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magpie

@magpieuae.bsky.social
445 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 · 15h
What a Jurassic forest might have sounded like 165m years ago. Scientists modelled the sound-producing structures in 9 fossil species that lived together in what is now Inner Mongolia tinyurl.com/3aht44nu...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 17h
An affectionate survey of still life album covers tinyurl.com/ncnm8fzj...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 19h
DEADLINE 20 October – OMIC OPEN CALL Submit a painting, sculpture, or installation for exhibition at OMIC plus chance to win three cash prizes totalling AED 20,000 tinyurl.com/4bh3du96...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 21h
Frieze Abu Dhabi director Dyala Nusseibeh discusses “transnational art histories” with art historian Nabila Abdel Nabi, curator of the Frieze Abu Dhabi Artist Award for Dala Nasser
tinyurl.com
Nabila Abdel Nabi on Transnational Art and Frieze Abu Dhabi
Tate Modern's senior curator of international art on decentring Eurocentric art histories and her thinking behind the Frieze Abu Dhabi Artist Award.
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
The story of Dial-A-Poem – 15 phones with answering machines set up in 1969 in a room on the Upper East Side tinyurl.com/3tzp94xu...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Canadian poet, essayist, playwright and translator Anne Carson has been awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature "for her bold and inventive oeuvre that, in playful dialogue with the classical tradition, has created new forms for contemporary literature"
tinyurl.com
Nobel Prize in Literature 2026
The Nobel Prize in Literature 2026 was awarded to Anne Carson “for her bold and inventive oeuvre that, in playful dialogue with the classical tradition, has created new forms for contemporary literature.”
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
How Nick Park did A Grand Day Out tinyurl.com/2pae94j2...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Some surprises in the 5th annual Art Basel & UBS Survey of Global Collecting: like Gen Z nepo babies are responsible for most top-end purchases, they like to use AI for their decisions, and they won't show publicly
tinyurl.com
The Art Basel and UBS Survey of Global Collecting 2026
The Art Basel and UBS Survey of Global Collecting 2026
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Here’s a theremin on your computer: just use your webcam to follow the movement of your hands – move apart for volume, raise for pitch, lean back to soften the tone (or it works with a mouse). Add in preset effects, save the results
theremin.bizibah.com
Air Theremin
Play a theremin in mid-air: phone motion or camera hand tracking. Scales, cave reverb, recording.
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
An entire Flickr account for control rooms (h/t Messy Nessy) tinyurl.com/5hfrb5m4...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
DEADLINE 16 OCTOBER: VENICE INTERNSHIPS – apply to intern onsite for a month at the Biennale Architecture 2027 (Venice, 6 May to 21 Nov 2027). Travel, accommodation, per diem provided. Must be 21+, fluent in English, and keen tinyurl.com/4zt9444t...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Seems Greece really, really wants the Parthenon marbles back from the British Museum
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
DIFC ART NIGHTS Apply to participate (12-15 Nov) with 2D or 3D art, workshops, music etc. Deadline 29 Oct tinyurl.com/y8yydp9c...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Souraya Noujaim will be the next director of the Louvre Abu Dhabi, succeeding Manuel Rabaté. A specialist in Islamic art history and archaeology, she was LouvreAD’s first Scientific, Curatorial and Collections Management Director to 2023 tinyurl.com/bdhp3knz...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
To mark the 10-year anniversary of Zaha Hadid’s death, the architect’s former HQ in Clerkenwell is reopening soon as "a public cultural space for architecture, design and the related arts" – first up: an exhibition of her stage and set designs
tinyurl.com
The Zaha Hadid Foundation Is Reopening the Late Architect’s Former HQ as a Public Arts Space
An exhibition titled “Zaha Hadid: Architecture of Performance” will also open on 10 Bowling Green Lane in Clerkenwell.
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
DEADLINE 15 October – 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. tinyurl.com/crbb2yvd...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
#MAGPIESEZ It’s your magpie Weekly – opinionated, full-fat, fact-filled, free: this time with more thoughts on Frieze Abu Dhabi, what to see at Dubai Comedy Festival and why, and a chance to name a T.Rex tinyurl.com/3ukcmc2n...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
#MAGPIESEZ The Arts Center at NYUAD likes to give us the unexpected: so oud (Hazem Shaheen) meets flute (Naïssam Jalal ) for an evening of top-quality meditative jazz at NYUAD on Friday. We wondered how and why ... tinyurl.com/sxbw9ukk...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
"Lots of millennials graduated into a recession only to learn that adulting was hard. Perhaps that’s why so many of us sought refuge in a discipline that had been created for children." Dennis M Hogan thinks improv has had its day
tinyurl.com
No, But | Dennis M. Hogan
Love it or hate it, improv comedy is neither dead nor dying.
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
OMIC OPEN CALL Submit a painting, sculpture, or installation for exhibition at OMIC plus chance to win three cash prizes totalling AED 20,000. Deadline 20 October 2026 tinyurl.com/4bh3du96...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Ten brutalist buildings that were once controversial (and may still be, though renovation and evolution have softened several) tinyurl.com/3adxpmrk...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Damien Hirst thinks "anything done well is art". Discuss
tinyurl.com
Is Fashion Art? Damien Hirst Settles the Score
Artist Damien Hirst has designed a line of cashmere clothing with Barrie, declaring “Anything done well is art.” In an exclusive interview, the United Kingdom's richest living artist talks about the times he almost worked with Hussein Chalayan, Lee Alexander McQueen, and Virgil Abloh, and why those partnerships never came to be.
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
"The conventional story told about the YBAs is one of friendship and community. What stands out now is their allegiance to neoliberal individualism." An entertaining history of the YBAs and what happens when rebels get rich
tinyurl.com
What Changing Views of the Young British Artists Say About the Art World Today
What do status changes for the Young British Artists, or YBAs, say about the art world today?
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
#MAGPIESEZ What's the difference between Frieze Abu Dhabi and Abu Dhabi Art? We peered under the covers ... tinyurl.com/2jae53rh...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Finalists for the 2026 Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
EyeCandy – "a visual technique library for visual technique lovers". Or "what's that thing they do with the camera called"?
eyecannndy.com
Eyecandy - Visual Technique Library
The visual technique library for visual technique lovers. Enjoy. Learn. Don't gatekeep.
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
This year's 'Genius Grant' MacArthur Fellowships (an unrestricted $800,000 apiece) include four artists: Christine Sun Kim, Rodney McMillian, Vincent Valdez, Chip Thomas
tinyurl.com
MacArthur Fellows - MacArthur Foundation
The MacArthur Foundation supports creative people and effective institutions committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. In addition to selecting the MacArthur Fellows, we work to defend human rights, advance global conservation and security, make cities better places, and understand how technology is affecting children and society.
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
What happens when art and cultural institutions are deployed in catalysing an environment readied for the creative community? "The outcome is a kind of mass conspicuousness" says Clive Chijioke Nwonka, musing on the redevelopment of London’s Hackney Wick
tinyurl.com
What Happened to Hackney Wick?
It’s not just the earth that’s being turned over in the redeveloping London’s ‘creative quarter’
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Bastardica is “a type foundry for bastard web fonts.” Pick one base font, select another to mash in, create terrible but fascinating results, download them as a usable TTF/OTF/WOFF2 bastardica.mitpit.co...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Ceramic Beats is a step sequencer built out of The Met’s ceramics collection – you make beat patterns using the sounds that each object would make. Pleasingly different ceramic-beats.zui.oo...
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magpie @magpieuae.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
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 · 02/10/2026
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 · 02/10/2026
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 · 02/10/2026
#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
tinyurl.com
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
tinyurl.com
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
tinyurl.com
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
tinyurl.com
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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