No clichés: to face Dubai, without any pretension of the absolute, it is necessary to appeal to a good dose of vision and make a clean slate of the many, certainly too many, clichés that pile up in the mind of any European who appears at the gates of the Emirate. For better or for worse, let it be clear: because if just asking around Europe, Dubai is a “place of fiction par excellence”, the same question posed to the expat-residents, has as a prompt answer that here and only here is the coveted “neverland is entirely possible”.
Dubai International Financial Centre
Oxymorons aside, to get into the city spirit of this Arab metropolis it is good to start with a stroll along its “walking promenade” of the DIFC (Dubai International Financial Centre). The beating heart of the Emirate’s financial economy, this long walk is a succession of fountains, water features (including the sunny “Yellow is Mine” by Gunnur Ozsoy), sculptures (first of all the disturbing “Unwind” by Richard Hudson) in the shadow of skyscrapers and a Parisian Défense-style arch. And then, above all, to frame the perspective that opens onto the smooth emerald green gardens and stained by the fuchsia of the fluorescent petunias, the arched hands of the installation “Together” by Lorenzo Quinn.
MOTF, Museum of the Future
After the crossing of the Italian artist’s hands, the sinuous toroidal shape of the MOTF, an acronym that stands for the Museum of the Future, immediately appears in a play of mirrors amidst skyscrapers. Enveloping and sinuous, this eye on the city with the volume pierced by a large elliptical opening is the new unmistakable city star, able to best interpret Dubai’s innovative approach and its leading role among the most modern cities. “A place of inspiration and knowledge that represents one of the most complex and ambitious projects ever realized, embodying Arab excellence in the fields of science, mathematics and research”. Standing 77 meters tall and featuring 1,024 separate stainless steel and glass panels, the spectacular building is an architectural marvel, built using robotic technology and with a focus on sustainability. The pillarless structure houses seven floors and is powered by 4,000 megawatts of solar energy, while the facade is decorated with Arabic calligraphy showing three quotes from Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai. One of these reads “The future belongs to those who can imagine, plan and build it. It is not something that is expected, but that is created”. And it is incredible how this museum, inserted in the heart of the city centre, just raised on a “hill” of meadows, identifies itself as a place of peace and tranquillity, among the bustling city arteries.
Dubai Mall designed by Dp Architects Singapore
And we are not far from another of the city’s symbolic places: one of the most controversial temples of modern consumerism: the “Dubai Mall” designed by Dp Architects Singapore. This, in our eyes certainly a “non-place” (Marc Augé, dixit), a Kitsch icon of the compulsive hoarding frenzy, worthy of the best representations by Duane Hanson, is incredibly the main meeting point of the city, with the meeting point of the “Waterfall Dubai Mall” and the large aquarium as a backdrop for masses invariably branded and with mobile phones readily in hand, in a succession of flashes of collective hysteria. But the experience must, yes, be consummated: here one captures much of the essence of the incredible melting pot that is the Dubai melting pot, if only for the international variety of meetings, capable of making everything tastier and colored with respect to the same homologating and homologated experience of the American counterparts. And therefore, with all due respect to compulsive shopping, Dubai is to its mall like the Rome of Sweet life at the Trevi Fountain.
The Dubai Fountain
And speaking of fountains, here is the largest in the world, “The Dubai Fountain”, the dancing fountain. A real hydro-choreographic system located on the Burj Khalifa artificial lake in the center of the city. Its splashing games, to the sound of music, are the evening charm of this city, a vague and distant memory of the thirsty desert lands of the past. Here the water desalinates from the sea in profusion and the well-kept gardens shine with colour.