Despatches
News and events from around our network, including the elephant invasion of London and the Copenhagen hotel where you have to cycle to keep the lights on
Persian promise
WHEN ARAS AMIRI, an Iranian curator and London resident, told me about the exciting art she had recently seen during a trip home, my immediate thought was how we could show it in London. Gallery director Jill George soon got involved and a few weeks later I found myself in Tehran scouring the city for paintings.
On previous trips to Tehran, I’d seen various galleries, but this involved a wider trawl of the city’s blossoming art world. Of 200 galleries, only a scant 15 or so showcase work by Iranian artists as good as anything showing internationally. Contemporary art is not something typically associated with the Islamic Republic, despite healthy sales and rising interest in Middle-Eastern art. But one Friday evening I went to several openings and saw some amazing work – from lush, vivid oils and watercolours to delicate drawings.
Cultural activities have been carefully monitored in the past, so actually getting into Tehran galleries can feel a bit covert, especially as many are hidden behind walls or in secret gardens and courtyards.
While some galleries have polite, prosperous audiences, the more eclectic crowd can be found at Azad Gallery in Salmas Square. Here I met the former director of the Tehran Museum of Modern Art, hopeful artists who work as teachers, an editor from a stylish new Iranian art magazine, Art Tomorrow, and a young man who discreetly passed me a card bearing the address of his art blog. Azad’s director, Rozita Sharafjahan, herself an artist who’s been on the radar of art insiders for years, was keen to collaborate on a London show and selected a handful of rising art stars.
Seven Tehrani painters will debut in London, including the two young women whose work is featured here. Samira Eskandarfar explores representations of women by using aspects of their lives and visual clichés – one particularly striking image, It’s a Cat’s Life (above, £3,000), shows a cosseted cat with a woman’s head, a pointed comment on the emptiness in the lives of women who may have every possible comfort but no real personal power. Utopia Ophelia, Azadeh Balouchi’s subtle and feminine anatomical studies, suggest hidden inner worlds, a particularly relevant theme in a country where women are covered in public (left, £1,000).
As I write, the paintings are being packed for transportation to London where I hope they will change people’s casual assumptions about Iran’s visual arts and perhaps even inspire a different view of the country and its people. David Gleeson is a London-based curator
From Tehran to London is on until 18 June at Jill George Gallery, 38 Lexington Street, London W1, +44 (0)20 7439 7319, www.jillgeorgegallery.co.uk www.azadartgallery.com
Snap up a £10,000 prize
Most of us would like to think we’re talented travel photographers, but are our holiday snaps more dud than diamond? Now you’ve got the chance to find out, as the competition to find Landscape Photographer of the Year 2010 begins. It’s the brainchild of top British photographer Charlie Waite and aims to promote a positive image of Britain. The competition’s only proviso is that the pictures must depict a British landscape.
To be in with a chance of winning the grand prize of £10,000, or one of the section prizes, plus the opportunity to see your photos displayed at the National Theatre in London in November, upload your photos to the competition website by 15 July. Entry fees apply. www.take-a-view.co.uk
[ 10-12 JUNE ]
Find new places in Tehran
If you’re thinking of holidaying in the Middle East this year, don’t limit yourself to Dubai. There are countless tour operators and hotel chains operating in the region, and dozens of them will be showing off at Tehran’s Annual International Holiday Festival. Expect to see a whole raft of companies showcasing handicrafts, ethnic foods and other cultural goodies. www.expokish.com
[ 27 JUNE – 4 JULY ]
Rock out at Roskilde
If you missed out on tickets for Glastonbury, Reading or Leeds, how about heading to Scandinavia for your festival fix instead? Roskilde, which takes place around a beautiful lake near Copenhagen, Denmark, could be just the ticket. With over 150 bands on the bill, including Florence and the Machine, Muse and Gorillaz, it’s gearing up to be one of the biggest weeks in the festival’s 39-year history. www.roskilde-festival.dk/uk
[ UNTIL 26 SEPTEMBER ]
Fly into London’s Natural History Museum
Hundreds of butterflies are starting to hatch in a temporary rainforest in London’s Natural History Museum. The insects are free to fly around the exhibit and land on visitors. www.nhm.ac.uk
[ JUNE ]
Catch summer festival fever
You can visit festivals without even leaving London. First on the agenda should be Hyde Park’s Hard Rock Calling festival [25-27 June, www.hardrockcalling.co.uk]. Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder and Pearl Jam will headline on successive evenings. For something more highbrow, there’s the Meltdown Festival [11–21 June, www.southbankcentre.co.uk], which every year is guest directed by a different music visionary. This year, Fairport Convention’s Richard Thompson takes the reins, bringing strains of classic and modern folk-rock to the South Bank.
[ 26 JUNE ]
Watch the X-Fighters do battle in Moscow
For the first time ever, the world’s most daring freestyle motocross riders will be rolling into Red Square to see who can pull off the best aerial tricks, for the third leg of this year’s Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour. www.redbullxfighters.com
[ 7–13 JUNE ]
Meet London’s diamond set
Emerging and internationally renowned jewellers display their sparkling wares across the capital this month. Treasure hunts, catwalk shows and cocktails mean that London’s jewellery quarter, Hatton Garden, is sure to be thronged with diamond lovers. www.londonjewelleryweek.co.uk
BOOKING AHEAD
[ 4 July – 5 September ]
WATCH THE REAL RAILWAY CHILDREN IN LONDON
Transferring from a sell-out run at the York Railway Museum, this charming tale of three Victorian children will be gracing the disused Eurostar site at Waterloo Station. www.yorkshire.com/railwaychildren
[ 12 September ]
RUN THROUGH MOSCOW
A unique way to see the city, the annual Moscow International Peace Marathon starts in Red Square, passing the city’s most iconic places and ending at the Kremlin. There’s also a 10km race for the fainter-hearted runner. www.russianmarathons.com
[ 19 September ]
STORM DUBLIN’S CROKE PARK
One of the largest stadiums in Europe plays host to the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship. Witness as thousands of green-clad Gaelic football fans cheer on their counties to victory. www.crokepark.ie
[ CAIRO ]
Who’s the Mummy?
CAIRO’S ARCHAEOLOGISTS were in a high state of excitement recently after the first-ever discovery of a Roman-style mummy in the region. Found during the assessment of a piece of land destined for a youth centre in the Bahariya Oasis (180 miles south of Cairo), the mummy belonged to a young woman who died more than 1,400 years ago.
At just three-feet long, the coloured plaster sarcophagus was originally thought to belong to a child but ceremonial jewellery suggested that she was a woman of some importance. “Mummies always shrink,” explained Zahi Hawass, chief of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. “Or she might have been a small woman. People of diminutive stature had importance in local Egyptian religions.”
The mystery woman was the first mummy from the Roman period (31 BC until the 7th century) to be found in this region. Mahmoud Afifi, chief archaeologist of the dig, called it “a unique find” but probes of the ground nearby suggest that it is a graveyard with a total of 14 tombs, and other mummies may yet be found.
The area will now be placed under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. Bad news for local youth; good news for Egyptologists.
Sarah Warwick
TRAVEL SPY
ARABIAN WILD CATS
a) Sand cat
b) Arabian caracal
c) Oman leopard
Camp out in the bush and see these elusive felines roaming the Oman desert. Book a 12-night trip, from £1,260, with Biosphere Expeditions, www.biosphere-expeditions.org
[ COPENHAGEN ]
Cycle for your supper
GUESTS AT A NEW ECO-FRIENDLY HOTEL in Copenhagen are being told they can earn free meals – but only if they help to generate power for the building. The 366-room Crowne Plaza Copenhagen Towers, which is said to be one of the world’s greenest hotels, has had electricity-generating exercise bikes wired up to its mains supply. And any guest racking up more than 10 watt-hours of pedal power for the hotel is being offered a free, locally produced meal.
The hotel’s general manager, Allan Agerholm, says: “The electric bikes offer our guests the chance to get fit and help power the hotel at the same time, using environmentally responsible technology. It will be interesting to see how many guests take part and how much electricity we generate.”
According to the hotel’s calculations, a guest cycling quickly for one hour would generate around 100 watt-hours – enough to run a 100W bulb for an hour. The pilot scheme will run for a year and, if successful, will extend to Crowne Plaza’s hotels across the UK.
Steve Vickers www.cpcopenhagen.dk
WORD UP!
INFORMAL WORDS AND PHRASES FROM AROUND OUR NETWORK
[ BEIRUT ]
MUFTI
Noun: know-all
From the Arabic for Muslim legal scholar, but used colloquially as a derogatory term, like ‘teacher’s pet’.
[ BERLIN ]
TEUFELSHUNDE
Noun: dogs of the devil
Meaning ‘son of a gun’, this German phrase is used to refer to someone who is tough and courageous, or looking for a fight.
[ JEDDAH ]
JIBTILEE AL-SAMARGA!
Exclamation: ‘You’re driving me crazy’
A Hijazi Arabic curse most commonly shouted in exasperation in urban Saudi Arabia.
[ CAIRO ]
PRINCE
Noun: dude, fellow
Pronounced ‘brince’, this is the Egyptian version of a surfer greeting for a young man, as in ‘A ya brince!’ (What’s up, dude!).
[ BELFAST ]
HARNAFARNA
Noun: gobbledygook
Used by adults to describe the babbling of a Belfast youth, due to the constant stream of words uttered in the local accent, and the complete nonsense of whatever is said.
[ GLASGOW ]
SCAFFBAG
Noun: someone of questionable cleanliness
This Scottish insult relates to a bin bag, with ‘scaff’ being a slang term for rubbish or dirt.
[ LONDON ]
Elephants on parade
EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED in London this summer. Over 250 giant, multi-coloured elephants will be popping up all over the streets and parks of the capital.
With an expected audience of 25 million, this will be London’s biggest outdoor art event on record, and is expected to raise £2 million for the endangered Asian elephant. Conservationist and legendary adventurer Mark Shand (brother of the Duchess of Cornwall and one of London’s best connected people, above) is at the helm and has enlisted the help of a number of his famous friends in the design of the fibreglass elephants, including Tommy Hilfiger, Sir Terence Conran and Marc Quinn. The elephants will be auctioned off on 4 July.
Jessica Pike
[ BEIRUT ]
Political football
THIS MONTH’S WORLD CUP offers countries a chance to pull together for a common aim. The English are still convinced they deserve to win, the French and Germans want to return to winning ways, while the Danes and Swiss will hope to make their presence felt.
But if you want to see a football match that really tries to unite a nation, turn to Lebanon. Last month, leaders from the two major parties led their men out on to the football field for a friendly half-hour kickabout, marking the 35th anniversary of the outbreak of civil war.
Prime Minister Saad Hariri captained his team against a side led by an opposition MP. Both teams were mixed, and all political parties took part in the game, which had the slogan ‘We are one team’.
“In Lebanon, polemics is the national sport, and now we are using real sport to overcome differences,” said one of the players, information minister Tarek Mitri. “It’s important to show that not everything has to be politicised.”
However important it was for the political process, it was clear to observers that this game was not up to World Cup standards. Commentators sniggered into their microphones as they watched their tubby, unfit politicians stagger around the pitch. “They hit the ground more often than the ball,” said one of the local news channels.
Eventually the prime minister’s team won, with two goals to nil. No doubt his supporters are hoping the game will help him score highly with the Lebanese people as well.
Sarah Warwick
