The Extraordinary Ordinary - Own Time, Private Moments by the Shoreline..

We all sometimes need a bit of 'own time', something, especially for us urbanites, that can be difficult to find both the time as well as a place for. The aren't many parks here in Kuwait, at least of the type which would allow for these types of occasions to take place (they're usually a bit too regimented and sparsely laid out to support such happenings). The beach, however, seems to be such a place. There is something about a large body of water, with its shifting tides and subtly rippling surface tones and patterns, that inevitably seems to soothe even the most distracted or hyper-active mind, provide a context for private contemplation, and just allow for the non-planned to pan out...

The included photos were taken both in Kuwait as well as Sharjah...

'We learn everything from history - this doesn't mean we have to duplicate it'...

This fine dictum of the title above was stated by the Finnish architect Juha Leiviska a few decades back (similar statements have been made by others, but this is the only one I can recall the author of)... It formed as both the catalyst and a encapsulation of the spirit in which this project was pursued. For this final project the students, all Graphic Design majors, were asked to:

A) Explore a feature, tradition, design, ceremony etc. which they consider to be an inherent component of Kuwaiti or middle-eastern culture...

B) Define it, understand it, and...

C) ...Develop a contemporary, more updated, rendition of it which needed to include a text or presentation component as well as a 'designed' element...

Images of some of the results, accompanied by brief project descriptions, are shown above and below...


Top and above - An updated rendition of Sadu weaving, here appropriated into the format of Op-Art. The disc is made from a rigid plastic sheet roughly 30 cm in diameter...


Above and below - A dessert where 'gahwa' (Arabic coffee) is combined with an Italian pudding to form something unique and also, flavour-wise, quite delicious...



Above - A project exploring the key role formerly occupied by the 'Al-Kandary' - the 'water bearer', who used to deliver water to various residential quarters. Here the, now often forgotten, role and value of water in this region is reconfigured as a carry-with-you water bottle which precious content can only be accessed by unwinding a long paper strip containing a narrative explaining the extended effort that was required in the not too distant past to get sweet-water to Kuwait (it was usually imported by boat from Iraq)...


Above and below - A study which aims to update the three key forms of calligraphy into a more contemporary format, here realized by interpreting various 'pictorial' male and female names through the appropriated typographical mediums...



Above - An updated and novel use of henna as a natural means for cooling the body, along with it also functioning as a way to decorate the (now both male and) female extremities...


Above - A research project into the role of dates in regional culture. The cover is made out of dried leaves from a date tree...


Above and below - This project takes various both everyday practical as well as more celebratory outfits from Kuwait's past and reinterprets them in a contemporary context. Some of the outfits were modelled on small hand-made rag-dolls...



Above and below - A project that examined and documented traditions and uses of 'Bukhour' - middle-eastern incense, which can be used not only to change the ambiance of a space through a fragrance but also as a way to perfume one's body and clothes (achieved by letting the aromatic smoke pass through one's clothes). The final hand-in included a number of 'peel-and-smell' (seen below) samples of various bukhours and oudhs...


Unfortunately this was the last class I taught at KU... I wish all my students, both present and past, the best of luck with all their academic and other pursuits... Remember, focus, persevere and don't dilly-dally...

Censoring the Censored (A Storm in a Tea-cup)...

Image from a Kuwaiti news-stand, showing examples of the inconsistency in censoring various women's magazine covers. The magazine to the left has its shoulders blackened out, a body part the three right hand magazines show. On the other hand the side of the chest and armpit have been censored in the second magazine from the right, an area left exposed in the cover to its left. The magazine to the right shows shoulders, upper arms, chest as well as her abdomen...

Today I was informed that the project exploring censorship in Kuwait (featured earlier in this blog) has provoked an angry reaction by some of the powers that be at Kuwait University. I apologise for that, the intention with the project was never to cause offence - its aim was to explore a particular aspect of Kuwaiti culture which, particularly in the context of various art and design related practices (particularly within graphic design, the major of all the students in the class) is of significance.

However, beyond the fact that I feel it's a bit of a storm in a tea cup (as, after all, even the included images are 'censored', albeit in a different manner than what can be observed at local news-stands), if this type of benign exploration and research can't take place in academia, within the confines of a university (amongst the brightest of bright in the nation), where can they? The images included in the piece show nothing that can't already be seen at any news-stand in Kuwait (as can be witnessed by the image from a Kuwaiti news-stand above, and the images from local newspapers below) and, actually, improve and provide alternatives to the way in which censoring can be achieved. They were also done within the confines of the censorship regulations of Kuwait, sourced from the Kuwait Ministry of Education, and have passed all relevant authorities in the UAE, where the magazine in question is published.

It has to be re-emphasized, all the featured images in the article remain censored - they just achieved the the censoring in a different, more designed and less intrusive, way...

I also have to emphasise that the decision to do this project was done solely by me. The responsibility of its theme and outcomes are mine alone. No other staff, let alone any of my students, are accountable for its conclusions.

It would be interesting to hear what you think about this. Feedback on this issue would be appreciated...


... And some pictures from some of today's Kuwaiti newspapers...

KU Student Work Featured in Canvas Magazine...

Some of the work produced by my students has been published in the latest issue of Canvas Magazine's Canvas Guide... The project featured aimed to find an alternative or better way to achieve the aims, and perhaps even question the validity, of the 'black blotch' censorship currently practiced in Kuwait... The Canvas piece can be accessed by clicking on the included images, and a related piece featured earlier on this blog can be accessed by clicking here...

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Addendum 06/01/10 - I've been informed by powers that be at Kuwait University that due to the, what some consider 'delicate' nature of the images featured in the article ,they would have to be 'neutralized'... Thus included below are (done as a favour to a friend) the now re-(or double) censored images from the Censorship project...

SAM St. - Adjacent Peripheral Plots...

Two open areas, currently used as parking lots (but why not one day as, say, a place for a Organic Farmer's Market, or Second-hand Furniture Market - places that lend themselves for strolling, something this proposal aims to encourage...

A few additional panoramas of some of the plots adjacent to SAM (Salem Al-Mubarbak) Street, which introduce their own challenges and potentials to the development of the area. SAM St. and its surroundings contain so many interesting and unique qualities which are difficult to find elsewhere in Kuwait. As a district it still, even after some extended demolishing, a distinct character of its own that, as it stands, is hanging by a thread - if too much additional demolishing is done a threshold will at some stage be breached beyond which what this neighbourhood still currently is, will inevitably be lost...

The musings on this blog about SAM Street are an attempt to understand what makes this area so special, and an initial shot at proposing how what it has could be developed to accommodate a viable future...

The included panoramas start at the Eastern end of the proposed pedestrianized zone and move westward, towards the 4th Ring Road. The parking lot at the western end (by the large ad billboards) hasn't been included as I forgot to photograph it properly...

Please click on the images to enlarge them...

The demolished back lot behind the Educational Book-store...

Above and below - Two views of the demolished open area - one looking from, the other towards, SAM street - located roughly halfway down the proposed stretch of the SAM Street pedestrianized zone...

The paved central square between this stretch of the street's two U-turns...