Search: “qadiri”

Onus is a glass installation by Kuwaiti visual artist Monira Al Qadiri. I fell in love with it as soon as I saw the pictures and read the story behind it.

During the Gulf War, dead birds, fish, and animals regularly lined the coastline and deserts because of the massive toxic clouds fed by hundreds of torched oil wells. When images of these oil-drenched animals were shared in the news, many people thought they were fake and just propaganda. Monira learned of this misconception while she was studying at university in Japan and so Onus is her way of breathing life back into her memories by recreating these oil-drenched birds as glass objects.

If you’re in Berlin, Monira’s work is currently on display at the Koenig Galerie. If you want to see more of her work online, check out her Instagram @moniraism or website moniraalqadiri.com

Kuwaiti musician Fatima Al Qadiri was behind the musical score of the Senegalese film “Atlantique” which just won the Grand Prix award at the Cannes Film Festival a couple of days ago. It was Fatima’s first original score and if you have Netflix you’ll soon be able to watch the film and hear it since Netflix announced yesterday they were acquiring the international rights for the movie:

Netflix isn’t done pushing back against Cannes for rejecting its movies — if anything, it’s escalating the fight. The company has acquired international rights for two winners at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, with its crown jewel being Mati Diop’s Atlantics. The tale of a perilous love in Dakar won Cannes’ Grand Prix, the second most prestigious award at the festival. It also stands out as Diop’s first feature-length movie as well as the first movie helmed by a black woman to be in the running for the Palme d’Or.

The other title, I Lost My Body, won the best film award at the Independent International Critics’ Week section of the festival and also took the Nespresso Grand Prize. The animated flick from Jérémy Clapin is an unusual one — it follows a cut-off hand as it flees a lab to get back to the young man that it belongs to, and the woman that changed their lives. [Source]

I guess what I love the most about this is how all the people who gave her so much hate over the years probably feel really stupid right now. Score It magazine published an interview with Fatima where they discuss the film’s soundtrack and you can check it out here.

Kuwaiti musical artist Fatima Al Qadiri was recently featured on the Delta x VICE project ‘Launchpad’. It’s a 3-minute long profile on Fatima where she shares how she uses her global influences to create the music she makes today. Check it out above and then check out the rest of the films on the VICE website [Here]

The Guardian have a pretty long article on Kuwaiti musician Fatima Al Qadiri who just launched a new album yesterday. Her new album is called ‘Asiatisch’ and from the songs I heard off it I didn’t really like any of them and I’m not the only one either. But, its still cool she’s doing what she’s doing and you can check out the article on her [Here]

Thanks Simon

Fatima Al Qadiri is a multi-talented Kuwaiti artist and musician whom I’ve posted about a number of times before. Her latest project, the underground dance supergroup Future Brown were featured in The Guardian a couple of days back which is pretty cool and then last night they performed in Hackney, London as well. Check out the article as well as one of her tracks [Here]

FADER, a US based music-culture-fashion publication has an interview with Kuwaiti music composer Fatima Al Qadiri who’s currently based out of New York. I hadn’t heard of Fatima until just a few moments ago so I found all this pretty interesting. Her latest EP is titled Desert Strike and is inspired from the classic Sega Genesis game with the same name. The full story behind the album as well as samples of her song are on FADER which you can check out [Here]

Thanks Marko

Update: A reader reminded me that I do know her but I just didn’t recognize her. I posted about her last year and the post generated a lot of hate. [Link]

Kuwaiti artist Fatima Al Qadiri got a lot of hate here the last time I posted about her, and now she’s featured as the new band of the day in the Guardian. Even though it doesn’t mean much being in the Guardian, at least she’s being appreciated instead of being attacked. [Link]

Multi-talented Kuwaiti artist and musician Fatima Al Qadiri is the producer and vocalist behind Ayshay. I just heard her latest track called WARN-U and although I didn’t like it I do like the remix of it which you can hear at the bottom of the post. From what I heard her music has been gaining a lot of recognition lately in the underground scene in New York but haven’t really heard anything about her locally.

Fuelled by her fascination with the sacred songs of Islam ‘WARN-U’ is a homage and reinterpretation of the sounds that have haunted Al Qadiri since she was a child. Constructed entirely out of her own vocals, which she filtered and layered upon one another ‘WARN-U’ is Al Qadiri’s attempt to reconfigure the concept of ‘sacred’ music as inspiring divine love and divine fear.

She’s always been pretty weird (in a good way) so it’s no surprise really she would come up with something like this. For more information on her upcoming album click [Here]

Ayshay – WARN-U (Nguzunguzu Remix) by TriAngleRecords

Update: You can check out the music video below, looks like it was shot in Kuwait. (Note: turns out it was shot in Qatar)

[YouTube]

Kuwaiti visual artist Monira Al Qadiri just unveiled her latest work, a large-scale public sculpture in Central Park, New York. Standing nearly 5 meters tall, the piece is titled FIRST SUN and takes the form of a giant burgundy bust with a face concealed by a flat iridescent beetle. I’ve always found Monira’s work interesting and weird, and this sculpture, inspired by her research into ancient Egyptian history, is no different.

If you’re in New York anytime over the next year, the sculpture will be on display in Central Park from September until August 2, 2026. It’s a very cool achievement, and if you want to see more photos of this sculpture or her work, head over to @moniraism

Thanks Zaydoun!

Two Kuwaiti female artists, Aseel AlYaqoub and Monira Al Qadiri are taking part in this year’s Desert X AlUla 2024 open-air art exhibition.

15 artists from around the world were invited to take part in the exhibition under the theme of “In the Presence Of Absence”. The exhibition is taking place in AlUla area in Saudi Arabia and is open to all to visit.

Aseel’s work is the one on top, while Monira’s are the black enlarged meteorites above. For more information and photos of their installations, head over to their instagram account @aseelalyaqoub and @moniraism.

Desert X AlUla 2024 runs from 9 February to 23 March. For more information on the exhibition, visit @artsalula⠀

Photos: Courtesy of The Royal Commission for AlUla

Last year I visited Riyadh to check out the Noor Festival, the largest light art festival in the world. Noor means light in Arabic and last year they had 44 different light installations spread across Riyadh and some were really epic. This year the festival is going to be even bigger with over 80 artists invited to participate.

Monira Al Qadiri (@moniraism), the Kuwaiti visual artist whom I’ve previously featured on the blog before is one of the artists invited to take part in the festival this year which starts on November 30th and continue till December 16th.

Visiting the different light installations is free and finding them is easy using the festival app.

If you’ve never been to Riyadh it’s a fun road trip if you want to drive down. Any resident of Kuwait can also apply for a Saudi tourism eVisa no matter of your nationality. There is a lot to do in Riyadh in terms of things to see and restaurants to experience. Last year I went for one night only because there were a handful of light installations I wanted to see but it was really hectic and I wished I stayed a night longer. You can do it in just a night if you really want but two nights would be much better experience.

For more information on the festival, visit @noorriyadhfestival or riyadhart.sa/en/noor-riyadh

Got talent? If yes then check out the competition below.

Together with Art Jameel, Crossway Foundation has recently launched an open call to find talented young artists, photographers, filmmakers and designers aged 18-25 in the UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UK.

Eight winners will have the opportunity to travel to Japan in November 2015 where they will experience one of the most inspiring cultures in the world. Kuwaiti visual artist, Monira Al Qadiri, has been appointed Artistic Lead, and will mentor the winners during their time in Japan.

To enter the competition, applicants must complete an application form on the Crossway Foundation website: www.crossway-foundation.org

Applicants must submit a creative project that relates to the theme: “Encounters with another World.” The project can either be pre-existing artwork or devised especially for the competition. The deadline for the competition is 15 September 2015.

Art Exhibit: Scattered, Gathered – Artist Books
Art Exhibit: Stages of Ascent
Art Exhibit: “Muhawwil” by Monira Al Qadiri
Cinemagic Rooftop Movie: Talk to Her
Cinemagic Rooftop Movie: Offside
Guided Tour: Liberation Tower
K’S PATH Shelter Open Day in Wafra
Shakshooka Nomadic Farmers Market
The Kuwait Motor Show 2014
Workshop: Graffiti in the Garden

PechaKucha Night #7 will be held tomorrow, Wednesday the 16th of February. 20 images x 20 seconds will be presented by:

Najiba Marafie
Bader Al Bassam
Haider Al Mosawi
Monira Al Qadiri
Naif Al Mutawa
Mohammed J. Aldhubaib
Najwa Marafie
William Schuilencerg
Ola Alrefai

Date: Wednesday, February 16th 2011
Time: 7:30 pm
Place: Open air ampitheater at Gulf University of Science & Technology campus, West Mishref
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://www.pecha-kucha.org/cities/kuwait-city
Facebook: Pecha Kucha Kuwait

Update: Just corrected the dates above, it’s February 16th NOT 17th

Found out about this exhibit through Facebook:

The essence of living in an urban environment is the forced interaction between people of different social backgrounds, outlooks etc. In Kuwait, where pedestrian culture is nonexistent, people are trapped, encapsulated in bubbles: in walled-off homes, cars, diwaniyas and beach houses. Chronic boredom is rampant. Music video channels, for example, are mushrooming due to their role as a platform for anonymous public communication. Confessions of love and notes of introduction appear as scrolling text messages at the bottom of TV screens. Cruising is a lifestyle, where the geezi, the young, idle male, is the ultimate cruiser. What this show proposes is that everyone is a geezi, by cruising through the filters of the internet, TV, cellphone-to-cellphone Bluetooth technology and other forms of indirect contact.

A group show featuring the work of Khalid Al Gharaballi, Fatima Al Qadiri, Tareq Al Sultan, Bassem Mansour, Monira Al Qadiri, Lauren Boyle and The Bruce High-Quality Foundation.

Curated by Fatima Al Qadiri and Khalid Al Gharaballi.

Event Info
Name: Eb Beiti, Aana Geezi
Tagline: “In my house, I’m a Cruiser”
Host: the sultan gallery
Type: Music/Arts – Exhibit

Time and Place
Start Time: Tuesday, March 25, 2008 at 6:00pm
End Time: Thursday, March 27, 2008 at 9:00pm
Location: the sultan gallery

Here is the map [Link]