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magpie

@magpieuae.bsky.social
443 followers 355 following 1.9K posts

The UAE’s guide to all things cultural, creative and inbetween. Informative, pointed, educated. And free! Sign up for our weekly newsletter (and no spam) at bit.ly/47D9k3X

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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 5h
You couldn't make it up – yes, the White House did misspell "United States" as "Unites States" in Trump's 'White House Accord on Super Intelligence'
tinyurl.com
White House misspelled United States in 'super intelligence' accord
The typo appears under Trump's signature on the accord, which is reportedly aimed at addressing fears about AI technology.
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 7h
This stunning diving gannet by Henley Spiers won the overall Bird Photographer of the Year 2026 title tinyurl.com/ykphvj4n...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 9h
Stephanie Rosenthal, currently director of the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Project and a visiting prof at NYUAD, has been named the next artistic director of Rotterdam's Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, starting in spring 2027 (so well after Guggenheim opening) tinyurl.com/4hwcztfc...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 11h
#MAGPIESEZ The newly announced Frieze Abu Dhabi curated programming looks interesting – big site-specific installation by Dala Nasser, five works in Frieze Sculpture Abu Dhabi on Mamsha Beach, etc. We'll have a longer look and report back www.friezeabudhabi.c...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Dalia Hamati, architect and Asst Prof at AUS, will curate the National Pavilion UAE at next year's Venice Architecture Biennale di Venezia. Her winning proposal learns from UAE practice to investigate architecture, climate, and water
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The 20th International Architecture Exhibition - National Pavilion - UAE
The National Pavilion UAE has appointed architect, educator and researcher Dalia Hamati as curator of the UAE’s participation at the 20th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia in 2027. Developed in collaboration with UAE-based researchers and practitioners, Hamati’s research will be presented in Venice and accompanied by a dedicated publication. Selected through an […]
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
#MAGPIESEZ It's Thursday, it's October, so it must be time for the first magpie Weekly of October – still free, still fact-filled, this time with news of Frieze Abu Dhabi, Sharjah Biennial, and Venice Architecture Biennale tinyurl.com/3bysyvsm...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
DEADLINE 7 October – Design a commemorative stamp for the UAE’s 55th Eid Al Etihad. Three cash prizes totalling AED 20,000 tinyurl.com/p4t22mv2...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Route 66 is 100 (sort of: it was actually decommissioned in 1985) so ArtNet collated some of the art it has inspired tinyurl.com/3cfwy2z6...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Amman Design Week runs 2-17 Oct after seven years away: 220+ designers +makers, with exhibitions, workshops, talks etc. Here's an interview with the new co-directors: "All this work had already built up. Our job was to give it a stage" tinyurl.com/4m7pvxxp...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
“A good artwork is both about the war and not about the war at the same time.” Ocula wonders whether Ukranian art can ever be just about art again
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How the War in Ukraine Has Restricted the Way We See the Country’s Art
Not all art being made in Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion is about conflict, but it has become a lens through which many people consider the work of Ukrainian artists.
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Designing with AI: Buzz Usborne describes months spent writing down fifteen years of unspoken design judgement so the tools could turn out better work. Some lessons here for anyone looking for an interface between LLMs and your creativity
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Buzz Usborne • Designing with AI
Case study: How a career of building creative teams, design systems and collaborative practices led to AI tools that increase speed without lowering the quality bar..
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Among other up/recycling art projects, Sangita Pillai uses a soldering iron to carve lace-like patterns into plastic bottles. Who knew? tinyurl.com/mvu9nscb...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
"We often discuss diversity and accessibility in cultural institutions, but rarely consider the financial conditions that determine who can remain in the field long enough to build a career." Giuseppe Moscatello argues for financial literacy in art tinyurl.com/mturb4r6...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
So that 3rd-party makers can use them to create accessories like cases, Apple maintains a collection of downloadable dimensional drawings and tech specs for many of their products. They are beautiful in their precision. h/t Jason Kottke for this tinyurl.com/mr3hafra...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
AI for losers? Probably the best review of Meta's Muse, by Garbage Day’s Ryan Broderick
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Am I too boring to need an AI agent?
Read to the end for a machine we must create
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Walking Men is a series of public art installations by Maya Barkai, a human-scale photographic collage of pedestrian traffic icons assembled from around the world. She also has poster collections walking-men.com?utm_...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
“I am not going to comment on the finances involved [but] the museum has everything it needs, and will need.” Guggenheim's Mariët Westermann gives awat v little in this FT interview tinyurl.com/4uy8yrtw...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
"Grim – but the strongest in years." Artnet likes this year's Turner Prize show tinyurl.com/2yw237mz...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Ornithology meets techno at last on TikTok tinyurl.com/3t4jcxbd...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Artizen is an online jigsaw puzzle app featuring 100+ paintings from 500 years of art history (most famous, some unexpected) with some informatonal background. Completely free @
artizen-puzzles.com
Artizen: Art Jigsaw Puzzles
A relaxing puzzle game that takes you on a journey through art history.
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
"The AI apocalypse is the sort of mono-maniacal junk-intellectualism people resort to when they live a dull uneventful life devoid of stimulating interests and engagements." A good read for the weekend from Martin Robbins tinyurl.com/4ymzahsa...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
"Don’t speak for longer than five (three?) minutes without inviting the other person to contribute." No.1 of Ian Leslie's Seven Rules of Good Conversation (or at least of avoiding Bad Conversation)
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Seven Rules of Good Conversation
Or At Least of Avoiding Bad Conversation
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
"Jane Austen understands the world too well to be too much overshadowed by her critics." Henry Oliver read Sense and Sensibility again
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Rather Better Pasturage for Their Cows
I read Sense and Sensibility again
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
"Britain would not cut up the Bayeux tapestry. So seize this moment and reunite the Parthenon sculptures in Greece" writes Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis in the Guardian. Main takeaway: a mere loan from the British Museum is a no-no tinyurl.com/5dhmsu6p...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
“Sniffin’ Glue was not so much badly written as barely written ..." An affectionate survey of / intro to zines and zine culture. Guaranteed to make you (feel) cooler tinyurl.com/3h6xyt6z...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
How and why Disney’s films used to look different (and why Mulan in the multiplexes looks different to Mulan on Disney+. Another great Animation Obsessive story tinyurl.com/mthp7crr...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
#MAGPIESEZ Here's your regular and FREE magpie Weekly – this time with the Guggenheim pre-selling, a chance to be on the next Made in the Emirates, and how the superrich are getting superricher tinyurl.com/mrkcbr8p...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
... and here's the Underwater Awards Australasia 2026 competition, one from the 'conservation' category tinyurl.com/3thn6j78...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
More photography awards, more stunning pics. Here are the winners of the 2026 European Photography Awards (tho this stunner happens to be by a Canadian photographer) ... tinyurl.com/ywvxuswe...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Remember the world’s biggest painting, sold for $62m in 2021 by artist (sic) Sacha Jafri at a charity auction at the Atlantis which was supposed to benefit Dubai Cares? And how it didn't? Here's some real journalism that fills in a few of the gaps
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Impossibility Is a Myth
Sacha Jafri sold an artwork for $62 million dollars in 2021 at an auction. But the money never changed hands. What happened?
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
DEADLINE 30 September – Rove Hotels Emerging Artist Prize. Apply to be part of the shortlist exhibit at World Art Dubai 2026; one Grand Winner gets a booth at WAD 2027, one People's Prize winner gets AED 5,000 tinyurl.com/ybdkkxwd...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Couldn't nab a ticket to the Bayeux Tapestry show? If you have an hour to spare, this video explainer makes a decent alternative youtu.be/WnJgym1oIJU...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
"Beg, borrow or steal a ticket [but] your wonder at this marvellous spectacle might be tinged with disquiet at the people who are 'presenting' it." The Nerve on the Bayeux experience
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We need to talk about the Bayeux Tapestry show and its billionaire sponsor
Igor Tulchinsky, whose name and portrait are front and centre of the British Museum’s blockbuster show, has funded the IDF and donated to Trump even as the president undermines cultural institutions, writes Nerve art critic Ben Luke
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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
All these platforms were originally sold to us as being liberating tools of free speech and expression. Now they're being actively used by their owners to suppress it www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
DESIGN A COMMEMORATIVE STAMP for the UAE’s 55th Eid Al Etihad. Three cash prizes totalling AED 20,000. Deadline 7 October 2026 tinyurl.com/p4t22mv2...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Pem Lham has won the $30,000 Rubin Museum Himalayan Art Prize for 2026. It's the largest international award supporting contemporary art related to the Himalayan regions – currently a bit niche maybe, going to be big artworld-wise (thinks magpie) tinyurl.com/345rrwrc...
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Michael Warburton @michaelwarburton.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
‘The 9 Rules For All Roadrunner And Wile E. Coyote Interactions’ — a wonderful guide by animation director & creator CHUCK JONES — born 114yrs ago today — for all the animators working on the Cartoon.
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Cory Doctorow knows the real reason the tech bros want a slowdown on the pace of AI development (they’ve spent with little profit to show for it so far)
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Cory Doctorow: AI’s big beasts aren’t really scared of their products. They’re scared of their competition
The US giants would love to stop battling each other and be protected from China – and they might have hit on just the narrative to make that possible, writes our tech columnist
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
ANIMATION – Stories of Wulfa: propose an animated series of 15 x 20-min episodes inspired by Emirati culture and values. One winning project will receive AED 2m for development and production. Deadline 15 October 2026 tinyurl.com/crbb2yvd...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
MCH Group, parent of Art Basel, had a good half-year – operating revenue up 12% to CHF 249m over the same period last year, profits quadrupled to top CHF 18m. The revenue gain was mainly attribited to the first edition of Art Basel Qatar
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
TIME’s list of “the 100 most influential people shaping the future of art” includes very few Gulf-related names – Hoor Al Qasimi of course, Wael Shawky (Egyptian but sort-of adopted), Dana Awartani (Saudi’s Venice pavilion), and that’s it tinyurl.com/yc8hpwxf...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Any Human Ever randomly recreates an individual human life from any point in history and anywhere in the world (constructed from statistical probabilities, so not real people). Addictive stuff anyhumanever.com/?ut...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Make My Drive Fun: (potentially) interesting places on the route between two cities anywhere in the world. Vibe-coded? Still neat, even if it doesn't know about Liwa makemydrivefun.com?u...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
ZuckOff is a free iOS and Android app that can tell you when camera glasses like Ray-Ban Meta or Oakley Meta are nearby (it scans for their Bluetooth signal – actually it logs every BT device it finds). You can tell it to ignore your own specs zuckoff.app/?utm_sou...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
"Death of the button": UX designers must shifting from designing visible interfaces to "transparent, intent-driven AI experiences" tinyurl.com/4fpwc3sm...
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Nicolas Hénin @nicolashenin.net · 17/09/2026
Nice campaign by the Norwegian Consumer Council about the declining lifespan of products. Enjoy!
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Artlogic (which sells gallery management systems) has had a go at 'how to write a business plan for a successful art gallery'. It seems a sensible starter and is free, but of course it lacks detail and doesn't come with a ready-to-use spreadsheet ... tinyurl.com/n22yrsah...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
"Seen when young, unseen in middle age, seen again as you get older: does that sound familiar? If so, you may be an artist" Martin Herbert opines for ArtReview
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Contemporary Art’s Midlife Crisis
Seen when young, unseen in middle age, seen again as you get older. Does that sound familiar? If so, you may be an artist
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Avoid the AI slop in search results: Slopevader searches the pre-Nov 2022 web. Interesting to compare results from a modern-day search ... slopevader.com/?utm_...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Mapping the world's mushrooms (sort of) tinyurl.com/mpabtbvj...
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