DISCUSSION

Yesterday was the last day of MENAlab 2010. Tutors & students were frantically getting everything set for their reviews. I must say this is been a long and eventful journey, marked with great memories.

I spent a few hours in Lab03 with James, Giorgio, and the participants. Everyone was so excited yet apprehensive about the review. I was quite impressed with the amount of work that’s been done and the level of communication between students particularly in this lab. I believe this was only really a reflection of James and Giorgio’s personae. 

Students started their process by looking into the issue of change and how different cultures deal with it. They were given micro assignments throughout the week. They set out to different areas around the city such as JBR, metro stations, and Bastakiya in order to learn about people’s perception of change. They’ve been conducting interviews, filming, recording, streaming, and finally packaging this all together in some form of a response.

Students were also trained to implement physical means of engaging in the communities with an emphasis on ideas of change. Verbal communication on the micro-level was and still is an integral part of our culture, manifested earlier in stroy-telling, poetry, proverbs, amongst other forms. James believes that, on the other hand, macro-level communication needs to be developed in this region. Students in this lab have been introduced to the art of instantly piloting ideas, unconventional communication methods, computer facilitated multimedia experiences, and most importantly team trust. Both tutors were determined to work towards achieving this and students were getting more comfortable particularly in communicating with a large group in public.

“We would like our process to be a build-up; it’s very organic and works naturally towards the end result.” — James. The work created in this lab will be displayed in the MENAlab exhibition. 

Outcomes of all MENAlabs will be showcased around Al-Bastakiya on Saturday February 6th, 2010 at 7pm. 

For more details on MENAlab03, visit http://menalab3.blogspot.com/

At 12 pm, tutors of MENAlab5 Hind Bin Demaithan & Nada Al Mazrou headed to Al-Satwa with the participants. They walked between the small retail outlets and private residential dwellings in an attempt to explore the area by documenting the shop displays, house facades, common color schemes, and other elements comprising the visual culture of the area.

 ”Upon arriving there, we started walking around, observing the people and trying to get a sense of the dynamic of this area. We tried to talk to the people who live or work there about our project and surprisingly, many of them were very excited and willing to contribute. We then looked for a spot where we can work on our collaborative project on the 3rd of Feb, 2010.” – Nada

They’ll be working on their collaborative piece at 2pm today right in front of Emirates Bank that’s located by the post office in Al-Satwa!