Empire II
Empire II is the continuation of Empire. On Saturday 25 July 1964 (46 years ago) Andy Warhol and Jonas Mekas filmed the movie Empire. Empire is a silent, black and white film that lacks a traditional narrative or characters. The passage from daylight to darkness becomes the film’s narrative, while the protagonist is the iconic building that was (and is again) the tallest in New York City. Non-events such as a blinking light at the top of a neighboring building mark the passage of time. It was filmed from 8:06 p.m. to 2:42 a.m. from the 41st floor of the Time-Life Buildiing, from the offices of the Rockefeller Foundation. The film was shot at 24 frames per second but is projected at 16 fps, so that, even though only about 6 hours and 36 minutes of film was made, the film when screened is about 8 hours and 5 minutes long.
Content
Project presented during Global Art Forum_6, 'The Medium of Media', Art Dubai 2012. Thanks to Shumon Basar, Hala Ali and Antonia Carver.
Book + CD: "Dubai Graphic Encyclopedia, Vol. 1"
To consider compiling an encyclopedia (of any kind) in post-Wikipedia times is an exercise in emotional withdrawal. From a position of bewilderment and confusion we choose to act by producing and employing another tool from the land of the naive and outdated, represented by encyclopedic work, devoid of all logic and meaning considering current cultural conditions and speed. What the first edition Dubai graphic and visual encyclopedia presents is a reality that acts as a counterpoint to all the excess of attempts to decipher and understand Dubai. Attempts that are mostly unable to uncover items that shed light on the question ‘What’s it all about’?
Book: "Dubai Colouring for Mindness, Vol. 1 & Vol.2"
‘Quit, don’t quit? Noodles, don’t noodles? You are too concerned about what was and what will be. There is a saying: yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the “present”.’
Master Oogway to Po, Kung Fu Panda (2008)
Mindfulness is the psychological process of focusing one’s attention on experiences occurring in the present moment. It can be developed through several different practices, one of which is colouring. This book, then, helps us to slow down, to adjust our velocity, to embrace mindfulness through Dubai and its culture.
In a region that seems shaped by and accustomed to perpetual conflict and dispute, the city of Dubai can be understood as the ultimate free zone of entente where West meets East, past meets future; a mindfulness oasis on the shores of Arabia.
The drawings contained in the book offer us the chance to relativise ourselves and to adjust our pace to match that ancient rhythm that can still be perceived in Dubai – in Deira, in the district of Al Fahidi, in its desert and its ancient customs. The rhythm stretches from its noisy abyss crossing the creek, the seagulls and the calls to prayer, to the traditional textiles and gold souks.
‘Human experience – love, money, belief, progress, politics, time – doesn’t look or feel the way it used to. Wonder why? Because you are the last generation that will die.’
The Age of Earthquakes: A Guide to the Extreme Present (2015), Douglas Coupland, Hans-Ulrich Obrist, and Shumon Basar
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Brusselssprout