Dubai Culture and Emirates Airline Festival of Literature team up for ‘Dubai Doors’ project

The Dubai Culture & Arts Authority (Dubai Culture), the Emirate’s dedicated Authority for culture, arts, and heritage, has collaborated with the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, the city’s flagship celebration of literature, for the ‘Dubai Doors’ project.

Inspired by the Liverpool Doors project, a brainchild of UK-based poet Roger McGough and artist Mark Cockram, which features unique art installations and exhibitions exploring the history and character of Liverpool through stories and memories symbolised by doors from across the city. The ‘Dubai Doors’ project will feature commissioned artworks by three Emirati and two Liverpool-based artists that will be displayed during the 2013 edition of the Festival, to be held from March 5 to 9, 2013.

The selected Emirati artists include self-taught photographer, graphic designer, and amateur writer, Hamdan Buti Al Shamisi; graphic designer, blogger, and mixed-media artist Hessa Al Awadhi; and visual artist and designer Ali Kashwani.

Celebrating the union of poetry and visual arts, the three Emirati artists will be commissioned to create work that is inspired by selected verses of Arabic poetry, under Dubai Culture’s recently launched initiative Holal, aimed at strengthening the essence and portrayal of the Arabic language. The Dubai Doors gives a unique artistic opportunity to three artists to show the beauty of selected Arabic poetry pieces represented in artworks on three doors. This project reinforces the idea of Holal, which seeks to create a beautiful, visual experience around written Arabic words.

The five doors designed by the artists for The ‘Dubai Doors’ project will showcase the versatility, vividness, and richness of literature in a vibrant, dynamic way, through various avenues of visual arts. Symbolising the opening of a book or the turning of a page, the ‘Dubai Doors’ celebrates the true spirit of the written word.

Hamdan Buti Al Shamisi’s door derives inspiration from a poem that describes the beauty of a loved one by the late poet, Rashid Al Khidr; Hessa Al Awadhi and Ali Khashwani’s work are inspired by the verses of a poem by renowned Emirati poet Ousha Bint Khalifa Al Suwaidi, known as the ‘Gulf Laureate Poet.’

Saeed Al Nabouda, Acting Director General, Dubai Culture & Arts Authority, said: “Building on the mandate of Dubai Culture to drive a culture of imagination, the ‘Dubai Doors’ project also complements the vision of Emirates Airline Festival of Literature to stimulate intercultural dialogue, while contributing to the growth of the city’s literary fabric.

“Through the ‘Dubai Doors’ project, we aim to highlight the union of literature and visual arts, to bring a new perspective on the city’s position as the cultural destination in the region, which serves as an incubator for all art forms,” he added.

Isobel Abulhoul, Festival Director, Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, said: “Dubai Culture & Arts Authority have nurtured the Festival with us from the beginning.  With their support we have managed to grow and each year add new initiatives which enhance the cultural fabric of society. The Dubai Doors project is yet another ground breaker and one that is particularly exciting.  I would like to acknowledge the generosity and creativity of Roger McGough and Mark Cockram who are continuing their Liverpool story and carrying it to Dubai for all of us to enjoy. Dubai Doors will undoubtedly open more doors for all of us on many different levels.”

The doors will be displayed in the Festival headquarters in the InterContinental Hotel, Dubai Festival City, to be viewed by festival-goers, attending audiences, and hotel visitors, providing a glimpse into the rich Emirati literary culture.

The Dubai Culture & Arts Authority is committed to cultivating the cultural landscape of Dubai by building on its rich Arabian heritage, nurturing and promoting talent in the field of literature, and encouraging intercultural dialogue between the city’s communities.