Shirin Neshat at VCUQ...

Portrait of Shirin Neshat (for source of image click here)

We had the rare privilege yesterday of having Shirin Nashat, the Iranian/ American artist, photographer and film-maker, and her partner Shoja Azari, as our (the MFA students & faculty) guests here at VCUQ... During our roughly hour long, quite intimate, debating session many very relevant political, social, cultural, gender role based topics were covered. This was followed by a public presentation, which was a joint effort organized both by VCUQ and the Doha Film Institute/ Doha Tribeca Film Festival. Her work, which explores some of the topics mentioned above, has a fragile and delicate quality to it. Her movie 'Women Without Men' has already won a trophy-chest full of awards and will be screened today here in Education City at Northwestern University Qatar between 2.00 pm - 5.30 pm... For a link to the film's web site click here...

For samples of her photographic work click here...

Included below is her video piece 'Turbulent'...

Small Bizarres No. 12 - Sign in Seoul Metro...

WEEEEeeeeeeeeeeehHheeeeeeeeee...!!!

The Other Salhiya, Kuwait...

A post on the back streets of the up-market Salhiya has been posted on this blog's sister-site, smarchitecture. The blog-entry can be accessed by clicking here...

The Extraordinary Ordinary - Blinds at the VCUQ ID Department...

A few photos taken of various blinded windows in the extended studios of the Interior Design Department here at VCUQ during different times of the day.

The Extraordinary Ordinary - Baseball Batting Range in Seoul, Korea...

A short video from, this time (see earlier related post by clicking here), below a baseball batting range in Seoul, Korea...

Small Bizarres No. 11 - The Chinese Dollar...

Ain't that da truth...

(Image taken off one of my daughters' card-packs)...

Small Bizarres No. 10 - Wrapped Wrapping...

Came across this strange, call it 'meta-wrapped' artifact at a Starbucks in Seoul...

The Extraordinary Ordinary - Golf Hitting Range in Seoul, Korea...

I've just returned from Korea a few day back, where I and a group of students and faculty from VCUQ visited this year's World Design Capital Seoul (next one will be my home-town-capital Helsinki, Finland in 2012). The included video was filmed from below a 'golf ball hitting range' (as I'm not a golfer - well, occasionally I play mini-golf - I'm not aware of the correct title for the locale in question) in Seoul. A car-park occupied the space below the range...

A number of future Extraordinary Ordinary as well as Small Bizarre submissions are going to be made on notions experienced whilst in Korea which, at least for me, were all quite curious events...