Culture & Education | Wednesday 18 March, 2015 12:01 am |

1971, the cutting-edge new design gallery opened by Sharjah’s contemporary visual arts hub Maraya Art Centre, is proud to make its debut at this year’s Design Days Dubai. This is the leading fair dedicated to collectible and limited edition furniture and design objects in the Middle East and South Asia and takes place 16-20 March.

Representing 1971 at this year’s Design Days Dubai is architect and engineer Amer Al Dour with his installation ‘Analogue Arabesque’. Having worked in both architecture and engineering and developed an interest in the interface between technological innovations and architectural space, Amer recently opened ‘inter | act architecture’, an interactive design studio in Dubai. His studio seeks to create installations that both interact and respond to environmental stimuli while also influencing spatial experience around them.

‘Analogue Arabesque’ Al Dour’s kinetic installation for Design Days Dubai is a bold attempt to present a physical representation of the graphic process underlying the formation of arabesque patterns that are normally generated through intercrossing circular foundations. Arranged systematically on a surface expanse, circles, with their tangents and intersections, form the basis of an endless array of complex designs. Through constructive movement, the simple circular roots of the complex arabesque patterns are put in juxtaposition, creating an altogether new dimension of representation that brings opposites such as chaos and order, simplicity and complexity into closer proximity with each other.

Maraya Art Centre first showcased Amer Al Dour’s work last year in ‘Islamopolitan’, a groundbreaking collective design exhibition exploring the relationship between Islam and design on a holistic level. The exhibition was very positively received during its recent international debut at Istanbul Design Week (IDW).

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About 1971
1971, the UAE’s newest experimental design hotspot, can be found on Sharjah’s iconic Flag Island. Far more than a gallery, the innovative art space aspires to become a regional and international design hub in the UAE that works closely with local designers, architects, schools and universities, to present a contemporary and cutting-edge mix of curated exhibitions and public programmes.