Special bazaar held for art lovers in Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi: Art lovers in the capital had much to rejoice about at the “Artscape: Cultures in Dialogue” inter-cultural bazaar, which took place at Manarat Al Saadiyat last Friday.

There were activities galore, to cater to all tastes and ages, including music, graffiti, calligraphy, cooking and crafts workshops.

Every activity was inspired by a piece at the “Birth of a Museum” exhibition, which is also taking place at Manarat Al Saadiyat to give viewers a sneak peak of the collections to be displayed at the upcoming Louvre Abu Dhabi.

Surrounded by desks covered in coloured paper, glue sticks and scissors, graphic designer and artist Hadeyeh Badri gave a modular typography workshop.

Badri offered visitors paper with printed shapes and invited them to get creative, cut around the shapes, and use them as letters to write any word.

“We are inviting participants to experiment with unconventional ways of making letters and everyone’s having fun. When they get the hang of it, they really enjoy,” Badri said.

She said all the shapes had been extracted from art pieces at the exhibition.

“I was drawn by the fact that [the bazaar] is trying to show us parallels between different cultures and what better way [to do so] than a typography workshop,” the artist added.

On the other side of the bazaar, many children huddled around a table where they made clay models shaped like the Bactrian Princess statue at the exhibition.

Meanwhile, others gathered at an adjacent table to make a smaller replica of a Picasso painting that is also on display.

Fatima Gazzal, education outreach officer at the event, explained that the activities aim to allow people to explore the ‘Birth of a Museum’ exhibition and learn more about each object they are working on.

“One of the workshops is dedicated to the Bactrian Princess, which is one of the first statues in human history to be found standing. There are a lot of similar statues but the Princesses are mostly sitting,” Gazzal told Gulf News.

“The other workshop is dedicated to the Picasso painting, so we chose two very different figures for people to work on; from very classic to very modern pieces,” she added.

Gazzal was pleased with the turnout, describing the workshops as “really engaging, as they require a lot of hand control.”

Along with arts workshops, the bazaar was filled with aromatic scents emanating from the cooking workshop where French chefs cooked two original dishes inspired by French and Emirati cuisine.

With a vast audience watching and then following the recipes to cook the dishes themselves, the chefs cooked a camel-meat stew, as well as ravioli with foie gras and Emirati spices.

After standing in line to watch the chefs, one of the participants, Florence Seah, a Chinese expatriate said she enjoyed the workshop.

“I came here because of my curiosity for food especially French/Emirati dishes and I already enjoy French cooking, so I hope they do this more often,” Seah said. “I also like the cross-cultural nature of this event; it’s very unique.”

By the end of the night, with participants happily fed and having experimented with art, it was time for music and a Dubai-based band, Dubai Drums, was there to deliver.

Dubai Drums founder Julie-ann Odell provided participants with African drums. She started the session and, as the beat grew louder, more people including children joined the group and started drumming.

“Everybody can play drums,” Odell told the participants at the workshop. She described drumming as, “the universal language of rhythm.”

“Drumming transcends boundaries and it’s very unifying,” the founder of the 12-year-old band said. “I go all around and spread happiness. What I love about what I do is that I get to empower people and let them remember that everybody has rhythm.”

Odell expressed her enthusiasm about being in Abu Dhabi and at the bazaar, which she described as, “a beacon of culture.”

“[The bazaar] has got a beautiful cultural feast and it’s so fitting that Abu Dhabi should have that,” she added.

Those interested in soaking up some culture can still visit the ‘Birth of a Museum’ exhibition, which will remain open to the public till 20 July showcasing 130 pieces of the Abu Dhabi Louvre’s permanent collection.