Project Summary

March Meeting 2011 was the first time that Brusselssprout had been presented in a public forum, and represented the magazine’s efforts to seek partners and funders for support of upcoming and future projects. The magazine was established in 2009 after its founders grew frustrated with the number of gaps in the documentation processes related to the production of art in the UAE, primarily a result of the country’s rapid growth. A second and undeveloped element of their practice is the Dhow Documentary. One of the Emirate’s last known makers of dhows (traditional ships), Mohamed Bu Haji is part of a generation born between the 1930s and 1950s whose knowledge and expertise is being lost. This project seeks to initiate the process of documenting the undocumented traces of UAE history, before they disappear completely.

Presentation Proposal

Brusselssprout is a free curatorial e-zine on contemporary thinking and emergent art from Dubai and the Middle East. Brusselssprout aims to become an open, independent and alternative platform offering content related to the artistic and cultural world. With the help of the curatorial endeavours of emergent artists and projects, it strives to contribute a different layer to the ever more monopolised artistic scene. Brusselssprout is a luxury for those of us working on it and hopefully for those who consume it. Adapted for the latest electronic devices (iPad, Kindle, etc), Brusselssprout can be downloaded quarterly in ePub and PDF format form. We would like to release a print edition of Brusselssprout and produce the Dhow Documentary film.

Speaker

Ignacio Gomez (b. Andalucia, Spain, 1975) is an architect who has a Master’s degree in Architecture and Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Madrid, and Arkitektskolan och Designskolan Socrates Exchange Grand from Lunds University, Sweden. He also studied on the Postgraduate Programme in Museography and Cultural Management at Foundation Antonio Camuñas, Centro Superior de Arquitectura, Madrid. Gomez has practiced in Lund, Madrid, Barcelona and Dubai since 1998, collaborating with Ateliers Jean Nouvel, David Sim, b720 Arquitectos, L35 and Aedas. Currently working as an Associate Architect at Godwin Austen Johnson, Dubai, his work has been awarded the prize for Middle East Young Architect of the Year 2010. Gomez is also collaborating actively as guest critic at the School of Architecture and Design at the American University of Sharjah.

November 2011

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