLANDS
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis
Director: Eli Roth
Rating: 0/5
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
SHAITTAN
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The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 247hp at 6,500rpm
Torque: 370Nm from 1,500-3,500rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 7.8L/100km
Price: from Dh94,900
On sale: now
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