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POPSArt on the Edge-Architects of Air - Amazing ! Levity II, is the last luminarium designed by Architect of Air. It is inspired by the beauty of natural geometry and by Islamic architecture. It is a inflatable sculpture of 800 square meters made up of labyrinthine tunnels accessible for all people. It's a sensual world of liquid, light, color and music. All the lighting is natural light filtered through its different layers. In fact, this sculpture is only open when there is natural light from the sun in order to enjoy walking through is labyrinths and tunnels Luminarium Installation, Sziget Festival, Budapest Hungary, 2008-08-17.
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POPSThe Chester Beatty Library : Dublin Ireland This is a stunning website, contains a wealth of material from Asian, Islamic and Western sources. This library is only about 15 mins from my place--I am putting this on my 'get yer butt down there' list asap :)
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POPSAbu Dhabi: East Leans West
To make itself the region’s true cultural hub, the emirate has forged surprising partnerships, and is negotiating others, with some of the world’s leading cultural and academic institutions, several based in New York. In 2006, for instance, Abu Dhabi commissioned the Guggenheim Museum to construct a vast, 450,000-square-foot branch in the emirate. This past November came the announcement for New York University–Abu Dhabi (NYUAD), which will be the first comprehensive liberal arts campus that any major American research university establishes abroad. The emirate has also recruited the Sorbonne to create a French-language university and inked a whopping $1.3 billion deal with the Louvre to use its name, build a classical art museum, and share and jointly acquire art. Further, Abu Dhabi is talking with the New York Public Library and several other great libraries about opening branches, and it has approached New York’s Metropolitan Opera and Lincoln Center about a partnership.
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POPS Buddhist Relics Latest Casualties of Pakistan's Talibanization The picturesque Swat Valley has become infested with Taliban militants in recent weeks as the influence of the radical Islamic movement sweeps rapidly across northwest Pakistan. The militants have launched a bloody vice campaign that has left 47 dead, decimated the valley's tourism industry and terrorized the local community. Locals tell ABC News authorities have made no effort to stop the spread of "Talibanization" in a normally peaceful region, often described as "Pakistan's Switzerland." "For me at least, the Jehanabad Buddha was the most beautiful," said Fidaullah Sehrai, a retired professor of archaeology and a leading expert in ancient Buddhist art. Buddhism flourished in Pakistan and Afghanistan during the 7th century, and the Swat Valley is considered the birthplace of Vajrayana or Tantric Buddhism. In his memories, the Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsang described hundreds of Buddha sculptures, monasteries and stupas in the valley. Only a handful has been excavated so far.
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POPSFinding Comedy in Terrorism When I saw this, it only reminded me of how warped and sick those in media have become. Some things are beyond satire and are completely tasteless. I wonder how the families of those who died in Britain, Spain, Indonesia, Israel, Iraq, Russia, etc...innocents....would view this spectacle? Sadly, we are beyond redemption in this area. Free speech and *artistic license* supersede common decency. But wait til it happens to you....if won't be *art* anymore. :~(
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POPSAn uplifting, happy faith...That’s the view of Islam from the Aga Khan’s collection I’ve walked past the Ismaili Centre countless times on my way to and from the V&A, and never before ventured inside – partly because it is such an ugly building, but chiefly because I didn’t have much of a clue about who or what the Ismailis actually were. I now know that they are a branch of Shi’ite Muslims, and that their leader, the Aga Khan, is the 49th imam, descended directly from the prophet’s daughter, Fatima. I don’t know for sure that the 49th imam set out deliberately to challenge the prevailing attitudes to Islam with his exhibition. But I suspect he did. He certainly knows that art doesn’t lie.
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POPSThe Golden Mosque, Iraq's Holiest Shrine under fire Its sad when the warfare affects religious areas. There where quite a few times that the enemy stored weapons and fought from areas such as this. We had to be very careful as to not destroy anything. Cowards, hiding within schools,hospitals and religious buildings because they knew that certain rules covered those buildings. Then, they (enemy combatants) would go on to tell the rest of the world American troops where destroying all of their religious symbols.
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