لا أستطيع مشاهدة الأخبار ولا أتحمل المشاهد المأساوية في غزة فحتى كتابة هذا المقال (مطلع العام الميلادي الجديد والجيش الإسرائيلي يقوم بهجمة شرسة صباح أول يوم في العام الجديد) سقط 400شهيد وأصيب أكثر من 2000والحكومة الإسرائيلية المصغرة تجتمع وعلى وجه أولمرت وباراك ابتسامات عريضة. أي خسة هذه وأي سقوط عن الدرك الأسفل من الانسانية. سيدة العالم (أمريكا) تلوم حماس على إطلاقها الصواريخ على المدن اليهودية وهي صواريخ لاتقتل أحدا مع أن (أمريكا) لا تلوم من يقتل من أجل الدفاع عن النفس ولا تحاكمه، فأي معايير هذه التي تحكمنا. أهذه “نهاية التاريخ” التي بشر بها (فوكوياما) فعلا انها نهاية تاريخ الانسانية فالتاريخ لن يتوقف عند حضارة “خسيسة” لا تعرف معنى “الحق”. ربما يجب على سيدة العالم ان تتعلم من سيرة صلاح الدين الذي عفا وصفح عن أعدائه (ومن عفا وأصفح فأجره على الله)، حضارتنا وثقافتنا تحكمها الانسانية ويهيمن عليها الحق. لا أستطيع مشاهدة الأخبار فأنا لا أتحمل رؤية الاطفال ورؤوسهم متفجرة برصاص الوحوش ولا أتحمل مشاهدة النساء وهن يبكين رجالهن الابرياء. وهذه أنانية مني لكني لا أستطيع فعل شيء سوى الدعاء وكتمان القهر. مشاهدة الأخبار تزيدني اكتئابا وتجعلني لا أشعر بطعم الحياة التي أصبحت “فارغة” ودون طعم. لا أستطيع مشاهدة الأخبار التي تقول ان القمة العربية لن تعقد (رغم أنني لا اعتقد أن القمة العربية ضرورية لأنها ليست مهمة ولن يكون لها أي تأثير إلا تأثيرها المعنوي، فعلى الأقل يشعر الغزاويون أن هناك من يناصرهم). لا أستطيع أن أتحمل مشاهدة العالم الذي يصمت على الظلم لكني أشعر بأن هذا العالم بحاجة لنا، فعلا يحتاج إلى مبادئنا العادلة التي لم نستطع أن نطبقها حتى على أنفسنا ويحتاج إلى إنسانيتنا التي فقدناها.

I fail again to eject words on this; what good are they? The full piece here.

Last Month, Sharjah Calligraphy Biennial 2008 opened its doors and humbly, I had a piece there that my teacher Mr. Adnan Al-Shareefi urged me to do, and I thank him for that.I met a lot of key figures on the opening day, such as Mohammed-Jalil Rasooli, the Iranian Master! There’s a solo exhibition for him in addition to Adnan Al-Sheikh Othman (whom I met as well), a Syrian Master Calligrapher in the Arabic Calligraphy Center in the Heritage Area, so I was roaming around and there was a guy that looked more of a figure that was there for the event, he had a companion, and 2 other men surrounding them and obviously leading an appreciation kind of a conversation. I figured instantly that one of them was obviously Rasooli so I instantly went to meet him.

Rasooli looked old, he is. He wore a pair of squarish glasses and had this frown on his face, I asked the guy on his side, is this Mr. Rasooli? He confirmed. I instantly turned to Mr. Rasooli to show my profound appreciation to his work and his person! Unfortunately I didn’t think he wouldn’t understand a word of Arabic nor English, so I had to tell his companion that it’s an honor to meet him and to see his work here. A few seconds of translations and he was replying back in a warm way: “Tashakkor Tashakkor!”. I recommend going to the biennial if not for the works there, only for his works!

Another key figure was Tajelsir Hassan! I was looking all over for him until I met with another sudanese calligrapher, so I couldn’t but ask: “Is Mr. Tajelsir Here?”, he confirmed too and I felt I’d go close to his work in hope that I’d find him in person. I went in the section that had all the modern “Huroofi” pieces (Abstract/Letterish/Modern Calligraphy) but never found him in there, so I went out to the courtyard and there was a Sudanese guy standing with another person, so I was observing his face features, and it was him! He notices me staring at him so he interrupts his conversation with the other guy, and there I popped in to say hello. He spent a few seconds to read my Participation tag, and when he read Philisteen (Palestine) on my country, he hugged me! I was speechless!

I remember I once wrote about Mr. Khaled Al-Saai. A well-known Syrian modern Calligrapher, Mr. Khaled was very friendly! I met him more than once before that, once in my teacher’s studio and Mr. Adnan was like: “Here’s Khaled Al-Saai, the guy you’ve been nagging my head with his work!” I almost went: “DUUUH!” but in respect I replied: “Yeah sure I know him!”. Anyway, he took me to his works and we had a little conversation about his look to modern calligraphy. His words were: “Modern Calligraphy is about Ideology”.

Dec 26, 2008

Six months after writing the above, and discovering that the draft didn’t go through, I realized I owe this space a lot.

This is the piece that had been exhibited in the Sharjah Calligraphy Biennial 2008.

In last week’s class I was somehow intrigued by Apple’s Mighty Mouse aesthetics, I always was; everyone picks it up and appreciates its minimalist design and whiteness. A week later and a few hours refining it, I believe it’s a fairly good addition.

Rendered with Maxwell Render, taking 10 hours. Click on the image for a larger version.

I’m sure I’ve missed something!

Ken Rockwell

Ken Rockwell Photographer

Prikka Chair by Ilmari Tapiovarra

I prepared a brochure containing details about the course and my contacts, don’t be shy.

NOTE: The above link to the brochure is a 71-MBs version, it’s only 8 pages but the images are high-res. Preferably save it from the link directly without viewing it in your browser, or download a low-res version here. (22 MBs)

UPDATE: I discovered a typo in the previous version of the brochure and now I got that fixed, plus I added two more pages to it.

Rem Kookhaas, The State of Architecture At The Beginning of The 21st Century.

IMAGES COURTESY OF FRANSWORTHHOUSE.ORG

For those who have actually checked out the new website and obviously found that lots of those links were merely decorative, I have fixed lots of them and still am, it’s a pain really, but I love the feeling of this new design, it feels very young and self-made, it gives it a genuine touch.

Now broken links are minor, the whole photography page is not there, and I forgot to create a coming soon replacement until I found out how to build a good gallery, since my page layout wouldn’t do. You can meanwhile visit my Photo.net page here.