Saduing by Bader Almansour - Art exhibition

Passed by Beit Alsadu to see the exhibition "Saduing" by the Kuwaiti artist Bader Almansour (@baderart in IG), and I was impressed!

Although I am following his work in Instagram yet in reality it was a whole new ball game. He did not only recycle, made wonderful pieces from scrap, he reshaped our identity. First stop is with the two fonts he made, the first is through using the triangles in the sadu patterns, to create letters close in "Shape" to the Arabic alphabet, The second font relies on angles, where an angle represents a number corresponding to the letter order in the Arabic alphabet

Wood pieces from a famous board game (Keiram - كيرم) were used in shaping sadu patterns!

He also used keyboard keys to reshape sadu, creating paint-less art

Those and one more were closer to my heart since I love abstract and geometry, the good thing about his art is that you will never find any conventional medium :} and if you did, it would be an outlier, the norm with Bader is the abnormal

Sadu bags made of iron! I apologize for the poor lighting that does not show the lovely details of his work, but if you check his exhibition in person or his instagram you will see more

Sadu rug made of tires, another favorite of mine

I took a lot pictures of pieces that I did not show and only plan to show after the exhibition ends, I highly encourage you to go in person, see the use of different materials and mediums used to represent Sadu, I will definitely go back to see the works and attend his lecture that was planned to be held today, but got postponed.

Bader Almansour, is not only an artist he's a phenomenon, utilizing art to represent his ideas by bypassing "the norm" using recycled material, and he went far to produce fonts! The cultural content of this exhibition was very rich, varying from visual art to text and language, the idea of transforming a traditional Bedouin craft to art is impressive at its own, and Bader went further.

What made me fall in love with this exhibition other than my fascination of Sadu, the idea of exporting our culture, the works displayed did not only recycle used and neglected man-made things, they also brought life back to a much neglected part of our culture, which we limited to clothing or apparel, which reminds me, he even made clothing pieces and furniture! HENCE the post and my fascination. Saduing took it further in all scales, I highly recommend everyone to visit it, stop by even for a few minutes :} Sadu house is located on the Gulf Road, next to the national museum and Albader house.

الكويت اكثر من وطن - Meet Kuwait in the Avenues

"For the first time in the Middle East The Avenues mall will host in mid November and for a period of 17 days a 300 year narrative of Kuwait's history presented through the latest picture recognition technology."

"في منتصف شهر نوفمبر القادم سوف يستضيف مجمع الافنيوز لمدة ١٧ يوم مشروع وطني رائد والأول من نوعه في الشرق الاوسط هو عبارة عن سرد ٣٠٠ سنة من تاريخ دولة الكويت بإستخدام الهواتف الذكية."

Passed by the Avenues and saw a large installation of Kuwait map on the floor along with a wall filled with pictures going back to history from 1600 to the present day. Illustrating important historical events and facts about Kuwait. Its a unique VERY hip project, because you have to download an application called "Treek" which is Kuwaiti for "Hand lamp" :} you use it to scan this icon on the pictures / map

Here is how it looks like when the application detects the image, you get a play button & you can enjoy the video :}

 The videos are in both Arabic and English, very short and in sometimes funny! You'll be surprised, check out the videos

 

I loved how people are looking around on the floor, some are using the application others their own memory to locate the areas on the map and many were looking for their houses :p

Its a huge effort that is worth visiting and appreciating :} check out out people, it will last for 17 days

ملخص عن المشروع بالعربي

Project rundown in English

#Kethra Venice Biennale and Kuwait

I have been following @Kuwaitpavilion on Instagram for a while & CANT want to know what is #Kethra is all about! follow them and see how wonderful their world is :} Did I ever say how much I love architecture? well it mostly shows on Instagram & Twitter

Kuwait will participate in Venice Biennale! To know more stay tuned, 2 more days left & we shall all know! Where when is as per the picture below from their Instagram account! More info in twitter @_Kuwaitpavilion 

 

Will attend inshallah and see what's Kethra is all about, after all what can I ask for more than this:

Kuwait will be represented

Architecture

Creativity

In one place! {:

كثرة، مشاركة الكويت في بينالي البندقية هالسنه ، الروابط لحساباتهم في تويتر و انستاجرام فوق ، و يوم الاثنين بنعرف شنو قصة كثرة

جدااااااااااا متشوقه!

Where have I been?!

In the era of Twitter and Instagram, the tools to publish on the go, blogging seems is a bit time consuming, but has a greater joy to me :} This post will sum up most of the highlights in the past two weeks....

A banner @ The Sultan Center, if your into Jazz, check out the Gulf Jazz festival, coming up next week!

Reuse 5.0 is on now till 22nd of April, check out en.v website & follow them on twitter @env_initiative for more information, I will go in a few days inshallah & might post about it. I still have last year's pictures that I blame a lot my self for not sharing them! I need to find a solution for the boredom in blogging pictures, due to the long process I take in resizing them & adding the blog URL stamp.

Final note, go to reuse, support "REUSEing" :}

"REUSE is an annual exposition that serves as an opportunity for non-profit organizations, companies, professionals and aspiring creative talents to showcase their accomplishments in the fields of social responsibility and sustainability via a range of artistic mediums and interactive activities for the general public." via FB event page

احب الطيور و بالذات الزرازيير ،، هالزرزور كان مونسني كل صبح في كورس جدا ممل و موضوعه جدا جميل! مشكلة المحاضر ان اسلوبه هادي و على وتيرة وحدة و الموضوع جدا ممتع و يحتاج شخص عملي و متحرك اكثر، ذكرني باهم دروس حياتي ان المادة العلمية تعتمد على المرسل بقدر اعتمادها على المتلقي.

و على مدى ٤ ايام و انا اصوّر هالزرزور (او زرازير مادري لو تغير ، كلهم يتشابهون) و اخيرا باحد الايام عبرني و طالعني! من وناستي بنظرته سيدا انستاجرااااام :> 

ممتع انك تلقى اشياء بسيطة حولك تونسك ، عندكم شي يونسكم بالطبيعة او الناس اللي حولكم مثل وناستي بشوفة للزرزور؟ اذا لأجربوا تلقون لكم شي / شخص / مكان

Was an amazing NIGHT organized by DAI in collaboration with the USA Embassy in Kuwait , I have never heard Coco York before , what a strong beautiful voice she has mashallah! Mike del Ferro was on the Piano, his reactions while playing killed me, he was funny, however, when you listen to him play, you go to another world see this video for them in "My funny valentine"

Now the CHERRY on top, or shall I say cherries started off with ... Salman AlAmmari , a very famous Kuwaiti singer of old Kuwaiti songs. A huge shift in the mood, Mike tried to go along with some piano tunes but I am biased to "AlSout" art, to get a feel listen to this songs in youtube, this is one of my favorites by him called "إذا المرء - ّIf a person" based on a lovely old Arabic poem by AlShafe'i.

و عقب العماري دشت بنية "نسيت اسمها، يمكن بشاير؟" كانت تسمع يوكو تغني اليوم اللي قبل حفلتها في مركز الامريكاني ، فقالت لها تعالي غني! و رافقتها عازفة جاز سويدية :) ونسونا و بعدين شاب نسيت هم اسمه للاسف، و غنا لنا، بس بالنسبة لي فاصل العماري كان جميل. انا جديدة على فن الصوت و قام يطربني حديثا من سنتين تقريبا، العماري يعجبني و صلاح حمد خليفة بس اللي فعلا صوته عجبني سلطان مفتاح، و اهو اللي حببني في حسنها شل روحي

 

A really nice event, fototalks it was a 2 day event, included a general presentations, discussions and workshops. I mostly liked the live photographer's challenge where they gave 2 photographers 15 minutes to take a picture and edit "if needed" for a certain object, none knew what before the competition started :}

I'm looking forward for next year's fototalks , I think it was a great event, lacked publicity especially on twitter, I wished if it had a designated hashtag where participants shared their view of the event. All in all it was a great 1st time {:

Last but not least, attended this cine-concert for 4 cellos by "the musinema cello quartet" more info in Kuwait-music. In short its 4 cello performers who put a sound track for a silent movie, the performance was somewhat boring to me BUT when they made extra sounds "vocals" that added effects to the music, I took a pause and started to see the big picture! At the beginning of the performance  I either focused on the musicians or the movie, then kept watching the movie and forgot they were there, although I have a very wide view of the stage, here it hit me, the importance of sounds (music / voices) in a movie, how they are the hidden solders that might make a great performance, story and direction fail or succeed :}

Then it became more interesting, as I focused on the big picture, where really important factors of success are hidden and how you have to look very carefully into details to appreciate every bit was put in ANY effort. It was a nice experience.

وطن الشعراء .. للفنان وليد عبدالرحمن الفرهود

زرت اليوم معرض الفنان وليد الفرهود في قاعة عبدالله العدواني في ضاحية عبد الله السالم، سمي المعرض بـ وطن الشعراء، ليحمل لوحات فنية من الخط العربي كتب بها ابيات شعرية لمجموعة من شعراء الكويت

 

اللوحة تحوي كافة الشعراء اللي شملهم الفنان في اعماله الفنية ، اللي تناصفت بين جمال الفن التشكيلي و الخط العربي 

الشعراء من الاعلى الى اليمين 

السيد عبدالجليل الطبطبائي

سعاد الصباح

فهد العسكر

زيد الحرب

حمود ناصر البدر

عبدالله العتيبي

يعقوب الغنيم

يعقوب السبيعي

علي السبتي

سليمان الهويدي

منصور الخرقاوي

حمد المغلوث

خالد سعود الزيد

خليفة الوقيان

احمد السقاف

محمد الفايز

عبدالعزيز البابطين

عبدالله زكريا الانصاري

احمد العدواني

صقر الشبيب

فهد بورسلي

استغرقت وقت طويل في تصوير اللوحات في المعرض و عندما راجعت الصور وجدت صعوبة في اختيار اللوحات التي سأشملها في هذه التدوينة! فجمالية الاعمال التي تدمج بين الخط، الفن التشكيلي و التصميم الهندسي صعبّت المهمة، ولكن اختياري وقع على التي كان أبياتها الاحب لنفسي...

وطني - فهد العسكر

وطني و ما أقسى الحياة     به على الحر الأمين 

ما راع مثل الليث يؤسر     و ابن آوى في العرين

 

كريم الأصل - عبدالعزيز البابطين

فإن كريم الأصل كالغصن كلما تحمل أثمار تواضع و انثنى 

شعوب الأرض - زكريا الأنصاري

تمضى شعوب الأرض للعلاو هذه امتنا لاهية

الحياة - يعقوب السبيعي 

إن الحياة بغير حب صادق تمضي سدى ايامها و شهورها 

اكثر ما لفت نظري في لوحاته الفنية التركيب الهندسي، رأيت في كافة اللوحات تركيبات هندسية معينه، و شدني دمج الزخارف مع الخط العربي و التصميم التشكيلي ، لوحات جميلة من الفنان الكويتي وليد الفرهود، انصح الجميع بالمرور للقاعة و الاستمتاع بها و التحدث مع الفنان الذي كان متواجدا للشرح و السؤال و الحديث عن فنه. المعرض مستمر حتى ١٩ يناير الجاري.

Jeffar Khaldi @ Dar Alfunoon

I went to Dar Alfunoon for the exhibition of Jafar Khaldi (As written in the invitation), a Palestinian Artist, who I just knew from the gallery about.While speaking with the lovely Lucia Topalian, the Manager Partner of Dar Alfunoon, that was generous enough to spare me a few minutes and explain the Artist's work and a bit about him, she noted that his name is Jefar and not Ja'afar! An old Arabic name, meaning "Strong Lion".

ذهبت لمعرض الفنان جعفر خالدي (كما كتب بالدعوة)، فنان فلسطيني، عرفت عنه من خلال دار الفنون، و من خلال حديثي مع مدير دار الفنون ، الجميلة لوسيا توبوليان التي تكرمت و شرحت لي اعمال الفنان و نبذة عنه، ان اسمه "جيفر"! و ليس جعفر!! و ان اسم جيفر عربي الاصل، و بعد البحث توصلت لان اسم جيفر يعني الأسد الشديد.

Happy Feet

set of 4, stencil, airbrush paint on paper

Some works were pictures printed and then painted over, others were oil paint on canvas, YET the paintings were very close to pictures, in a weird vivid yet washed up way!

بعض الاعمال كانت صور مطبوعة و فيما بعد تم تلوينها، و البعض الاخر عبارة عن رسم يدوي بالالوان الزيتية على الكانفاس، لكن الملفت بان اللوحات الزيتية المرسومة باليد كانت قريبة للصور، بطريقة حيّة و ممسوحة!

Me Laden 

oil on canvas

His "Me Laden" was impressive, the repeated features in the Laden'like face was really eye catching, the Jews dancing around and Qubat (= Dom) Alsakhra behind, that BTW many mistake as being Alaqsa Mosque, one of the 3 holy Mosques in Islam. I liked how pale the colors are, yet the point he was making is very strong (I always relate color shades with the idea), to me I saw it as a painting to mock the "Bin Laden" phenomenon and how in other parts of the world others are occupying countries and dancing around :} Nonetheless, I have no problem with Judaism but a huge one with Zionism.

لوحة "أنا لادن" كانت مبهرة، الملامح المكررة في الوجة المشابه لوجه بن لادن لفتت نظري، يهود يرقصون و في الخلفية قبة الصخرة الملاصقة للمسجد الاقصى و التي يخطئ الكثيرون بالإعتقاد بأنها هي المسجد الاقصى، احد المساجد الحرم ال٣ في الديانة الإسلامية (و الحرم القدسي في فلسطين يحوي عدة مرافق/ أجزاء من اهمها مسجد القبة و المسجد الاقصى). احببت الالوان الباهتة، و قوة الفكرة على الرغم من هدوء الألوان (لطالما ربطت درجات الالوان بالفكرة)، بالنسبة لي رأيت سخرية الفنان من ظاهرة "بن لادن" في حين انه بأجزاء اخرى من العالم نرى اشخاص يحتلون دول و يرقصون :) ولا مشكلة لدي مع الديانة اليهودية و لكن مشكلتي الكبرى مع الصهيونية.

The Anger: Images of the Arab Spring Demonstration, with Punk Rock

I took a pause infront of this one in particular because I had a conversation not long ago, regarding how we should segregate the feelings we have around the acts of crowds, once a whole crowd is unified on one thing, a word, a dance, a movement! When is this an act of the crowd and when is it "holy", when a person is humble (convinced) or merely acting like others.

امام هذا العمل وقفت لفترة، اتفكر بحوار قبل فترة قصيرة، فيما يختص بالتفرقة ما بين المشاعر التي تنتابنا في تصرفات الحشود، عندما يتحد حشد مجموع على شيئ واحد، كلمه، رقصة او تحرّك (هدف)! و متى يكون هذا الفعل من نتاج الجموع او "مقدّس"، متى يكون الشخص خاشعاً (مقتنعاً) أو مقلداً للآخرين.

My favorite paintings were for Omar Almukhtar and another for Moshe Dayan! I won't elaborate on them, go see them :) You can google his name, take a look at a few more of his works in this webpage and I highly urge you to go visit Dar Alfunoon, the exhibition is running from 12.12.2011 to 5.1.2012.

Dar Alfunoon - located in the Behbehani Compound House 28 Al Watiah, Kuwait City Tel 22433183

لوحاتي المفضلة كانت لعمر المختار واخرى لموشيه دايان! و لن استرسل عنهما، اذهب لرؤيتها :} و الكثير من المعلومات بالروابط في الفقرة اعلاه، عن الفنان و صور اكثر لأعماله، لرؤية اعماله المعروضة في الكويت بإمكانكم الذهاب لدار الفنون، المعرض مستمر من ١٢ ديسمبر و حتى ال٥ من يناير القادم.

دار الفنون - شارع الخليج العربي - مجمع بهبهاني (البيوت القديمة مقابل المستشفى الأمريكاني) - بيت رقم ٢٨ - الوطية - هاتف: ٢٢٤٣٣١٨٣

CAPS on?

I'm not into commercial Advertisement but there is a good cause behind an auction that will be held in this "carnival" which is as per the e-mail I got.....

"Are you tired of your daily routine? Feeling uninspired? Is your wallet burning a whole in your pocket, and you just have to spend your money on something artsy and different? Well the CAPS on carnival is for you.

GUST University is hosting its first and only CAPS on carnival on the 14th & 15th of December and it would delight us that you attend. Come show your support for new and old talents alike. Help them believe in themselves by showing your appreciation. Who knows you just might feel inspired to be in their place.

The carnival will host an array of talents, ranging from photography, art, crafts and many others. There will be shows and competitions going on through the length of the carnival. An auction will also be held, where pieces of art and photography will auctioned off to the highest bidder and all proceeds will go to dar elaytam “دار الايتام”.

So what are you waiting for? Get your CAPS on! and head on to GUST on the 14th & 15th of December."

I will try my best to visit it and see :} I have a thing for events holding talents/ freelancers and simple business and/or products :> Hoping that this one will be a good one!

سبمبوت

سبمبوت هو اسم الصالون الثقافي الذي تأسس على يد فتيات كويتيات و يدعوا كافة افراد و اطياف المجتمع للحضور،،، تستطيعون متابعته عن طريق تويتر و التحديث مستمر للضيوف و مقتطفات من الملتقيات، و سبمبوت كما كتب في حساب تويتر الخاص به :

 .تجمع شبابي معني بالشأن الفكري و الثقافي ........ نرفع السقف عالياً حتى نُزيله

تنقلت بين الاحداث الثقافية في الكويت و التجمعات بشكل خجول و مقل نوعا ما، بدايتي كانت مع دار الآثار الإسلامية التي عرفني بها المدونون و منها فتحت لي افق كثيرة، ما يحزنني على المشهد الثقافي الكويتي هو تخفيه و ان صح التعبير قلة الإعلان عنه، فعليك ان تكون متواصل مع الجهة المعنية او مع من يتواصل معها لتعلم بما يحصل و سيحصل! طرق الاعلان التقليدية كالصحافة و الإعلام المرئي مع الأسف تلتفت لقشور المشهد الثقافي في الكويت و تغطيه على استحياء و بإنتقاء، فالكثير من المعارض الفنية لا يتم تغطيتها والاحداث الثقافية تمر بصمت...

الحياد و عدم الرغبة بالظهور لمجرد الظهور او الشهرة او التصنيف لك كشخص "مثقف" بغض النظر عن واقع ما تحوي من فكر، اكثر ما انشده بكافة التجمعات و الاحداث حولي في الكويت. بداية سبمبوت قريبة و اعلم مقتطفات عنها ولكن الاهم هو وجود سمبمبوت.
 

تعدد الضيوف ما بين سياسيين، مفكرين، كتاب، فنانين و المشترك بينهم هو ذلك المجتمع الغض المتعطش للمعرفة و الثقافة، لتنمية الفكر و العلم، بحياد عن كل الموروثات و ما يلتصق بنا من تصنيفات فردية فرضتها علينا ثقافة لا تُعنى بشكل أساسي في الانسان. سبمبوت تجمع عقلاني حيادي، فلا اطراف سياسة ولا فنية ولا دينية تسيّره، مع احترامه لكافة تلك الأطراف والرقي بالتعامل معها، و هذا بالتحديد ما دفعني للحضور لأول مرة يوم السبت الماضي ، و كذلك نظرا لقرب التصوير و الفن لميولي، فا قلت "زلقة بطيحة" استطلع الوضع و اشاهد بنفسي بدلا من الإكتفاء بمقتطفات في تويتر. 

استمتعت و اضاف لي كل من الضيفين و الحضور الكثير، و الوم نفسي كثيرا على عدم تدوين ما قيل لاكون منصفة في النقل، كتبت تويت وحيد ذكرني بما قاله المصور الأمريكي كلنت كليمنس "كمحتوى لا اقتباس" حول الفرق ما بين الفن و الفنون الجميلة، الذي عرفه بكل بساطة بـ "الوقت"! فالفنان "في حالة كلنت يبرزها من خلال عدسته" يجب ان يكون مبدعا في ابراز فكرة  و يطلب منه ذلك في إطار زمني، و من خلال مهمة محددة، يقوم بإستجماع طاقته الابداعية ليبرز عمله الفني. اما الفن "الجميل - ان صح الإفراد باللغة العربية" فهو عمل يتحرر به ابداعك من حاجز الوقت و يعمل بما يحتاجه من وقت لا ما يفرض عليه من وقت.

تحدث بكل بساطة و سهولة عن المشاق التي يتكبدها لتنفيذ صورة سواء في الواقع او اخذه لصور واقعية و دمجها الكترونيا ليصنع صور فنية يصعب "او يستحيل" تطبيقها في الواقع، رجل متمرس علي الابداع و في تعابيره و اجاباته الكثير من المنارات التي تسهل علينا الحياة بشكل عام ، و ليس فقط التصوير الإعلاني أو الفني.

أما الضيف الآخر من دولة مصر، أيمن لطفي، مصور و فنان تشكيلي ، يدمج ما بين التصوير و الرسم الواقعي على العارض/ العارضة ، مستخدما الكمبيوتر فيما بعد لرسم طبقات إلكترونية على الصور. لطالما فصلت ما بين الفن التشكيلي و التصوير و إن تدخل الكمبيوتر افضله بشكل كامل او لعمل تصميم و من ثم تنفيذه واقعيا بأيدي الفنان، على عكس ما رأيت لدى ايمن لطفي .

أكثر ما لفت انتباهي في حديث الفنان أيمن حبه للإبداع و المحافظة على الملكية الفكرية، الموضوع الذي تفاعل معه الكثير من الحضور بشكل واضح و لمس عدد منهم بشكل شخصي من خلال "سرقات" لصور لهم، و من هنا تجلت لي جمالية الحضور و عقلياتهم الأروع، التي تقدر الملكية الفكرية، و اجتمع الكل على ان الملكية الفكرية تحتاج للحماية، الوعي، و تثقيف مجتمعنا بها.

تحدث أيمن عن الإحتكاك بالبيئة الفنية العالمية التي اتاحت له معرفه كلنت، الذي لم يخف اعجابه بصور أيمن عند عرضه لها. التصوير التجريدي كان امتع ما عرض من وجهة نظري وذلك لقرب الفن التجريدي مني :) عرض صورة لدرجات سُلم في الفندق الذي يقيم به، من الأعلى، و من ثم كررها بشكل جميل يجعل العين المجردة تتناسى بان مادة الصورة هي ،، درجات سلم!

لقاء بسيط و جميل، راقي و مهذب، مثري و ممتع

انصح كل المهتمين بالثقافة من اجل الثقافة، متابعة حساب صالون "سبمبوت" الثقافي، فالعائد الفكري يستحق التفرغ للحضور ، و من باب التغيير عن ثقافة الإستهلاك المادي، لنستهلك عقولنا بالامتاع او الإستفزاز الفكري، شكرا لفتيات الصالون، لحضور الصالون و لضيوفه، جهد راقي يشكر الكل عليه

Spoon Bending Seminar

Do you recall this post? So I decided to join the Spoon Bending Seminar, although I NEVER liked such things NOR liked those self improvement books, the how to ones?! I don't know those two subject seemed to be a turn off for me. Yet the idea of bending a spoon was funny and attracting to me and what is life with out trying everything?

That day that I paid Better Books a visit I registered in the Spoon Bending Seminar, to see whats the hype is about, since I found a lot of stuff online that confused me and many around me doubted the spoon bending issue, and some gave me the impression that it could be a trick or something to waste your money on.

I went in a bit late and was happy to know they are familiar with the Kuwaiti time :> it was a cozy 20 something people gathering, very relaxed laid back and friendly! The owner is so simple and honest that she allowed me in based on my word that I paid the cost "forgot to bring the receipt along!" She was interested with the activity more than anything.

So we got our spoons, after a short talk the seminar revolved around making us:

Relax
Concentrate
Bond
then.......
BEND!


You can see my result down here :>

Actually the bending was quite easy for me its the twisting that I wanted to pull off well, I wanted a swirly spoon or fork! But I got the one in this picture as the best trial to "twist" :p

The big picture is not about bending the spoon, it was about having a "Physical manifestation of connecting with your energy" as Bobby the seminar lecturer said. The ideas storming in my head were enormous! I will try to write some of them :} if they dont make much sense just comment and lets see how I can make them easier:


- Your energy field aka Aura is THERE, use it
- There is more to your mental and physical power, and its right there! You don't have to take the word of anyone on it, concentrate and find it inside
- Fear, other negative feelings we might grasp along our life, stop us from achieving, be daring and just do it



I had fun :} and I have new things to keep in my room :p

Sami Mohammad - سامي محمد

اعتذر عن التاخر في كتابة البوست عن معرض الفنان الكويتي سامي محمد في غاليري تلال لكن المعرض مستمر حتى ال١٣ من الشهر الجاري ،، و لي بوست آخر بعد ما ازور هالمعرض بتكلم فيه عن سامي محمد الفنان الكويتي اللي شدني بنحته

Pic from Gallery Tilal

I am very sorry for the delay in writing this post about the exhibition for the Kuwaiti artist Sami Mohammad held in Gallery Telal , its still ongoing and will end at the 13th of this month ,, Will have another post about it once I visit it and I will talk more about Sami Mohammed the Kuwaiti artist that attracted me with his sculptures 

Dates                                         :  2nd – 13th October 2011

Name of the Exhibition          :  Sami Mohammad Exhibition

 
Sami Mohammad remains faithful to the subject of “Humanity”. The human tragedy, human suffering and suppression and man’s quest for freedom, love and peace.  Although the subject has been used before Sami Mohammad made a conscious rebirth and interpretation of the topic.  His ability to tell the history of many nations around the world in wordless sculptures is commendable.

This exhibition unifies mankind recognizing man’s basic need, freedom.  His artwork roars with “Rage of Pride” demanding the elimination of the aggressor and restoration of man’s free will!

Kuwaiti Artist Sami Mohammad (art creativity), born in 1943 in a region east of Kuwait. He studied sculpture at the Fine Arts College in 1970, and obtained an honoring diploma from Cannes Sur La Mer in France in 1970. He is one of the founders of the Kuwaiti Association for Formative Arts established in 1967. He obtained several local and international awards, and was charged by the National Council for Culture, Arts and Literature with designing the encouraging state award in 1993 and designing and creating the honoring state award and medal in 2000.

He was granted the encouraging state award in 1999 by the National Council for Culture, Arts and Literature, and obtained a honoring and financial award at Tehran International Biennaial  for the year 2001, and executed a field project about the Kuwaiti woman in 2001.

A Landmark in the Kuwaiti Formative Art Movement. from Gallery Tilal website

Mirzam Manifesto Lecture

Mirzam Manifesto lecture by Jassim Al-Sadah was held today in Al-Americani Hospital "Cultural Center", which is the second event of the 17th cultural season by Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah (DAI). I did not have a chance to attend the first exhibition Anas Alomaim and Jassim Al-Sadah did back in January 2010 held in The Number 4, but was really excited to see the work published in the 4 blog and the Mirzam Manifesto blog. However, DAI allowed us to have a re-run! To be more exact a view of the work behind The Mirzam Manifesto, oh and on the name check this post :} says it all.

Came a bit late caught up with the second slide! Um-ilsa'af which is a fictional character used to be in old Kuwaiti stories to scare kids, sort of a witch riding palm leaves (= a broom) that steals kids who don't sleep at night, which he took up a notch! And come to think of it our culture did too lol, why scare kids to sleep...! ANYHOW

Here is Jassim explaining the piece called "Um-ilsa'af" which was really REALLY nice, where he mixed a woman figure with palm leaves swirled around her and an a few calligraphy lines from the old song-like lullaby related to that character. He made a box with "Um-ilsa'af" looking like a normal woman outside and scary with black in the inside, creativity was easily manipulated in a beautiful way :)

Then he showed more work related to Arabic pop-culture and the western one, the merge of both without loosing the Arabic identity, he showed us some amazing posters, bringing Western movies into the Middle Eastern Movie and Music stars, with a twist. In addition to his work in Cafe Bazza (which I accidentally went to yesterday and loved the interior + music! Yet it was a bit pricy for local food), you can see the pictures and the music in iLSuL6ana blog, or pay them a visit.

What I have seen today is modernly old, a touch of the past with a present view, the merge of the two time periods was successful and artistically enjoyable :}

Jassim Al-Sadah ,,, well done

9ura dot com lanuch! إطلاق موقع صورة

Monday I attended the official launch of 9ura.com, the website of a new photography award, this is from their press release:

As a non-profit organization that seeks to help discover and foster creative photographers throughout the Middle East, 9ura.com aims to serve as a forum where individuals are given the chance to tell their stories, rediscover their environments, and share their realities.


The 9ura.com photography competition, which we are proud to launch for the very first time, will accept entries beginning on August 15, 2011 with a deadline for all submissions falling on October 15, 2011. The theme of the competition is Environments in the GCC, and the categories for submission are Culture, Nature, and Urban. Winners from each of the three categories will receive a prize of USD 1,800.


Our goal is to bridge the widening gap between neighboring countries in the Middle East, starting with the Gulf region. We hope to better understand each other’s goals and challenges, ambitions and disappointments, passions and fears, societies and cultures, sadness and celebrations.


Each photograph is a connection and a revelation. Share yours.

The event was really cozy and laid back, as the 9ura team members are, a group of young very enthusiastic ambitious Kuwaitis who I am really proud of. In 9ura.com they aim to introduce the art of photography through celebrating it with an award, that will give the world a visual of what the GCC region is about, and above all being a non-profit organization shows you to what extent they are passionate about this project, else they wouldn't give their time, effort to make it happen! I loved the post in Ladashia with of course a better picture than mine, that I decided not to publish due to poor POOR quality :p

So to the lovely 9ura.com team I say, wish you all the best and I for one will be a constant supporter. Also I encourage ANYONE to participate, since as per the team of 9ura, any one from all over the world can participate, the competition rules are in their website, feel free to read them through :D ALL THE BEST!

يوم الأثنين حضرت حدث الإطلاق الرسمي لموقع صورة، موقع لجائزة تصوير جديدة، و التالي هو التصريح الصحفي الخاص بهم "من خلال ترجمتي المتواضعة":

كمنظمة غير ربحية تسعى للمساعدة بإكتشاف و رعاية المصورين المبدعين عبر منطقة الشرق الأوسط، موقع صورة يهدف لان يكون منتدى يعطى به الأفراد الفرصة للبوح بقصصهم، اكتشافاتهم و بيئتهم و المشاركة بواقعهم.

مسابقة صورة للتصوير الفوتوغرافي، التي تفخر بان تنطلق للمرة الأولى، ستستقبل الصور المشاركة ابتداءا من ١٥ من أغسطس ٢٠١١ و بموعد نهاية يوافق ال١٥ من أكتوبر ٢٠١١ . موضوع المسابقة البيئة في دول مجلس التعاون الخليجي، و التصنيفات / الفئات للصور هي الثقافة، الطبيعة و الحياة المدنية. الفائزون من كل فئة من تلك الفئات الثلاث سيحصل على جائزة مقدارها ١،٨٠٠ دولار امريكي (بما يعادل ٥٠٠ دينار كويتي)

هدفنا هو بناء جسر لتخطي الفوارق بين الدول المتجاورة في الشرق الأوسط، ابتداءا من منطقة الخليج. و نحن على أمل ان نتفهم بشكل افضل اهدافنا و تحدياتنا، طموحاتنا و خيبات املنا، ما نحب و مخاوفنا، مجتمعاتنا و ثقافاتنا، احزاننا و احتفالاتنا.

كل صورة عبارة عن رابط و إلهام. شارك بها.

بالنسبة لترجمة كلامي الحين برتاح و اكتبها حسب السياق و مو بالضرورة بشكل حرفي..

الحدث كان جميل و جدا مريح تماما كفريق مسابقة صورة، مجموعة طموحة و عالية الهمة من الشباب الكويتي، الذين افخر بهم كثيرا. من خلال مسابقة صورة التي ستكون سهلة و متاحة للكل لانها تدار الكترونيا من خلال موقع صورة دوت كوم و من ثم سيتم تنظيم احتفالية المسابقة و تسليم الجوائز. يهدف المنظمون للمسابقة لتقديم فن التصوير من خلال الاحتفاء به بجائزة و التي لهذة السنة ستلقي بالضوء على منطقة الخليج العربي ليتسنى للعالم الإطلاع على هذه المنطقة بعدسات المصورين، و كونها منظمة غير ربحية فالشباب القائمين عليها يثبتون مدى حبهم لهذا المشروع، و إعطائه من وقتهم و مجهودهم لإطلاق جائزة تحتفي بالتصوير. مقالة لاداشيا جميلة و تحوي صورة للفريق الرائع خلف صورة، بصراحة "صوري تفشل" 

لفريق صورة كاملاً ، اتمنى التوفيق و النجاح. و من هنا اشجع كل من وصلت عينه لهذه الكلمة و لديه اهتمام بفن التصوير بان يشارك، و من خلال الموقع يستطيع الكل قراءة شروط المشاركة، على امل ان يصبح مشروع جائزة صورة الكويتي مشروع عالمي و ليس فقط محلي او شرق اوسطي :}

ليلة الفن اليماني - صيفي ثقافي

ليلة الفن اليماني - صيفي ثقافي, a photo by Q80-Chill Girl on Flickr.

اقيمت ليلة الفن اليماني يوم الأثنين ٤/٧ ،، و كانت بداية ممتعة لانشطة صيفي ثقافي المقام من قبل المجلس الوطني للثقافة و الفنون و الآداب .. الجميل ان الفرقة مستمتعة بالعزف بقدر استمتاع الجمهور ،، و من اجمل ما عايشت تفاعل كبار السن مع الفن اليماني و ال"تشربك" و الصفقة في لحضات افتقدوا كافة بروتوكولات الجلوس و الاستماع و فضلوا الاندماج مع الموسيقى و التعبير بدلا من الاكتفاء بالانصات

الوضع يحفز انك تنزل و تشربك معاهم اكثر من انك تشوفهم و تسمعهم ، استمتعت و حبيت الامسية

شارك فيها من اليمن : عمر باوزير - أنور الحوثري - عمر الدقيل

عتبي الوحيد اني تمنيت اسمع "الا يا طير يا الاخضر" لكن ما غنوها مع الاسف .. الحلو بالتجربة غير المتعة بالاستماع و الجو العام الذكريات اللي طرت لي ،، ،، اشرطة الكاسيت ،، حقبة اخر الثمانينات و بداية التسعينات ،، الجو في سيارات اخواني الكبار لان العدني كان غرامهم ،، هبتهم في الاغاني اليمنية

انشطة مهرجان صيفي ثقافي

انشطة مهرجان صيفي ثقافي للمجلس الوطني للثقافة والفنون والاداب في خلال الفترة 4-27 يوليو :

الاثنين 4 يوليو : حفل الافتتاح ويتضمن ليلة الفن اليماني الساعة 8م
--------------
الثلاثاء 5 يوليو
افتتاح معرض الكتاب الصيفي لمدة 3 ايام في مجمع 360
--------------
الاربعاء 6 يوليو
الساعة 8م على مسرح الشامية
مسرحية الاطفال المدينة الثلجية لاحلام حسن -أحمد ايراج-محمد الحملي-زينة كرم
--------------
الخميس 7 يوليو
الساعة 8م مسرح عبدالعزيز حسين-مشرف بجوار الجمعية التعاونية
أمسية موسيقية كويتية- أذربيجانية
--------------
الاحد 10 يوليو
الساعة 7م مسرح متحف الكويت الوطني
محاضرة حول أهم المكتشفات للتنقيبات الاثرية للبعثات المشاركة لموسم 2010 و 2011 في الكويت :
يحاضرها كل من سلطان الدويش وحامد المطيري
---------------
الثلاثاء 12 يوليو
الساعة 10ص افتتاح معرض الكتاب الصيفي لمدة 3 ايام في مجمع اوتاد - الجهراء
الساعة 7 م معرض تشــكيلي تـسويقي في قاعة أحمد العدواني - ضاحية عبدالله السالم
الساعة 8م حلقة نقاشية لاسباب ابتعاد الجمهور عن المسرح :
محمد الرشود - د.نادر القنة - بدر محارب - عبدالمحسن الشمري - عبدالستار ناجي - مفرح الشمري
----------------
الاربعاء 13 يوليو
الساعة 7م في بيت البدر - متحف الكويت الوطني
افتتاح معرض الحرف الكويتية التقليدية
الساعة 8م أمسية شعرية :
ناصر البريكي - سالم الرميضي - عبدالله الفيلكاوي - فيصل العنزي
----------------
الخميس 14 يوليو
الساعة 8م مسرح متحف الكويت الوطني
ليلة مع الموسيقى العربية بقيادة المايسترو أحمد حمدان
-----------------
السبت 16 يوليو
الساعة 8م مسرح الدسمة
العرض المسرحي القطري - مسرحية مجاريح
تعاد يوم الاحد 17 يوليو
-----------------
الاثنين 18 يوليو
الساعة 7م في متحف الكويت الوطني
افتتاح معرض هواة جمع التراث
الساعة 8م مسرح متحف الكويت الوطني
عرض فيلم افاتار
----------------
الثلاثاء 19 يوليو
الساعة 10ص
افتتاح معرض الكتاب الصيفي لمدة 4 ايام في مجمع الافنيوز
الساعة 8م في مسرح الكويت الوطني
الفيلم السينمائي الصيني - البطل
----------------
الاربعاء 20 يوليو
الساعة 8م في مسرح الكويت الوطني عرض فيلم دكتور زيفاجو
-----------------
الخميس 21يوليو
الساعة 8م في مسرح الكويت الوطني
ليلة فن الصوت لصلاح حمد خليفة - سلطان المفتاح - حمد التويتان
----------------
الاحد 24 يوليو
الساعة 7م في مسرح الكويت الوطني
محاضرة حول البيوت الصديقة للبيئة بالتعاون مع معهد الكويت للابحاث العلمية
----------------
الاثنين 25 يوليو
الساعة 10ص افتتاح معرض الكتاب الصيفي لمدة يومين في سوق المنشر - الفحيحيل
الساعة 7م في قاعة أحمد العدواني - ضاحية عبدالله السالم
معرض التــصــوير الفـوتوغـــرافي
-----------------
الاربعاء 27 يوليو
الساعة 8 م على مسرح الدسمة
حفل الختام مع الفرقة التركية الاستعراضية

- منقول من جروب الفيسبوك الخاص بالمجلس الوطني للثقافة و الفنون و الآداب-

فااااا لا تقولون بس تسوّق و اكل :) حاولوا و شوفوا اذا اكو من هالانشطة اكو شي يشدكم 

المعرض العام العاشر -The 10th General Exhibition

يسر فريق التصوير والتوثيق التابع لمركز العمل التطوعي

دعوتكم لحضور حفل افتتاح

المعرض العام العاشر

في جسر المرينا مول

في تمام الساعة السابعة والنصف مساء

من ٢٦/٦/٢٠١١

لغاية ٢/٧/٢٠١١

Kuwait Voluntary Work Center Photography & Documentary team is pleased to invite you to

The 10th General Exhibition

In Marina Mall Bridge

From 26/6/2011 at 7:30 pm

Till 2/7/2011

Video Trailer

Via FB

و للي يبي يعرف شنو مركز العمل التطوعي يدش هاللنك

:}

A blogger'et has a book out!

I originally knew from Twitter that the dear blogger next door "Danderma" published a BOOK! So the story is very similar to how Banat Alriyadh book saw the light, in terms of online content that made it to be a book, Danderma had a frequent post called "Yawmyat Wa7da Q8ya Dathra" and the post turned into a book :>

Pic link

I have to be honest that I have not been following up with her blog nor the whole blog-o-sphere very well recently but that news really got my attention, as if my sister or a close friend made it up there, took her creativity to the next step and shared it with the world! I still have that close connection with the term and person behind the word "blogger" I am very happy for her and proud of her, I will attend the book signing event tomorrow with the details below, to encourage the effort of a young Kuwaiti blogger, Allah eywafgech Danderma {:

You’re cordially invited to ” Danderma’s” Book Signing. Come and get your signed copy of “Yawmyat Wa7da Q8ya Dathra” book otherwise known as “The Chronicles of Dathra, A Dowdy Girl from Kuwait” and meet the person behind the hilarious series.

Date: Tuesday June 7th, 2011

Time: 7 pm – 10 pm

Location: 52 Degrees, Al- Tilal Mall, Shuwaikh Tel: 22255212

Link

Go and support our blogger :> and if you can't make it, you can also get the book online via Lulu.

Next Thursday 26th of May !!!

For all Sulayman al Bassam work lovers out there, and the supporters of Kuwaiti efforts to enrich our culture, please keep on reading this post :}

A brilliant Kuwaiti Road Movie!

“One of the best Arab documentaries of recent times. ”

                                                               (Al Sharq Al Awsat)

"الفيلم تجسيد لواقع عربي معاش ، ظهرت فيه فوضى العالم العربي و التناقضات"

                                                                                                   جريدة البيان

Winner of the “Gold Remi” @ 44^th WorldFest Houston International Film Festival 2011

"ريتشارد الثالث "شخصية عربية مهمة جداً

Richard III "An Arab VIP"

إنتاج شاكر أبل

إخراج شاكر أبل و تم لانغفورد

Producer; Shakir Abal 

Directed by; Shakir Abal &; Tim Langford

screening at Cinescape Cinemas in Kuwait from May 26

Featuring:

Fayaz Kazak  Jassim Al-Nabhan  Amal Omran  Monadhil Daood  Sulayman Al-Bassam

Carole Abboud  Faisal Al-Ameeri  Nicolas Daniel  Nadina Jomaa  Raymond Hosni  Bashar Abdallah  Abdullah Al-Awadhi  Faisal Beloushi 

Ahmed Daboos  Abdullah Al-Mutairi  Sultan Muftah

About the film:

In Richard III “An Arab VIP”, the camera follows Sulayman Al-Bassam’s theatre company as it moves from rehearsals of his play in Kuwait to performances at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and a special “VIP” presentation at an ancient desert fort in Abu Dhabi. 

"A topical and timely documentary film that pointedly melds Middle Eastern politics with onstage drama and offstage vérité" 

                                                                                            BAZAAR Magazine

"من أفضل الأفلام التسجيلية العربية الجديدة "

جريدة الشرق الأوسط

70 minutes documentary in English & Arabic with subtitles

Visit the film’s website @ www.richard3anarabvip.com

View the trailer on VIMEO (www.vimeo.com/21555122)

or

YOUTUBE (www.youtube.com/user/TheCultureProjectQ8)

For information about screening locations & times, go to: www.kncc.com

بالعربي المختصر ،،، فيلم وثائقي عن عمل سليمان البسام "ريتشارد الثالث - مأساة معربة" و ما حصل في سفر هذا العمل سيعرض إبتداءا من يوم الخميس الموافق ٢٦ مايو ٢٠١١

موقع الفلم

www.richard3anarabvip.com

دعاية "تريلر" الفلم

www.vimeo.com/21555122

للتفاصيل عن اوقات العرض ،، سينسكيب

http://webserver2.kncc.com/arabic_index.php

راح اكون من اول الحضور ان شاء الله ،، للحين ما لقيت شي في موقع سينسكيب ،، ان شاء الله خلال الايام الجاية يبين؟! راح ارد اكتب بوست لما اعرف معلومات عن الوقت و المكان

Special thank you: Mr. Sulaiman AlBassam , for letting me know about this movie and noting that it starts on Thursday :D have fun all!

BarCamp Kuwait #2

Saturday
2-April-2011

I came a little late I missed out 5 presentations! although I saw a little bit of one of them online, the stream was an amazing idea, you could even hear the mentos suffering with plastic bag tearing sounds, and then it ends! May the souls of all those mentos rest in peace.

I also managed to get a cookie :} There was a huge cookie fight! Silent but a lot of munching went around.

 

Now for the real juicy part, the presentations, I didn't take pictures of all the presentations, although I was in a killer seat! Was trying to focus on what all those really smart geeks are saying. Howeve barcamp Kuwait's website has it all, an excellent post containing information about the presentations and presenters. They made my life easy :p will just link to their links.

So the list of presentations and presenters is as follows (lazily copied from BarCamp)

1. WarDriving Kuwait, by MBH.
2. Cloud Computing, by Bashar Abdullah.
3. Python in the Workforce, by Burhan Khalid.
4. Cookies Vending Machine, by Dherar Al-Rushoud.
5. WebsiteSpark and BizSpark, by Microsoft.
6. User Experience Design, by Haider Al-Mosawi.
7. Kuwait Paper Dump Mobile, by Salem Marafi.
8. BioBanks and the Importance of Informatics in Kuwait, by Dari Al-Huwail.
9. Internet at a Glance in Kuwait, by Talal Al-Awadhi.
10. Entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley, by Tammy Camp.
11. Open Source in Business, by Bashar Al-Abdulhadi.
12. Scaling Web Applications, by Ahmad Al-Ibrahim.
13. Q8Traffic, by Nasser Al-Hilal.
14. Patient Data Privacy, by Dr. Mohammad.

One more caution, I am not an IT person, barely with an MIS minor, so technically I might not do the presentations fair, I will view them of a simple user view so forgive me if I don't review from an IT point of view :) I will start from the 6th.


User Experience Design, by Haider Al-Mosawi

The presentation carried a lot of concepts on how to design your website/service/product to be user-friendly, because in the end you do need a satisfied user, although there are various reasons that might force some users to use something they don’t like "having a large group of people you connect with are into it" (e.g.: Facebook, I for one do not like it and don’t recall when I last signed in, but keep it for events and people mainly!). presented information was good, light, presenter sent it out well, luckily not too technical so I kinda grasped everything.

Kuwait Paper Dump Mobile, by Salem Marafi

Kuwait Paper Dump Mobile presentation was the most attracting one to me when I first read the schedule, because I think its one of THE most successful non-profit quiet online Kuwait projects, its a website with a simple idea that grew with time, from the wonderful blogger 3baid, it is very Eco-friendly and useful service! I quote from their website

"Kuwait Paper Dump’s Goals
Our mission is to reduce the need for paper by creating an online reference of information that is traditionally distributed by paper media. Kuwait Paper Dump is an environmentally oriented not-for-profit organisation."

The project grew with time and now there are more contributors :) I hope that one day it becomes "the website" all brochure distributors go to, and we would stop or at least limit the unnecessary printing. After that being said, the mobile version would be defiantly interesting, since I do benefit from KPD a lot.

Now there was a lot of technical stuff shown like codes and how to and which language or method was used to make the mobile version of the website, YET the presentation was not boring nor stuffed with gibberish to me! I enjoyed it very much, a perfect balance between the really heavy IT material and fun, a highlight that made the information flow much easier to my non-IT brain. Also the graph in slide #7 illustrating the way KPD mobile version works was really easy to comprehend for me. Good work Salem and all of the KPD team.

BioBanks and the Importance of Informatics in Kuwait, by Dari Al-Huwail

The barefoot guy :p The presentation was light and very informative, they work in Dasman Diabetes Institute. He spoke about having a bio data bank for all the people around Kuwait, a bio bank is simply all the medical information about a person that is /was/ will be recorded about a person during his lifetime all gathered in one massive database. I thought it was impressive and a GOLD mine, pity I didn’t talk to him in time of why I think its so precious! But I will write it here & will try to e-mail him with my ideas!

As a person with a statistical background I think its amazing data! A lot of analysis can be done, the simplest that popped into mind is a correlation study between diabetics and the medical history of a patient, so instead of hearing “its genetic” there might be other factors hidden. Especially that such a disease is widely spread. Also those findings will ease the awareness campaigns aiming to remove those factors leading to diabetes. Presenter was really easy going relaxed. Away from the personal security issue I think its vital information to be kept electronically, if we as patients can access it and have our medical history anywhere for any Doctor to use them, our life will be a lot more easier than it is, now the security, authentication and authority issues are a huge debate. Yet the concept is lovely.

Internet at a Glance in Kuwait, by Talal Al-Awadhi

This was not a heavy one and a more close to the heart, since it contained a lot offfffffff "Statistics" :} The presentation was a rundown for the internet usage in the world and in Kuwait specifically and how the future is "on the go", meaning mobile developed applications/websites/services are a must, the market is going towards them mainly because "for me as a user" its easy and accessible anywhere! It was a light one, liked the presenter he presented the information in a simple clear way. I liked the time related changes in the internet in Kuwait , brought up a lot of memories, I could almost recall the dial-up sound when we used to connect through KEMS, the weekends were a vicious fight through the busy lines.

Entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley, by Tammy Camp

Now this is a cool one, we had a video conference with Tammy, so the content is mainly about what the title above, Silicon Valley is one of the best places a web-developer can be, all the resources are around the corner and idea hunters are there too. She later asked about the people around in Kuwait, whats new there what are we up to. The conference was fun and I loved her smile!

Open Source in Business, by Bashar Al-Abdulhadi

Now this was the cherry on top! I did not know him in person nor KuwaitNET but I follow him on twitter, the biggest con is that the presentation was outdated "which he said and apologized for in the beginning" also many friends told me that some of the information are wrong and not valid currently, nonetheless the pros are a lot :} I always like to eat the frog first then go to the nice stuff :p here it goes...

He spoke about open source business related programs and how you can cut back on cost as a fresh new entrepreneur with facts and numbers, in the presentation he showed us a comparison he made in 2007 "I think?!" when he first started his business between the Microsoft business suit and an open source one. The main idea that attracted me is: there is always an other way to do things away from Microsoft, now I highly respect them for the office package and more, also for sponsoring barcamp YET the monopoly move was not nice, back in the day :p Now things did change but history was made. To jump away from any software/hardware that is very familiar is scary! I know I was hasty when I got my mac but now simply love the shift.

His enthusiasm when presenting was very good and also the Microsoft fight was amusing between him and the organizer Shaymaa (a.k.a AhamShay) who was a great sport about it. Now I can firmly say, I do not fear the open source products, the presentation was done on an open source software, his mobile was turned into a slide flipping thingie through an open source program :) The choice is yours and it can be done. In his twitter page he defined him self with a few words I quote "Open Source Enthusiast" and he made me enthusiastic about it! WELL DONE.

Scaling Web Applications, by Ahmad Al-Ibrahim

He is one of the KoutBo6 guys, now from all the presentations I attended this was the heaviest. Again the fact that am not into IT made my life so hard in his presentation, he elaborated on a lot of technical stuff where I wished he gave the big picture of what that technology did for them, yet those could be beneficial to all the IT people out there. He seemed a bit tired or drained, kesar kha6ri, he could have presented it in a better way especially that this website is amazing, it is one of the most successful Kuwait web-projects I've ever known. He spoke about how their website is being operated, which I thought would be tough, an online game is time consuming and all the syncing and time related information transfer is pretty sensitive! and they did it :D I don't think I am being fair to this one but again as a non-IT person I wished to know more about their work on the website in an easier way.

Q8Traffic, by Nasser Al-Hilal

This was an adhoc presentation for one of my FAVORITE twitter accounts in Kuwait :D I love @q8traffic, its a simple twitter account made my Nasser Al-Hillal that takes tweets from around twitter land, that contain the hash-tag #q8traffi and post them in that account and you by following q8traffic you can get on the spot user-made updates! How cool is that? He made this simple useful idea a reality and non-profit :} a young Kuwaiti initiative that we all thank him for *I for one, do, very much* with all this traffic going on, q8traffic has made my life so easy. Also it feels really good to be able to help others to know ahead what they are facing out there :) the user-related additions are very attracting to me. Well done and wish that more development comes to q8traffic.

On half of the q8traffic presentation I left I was drained lol. Now the over all event pros and cons, the above pretty much says the pros since we saw and heard amazing people present their work, all of them with no exception has added a lot to me, some more than others but they all added :)

The room was terrible! Two poles inside?! WHY @!@ I hoped for a better bigger one. Time was really a big issue for me, the event is so long! I think we should make Barcamp marry PechaKucha :} However, I would like to thank Microsoft and ALL the lovely event organizers (Shayma - Majed - Haider) and the others who helped around and the one who's camera kept finishing the battery and had to call for help all the time lol, you all were amazing. nothing beats a relaxed small live local event! Had an amazing afternoon/evening/night that day :>

p.s.: sorry for the delay o.o