From contemporary to antique - design festival dazzles in Dubai

(17 Mar 2014) One of the highlights of this year's "Design Days" is a collaboration between modern art and rare antiques.
The Carpenters Workshop Gallery, based in London and New York, showcases contemporary sculptures against a backdrop of very rare antiquities owned by the renowned Steinitz Gallery in Paris.
Eighteenth Century panels, once belonging to an Austrian palace and worth 4.9 million US dollars, are juxtaposed with Ingrid Donat's modern aluminium wall panels.
This natural rock crystal chandelier, worth a million US dollars, was once part of the collection of the Italian Bruni Tedeschi family.
Contrasting with a 17th Century tapestry of King David is the "Swarm" light, by Random International, which resembles a swarm of bees when it reacts to sounds.
The "Mask" sculpture is by Thomas Houseago.
It's not for sale but contrasts with the antique panels.
This is a modern take on the traditional grandfather clock.
It portrays an actor over a 24-hour period.
Time is penned in every minute with a black marker pen.
In between the actor has lunch, drinks tea and smokes a cigarette.
Julien Lombrail, co founder of Carpenters Workshop Gallery, says he feels the old and modern work extremely well together.
"For Dubai we have mixed together contemporary art with antiques. They work together because it looks good, there is a good vibe. You feel as if you are in the home of a very refined collector who would have collected pieces from different periods of time," he says.
This year's show is said to be the biggest in the event's three-year history.
Italy, France, South Korea, Germany, Britain, Lebanon, South Africa and the UAE are among those represented.
But this year, "Design Days" has also attracted work from Pakistan and Algeria for the first time.
Show director Cyril Zammit says Dubai's position as a "crossroads" between East and West makes it an ideal place to showcase work from all over the world.
"There's a great selection of Algerian designers for the first time out of their country to Dubai representing limited edition design. I'm very pleased because the nature of Dubai is the crossroads and opening the doors and have the people discovering each other," he says.
British sculptor Tom Price created this cherry orchard from plastic pipes, the kind which are normally used in bathroom plumbing.
The sections of piping were initially cut laboriously by hand, until Price helped design an electric tool that enabled them to be cut more quickly.
Despite the tools, the work still took him months to complete.
"Evocative of.. the sensation of being amongst a grove of cherry trees. But I also wanted to make, I didn't really want to hide what it was. I wanted it to be very apparent that it is still just plastic pipe and that it is held together with cable ties," explains Price.
Meanwhile, British-born artist Elaine Ng Yan Ling is using her Climatology installation to show nature's survival instincts.
She has created a new material, smart veneer, to create objects which adapt to fluctuations in light, temperature and humidity.
The artist says it shows how nature can adapt to be become more resilient and relevant.
She found inspiration from the resurrection plant Selaginelia Lepidoplylla which can survive drought for months at a time.
"Dubai is very interesting for us to come and showcase this because originally the installation is inspired by a plant called the resurrection plant and its origin is from the desert," she says.
Jordan is also making its debut at this year's event.
"This collection is a documentation of the towns and villages of Palestine.


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