Bahraini photographer Noor Abdulla Al Bastaki could not have chosen a better place than Abdulqader Café for her exhibition. Located in the heart of the Manama Suq, the café is a landmark for those who love old traditional coffee shops and food.
Run by three brothers Abdulqader Al Qaed, Abdulla and Salah, the coffee shop has been fragrancing Manama air with the smell of fresh coffee beans for more than 35 years.

The idea of organising an exhibition at the coffee shop worked well for Ms Al Bastaki because she found exactly what she was looking for — real people. “I wanted to try out something different as this is my first solo photography exhibition. I wanted to shoot people going about what they do every day, I couldn’t find a better place for something like that,” said the satisfied and proud 25-year-old who also works as a customer service executive at Credimax.
“I have taken around 55 pictures of men sitting in the coffee shop. I’ve also taken a few pictures of the shop. All photos have been attached to chairs at the coffee shop for people to see.”
Talking about her experience while shooting at Abdulqader Café, she says: “The café visitors have been more than nice. They are all very friendly and sweet.  There are times when I’m unable to make time for photo shoots at the coffee shop, I get calls from the visitors as they wonder why I am missing – I feel special.”“I am grateful to Abdulqader Al Qaed for his support and allowing me to click photographs of his café.” Ms Al Bastaki has participated in a number of exhibitions in and out of Bahrain. She says, “I have participated in various group exhibitions in the US, Germany and the UAE.” She adds, “This exhibition, however, is the most special to me as I have always wanted to click pictures that highlight simple living.”
Ms Al Bastaki’s work was supported by family, friends and many others throughout the preparation of the exhibition. “In addition to the support I get from my family, many visitors supported me. Most of them had good things to say about the work I had done,” she added. “A number of artists, poets and tourists also came to see the exhibition.”
The exhibition is on till January 15. The coffee shop and exhibition are open between 4am and 10pm.

http://www.dt.bh/archivenewsdetails.php?key=301110213450&date=2011-01-10&newsid=090111170152

Sitting in the corridor… Drinking tea and eating traditional food. Time passes so fast and the clock does not represent the time in this place, but the period that people spend talking to each other and the happiness they feel when meeting friends. This is time in this cafe. Each person is considered a part of time. Every person in this place is special because of what he adds to the cafe from talks (Sowalef) to tales mixed with the sounds made by tea spoons and small cups of tea with milk.

The simplicity that fills this place is the part that makes it alive because people here are simply enjoying everything around them. What is beautiful here is seeing the joy on their faces despite any circumstance they are going through. Here they open their hearts to each other. In this cafe visitors come from all regions, ages and backgrounds to gather under a blue shade and to escape daily life problems and issues, whether cultural, political, religious or social, and when you listen to what they say, you find a diversity of opinions and ideas

The beauty of this place is the relationship between the people of the place and its tools. A beautiful picture of tea cups, chairs, tables, beads (Almsabih), blue sky, and people’s talks, screams and laughs. You see a beautiful image and atmosphere you only see in this narrow corridor. This relationship between the tools and people makes the place lively and rich in life, the simplicity of this place makes it distinctive and special.

The love in this cafe shows when you see the owners of the cafe Abdul Qader, Abdullah and Saleh engrossed in providing an atmosphere of happiness and comfort to those men who spend half of their day in their Café. Their love for working together in this cafe makes the people love this place and get attached to it

When I entered the cafe for the first time and began photographing the faces and the place, I felt joy in the faces of the people there; so I decided to make my first exhibition in this place which is filled by the wonderful, precious love..

البستكي لـ «الوسط»: المعرض الفوتوغرافي مبادرة جريئة تعيد الاعتبار لتراث منسي

في «مقهى عبد القادر»… نور تحتفي بذاكرة المكان الذي يملأه الحب

المنامة – حيدر محمد

هنا في «مقهى عبدالقادر»… أحد أشهر المقاهي الشعبية في سوق المنامة القديم كسرت الشابة البحرينية نور البستكي الحواجز التي تحول بين الفن والناس عبر معرضها الشخصي الأول للصور الفوتوغرافية والفيديو الذي افتتحته صبيحة رأس السنة الميلادية الجديدة.

وتسرد البستكي لـ «الوسط» حكاية المعرض الواقع خلف سوق باب البحرين: «هنا في هذا الممر الضيق الذي يتوسط «مقهى عبد القادر»، وهو مقهى يعود تأسيسه لعقود طويلة من الزمن اخترت أن أقيم معرضي الشخصي الأول… إنه احتفاء بذاكرة المكان… إنه تكريم لهؤلاء البسطاء الذي يمنحون هذا المقهى جاذبية بوجودهم الجميل… هنا يشربون الشاي، ويأكلون الأكلات الشعبية، ويتبادلون أطراف الحديث عن الماضي.

وتقر البستكي أن إقامة معرضها الأول في مقهى شعبي يمثل مبادرة جريئة من فتاة على غير مألوف العادة، في مجتمع لايزال محافظاً، غير أنها محاولة مهمة لإعادة الاعتبار للبسطاء من رواد المقهى من مختلف الجنسيات والأديان والأعراق والأعمار الذين يمنحون هذا المكان الضيق أفقاً واسعاً بحيويتهم وعفويتهم.

وترى البستكي أن إحياء هذه الأماكن التراثية عامل حيوي لإنعاش السوق مجدداً، ويمكن استثمار كل الزوايا القديمة في السوق .وتتمنى البستكي أن تلقى هذه المبادرات الثقافية اهتماماً من جميع الجهات الرسمية ذات العلاقة، ومن أبرزها: وزارة الثقافة، قطاع السياحة، وزارة شئون البلديات والتخطيط العمراني، محافظة العاصمة، بلدية المنامة، المجلس البلدي لبلدية المنامة. هذا بالإضافة إلى المؤسسات الأهلية والقطاع الخاص الذي يمكنه أن يكون شريكاً مهماً في إنجاح هذه الفعاليات.

http://www.alwasatnews.com/data/2011/3044/pdf/fdt16.pdf

المنامة سعوديات نت : من محمود النشيط – دشَّنت الشابة البحرينية نور البستكي معرضها الشخصي الأول للصور الفوتوغرافية، صباح يوم رأس السنة الميلادية الجديدة 2011 بحضور جمع من الأصدقاء وهواة التصوير وقالت البستكي عن الهدف من إقامة المعرض: إنه بعد التطوير الذي شهده سوق المنامة القديم في مملكة البحرين، وتحديداً مجمع ” باب البحرين “، حيث يكثر عدد السياح الأجانب للتعرف على معالم البحرين وأسواقها القديم، شدَّ انتباهي جلوس عدد من كبار السن والشباب قرب مقهى في هذه المنطقة الجغرافية الضيقة، هذا المقهى يعرف بـ ” مقهى عبد القادر “، هناك يشربون الشاي، ويأكلون الأكلات الشعبية، ويتبادلون أطراف الحديث عن الماضي

وأضافت البستكي: كل شخص يمثل جزءاً من الزمن، فكل شخص في هذا المكان مميز بما يضفيه في المقهى من دردشة (سوالف) وحكايا تتناثر مع صوت الملاعق الصغيرة وهي تداعب أكواب الشاي الممزوج بالحليب! فالبساطة التي تغمر هذا المكان هو الجزء الذي يجعله حياً، فالناس هنا في غاية البساطة، مستمتعين بكل ما هو موجود، والأجمل هنا أن ترى وجوههم فرحة على رغم الظروف التي يمرون بها، فهنا يبوحون عن مكنوناتهم

وأشارت البستكي: هذا المقهى يقصده الرواد من جميع المناطق والأعمار والخلفيات، يجتمعون تحت ظل أزرق، معتبرين هذا المكان متنفساً لكثير من المشاكل اليومية والقضايا الحياتية سواءً الثقافية أو السياسية أو الدينية أو الاجتماعية وما إلى ذلك، فعندما تستمع إليهم فكأنما تدخل في عالم آخر من تنوع الآراء والأفكار، لأن أجمل ما في هذا المكان العلاقة بين أصحاب المكان وأدواتهم، فنرى صورة جميلة بين أكواب الشاي والكراسي، وبين الطاولات والسماء الزرقاء وبين (المسابيح) وأصواتها، سواء بالأحاديث والحكايات أو الصراخ والضحك، فترى صوراً جميلة وجواً لا تراه إلا في هذا الممر الضيق. تلك العلاقة بين أدوات المكان والأشخاص تجعل المكان في حالة حوار وزاخراً بالحيوية والحياة

و الفنانة البستكي في ختام حديثها قالت :أتقدم بجزيل الشكر والتقدير لأصحاب المقهى: عبد القادر وصالح وعبد الله، على إقامة معرضي الأول في منطقة المنامة القديمة، كما وأشكر والدي وجميع الأهل والأصدقاء الذين ساندوني وشجعوني على إقامة المعرض

http://www.saudiyatnet.net/wesima_articles/index-20110102-65943.html

Language is defined as meaningful symbols and signals that follow a certain frame which is used to express a person’s ideas and perceptions. Language is used as a way to communicate words, ideas and thoughts; texts, speeches, gestures and voices are all types of language.

Human Being’s adopted spoken language (spoken, audio) as a way of communication and expression, words were composed of audio units, not characters, and these units transfer the ideas and commands in the form of sound. Spoken words have a strong effect as it was accompanied by the emergence of human appearance on Earth in primitive times as the basis for communication between members of the group. And due to the spoken language stories, novels and myths have been passed on through generations and have also facilitated communication between human beings which in turn has evolved into a specific culture for each group, which has been inherited as a result of life and social networking through the spoken language.

The written script is a language based on words and its usage in a particular context that explains certain ideas and thoughts. Writings need not be limited to certain incoherent words they could be used together to form sentences, paragraphs or even letters which lets people express the thoughts inside them. And in some cases, the words alone can’t deliver a meaning or a certain emotion and cannot paint the desired picture unless you listen to these words in the framework it was developed in, and for example the Lullaby, a child cannot accept the idea of reading the words of a lullaby that is repeated in succession manner without listening to them in their tone or framework.

So, written and spoken language mix together to become the most important channels for exchange of ideas between human beings. Therefore, the meaning of written script cannot be understood at times, unless if reading it interprets the same meaning as hearing it in the same frame requested.

Noor Al Bastaki

Alsajanjal
By Anas Al-Shaikh

The word “alsajanjal” means mirror. It is said to be of Latin origin and has been Arabized. This word was mentioned in pre-Islamic poetry, specifically in the “Mu’allaqat” of Imru’ al-Qays, among others [1].

The focus of the exhibition is on the concept of “language” as a system of conventional symbols by means of which human beings, as members of a social group and participants in its culture communicate.

Through language examination, we try to find out if the language is really considered “as a great mirror of the human mind” as German Philosopher Gottfried Leibniz said, or on the contrary, it is completely independent, and as humans, we are constructed through language and are unable to think outside its sphere, thus all “facts” we believe in are relative and may be illusive and are only created by language, or as Jacques Derrida said: “There is nothing outside the text”.

Derrida’s expression leads us to ask the following: was it possible to invent the concept of art and artist and find art theories and movements away from language? Or did language make the eye able to see, perceive and construct its own visual culture? Are we, after all, a simple mirror of the language and subjected to it? Are we mere tools used by language to express itself?

The exhibition also examines the impact on the Arabic language of economic and cultural globalisation, technology and communication revolution in addition to all forms of means of publication and information as well as various consumption patterns and “material” modernisation in our societies.

It examines to what extent all these factors have weakened the Arabic language and estranged the human being from his or her Arab identity, particularly in Gulf countries where citizens have become minority groups in their countries.

For political, economic, ideological and cultural purposes, these minorities have to be “subjected” and accept a new demographic fabric to suit a project aiming to turn the Gulf into a cosmopolitan region with diverse cultures, identities, languages and nationalities, where Arabic language and Arab culture are secondary and marginalized. This has created a feeling of confusion and discomfort within peoples of the region, who do not know if they have to opt for confrontation to defend their identity (language, culture, history and faith) with legal and illegal means, or accept to completely adapt and yield to these changes, or try and find a “difficult and complex” form of agreement that will inevitably cause the individual to fall into contradictions.

Garrulity of Places is the title of a series of experimental works that interact with the community and intervene in the public space of Bahrain, initiated and coordinated by Anas Al-Shaikh with the participation of 11 artists. Concentrating on ephemeral, interactive, improvised, and critical practice, the experiences provided by the project were very different from the previous artistic experiences of most participants. Special emphasis was put on encouraging cooperation, discussions, and dialogue in order to create a state of awareness and interaction among them to be able to adopt individual stances toward numerous issues and to express them in artistic practice.

The first 5 projects were realized intermittently on Friday mornings between February and June 2009 at different localities in Bahrain. Among the things they addressed were environmental issues (privatization and pollution of beaches), political issues (Jerusalem/Palestine), and ethical issues (the manipulation of individuals and communities by means of technology). Three more ventures are planned concerning sectarianism, subculture, and the death of the author. The two projects that focused on the interaction with people on the streets are presented here.

Tales
Date: Friday 10 April 2009
Venue: Local Market
Area: Isa Town

This project was realized in one of Bahrain’s crowded local markets in Isa Town, where people from all walks of life acquire new or second-hand goods at quite low prices. The aim was to create a setting to enter into direct contact with the people and to encourage their participation and interaction.

A set of photographs and other objects were displayed on a number of tables, together with audio devices with which each artist had recorded a tale somehow related to the photograph or object he or she had brought.The first positive reaction was from the officials responsible for security matters in the market, who made available to us a reasonable space to show our project. Also, shop owners who sold second-hand furniture cooperated with us by lending us tables and chairs. One of them even set up a sunshade above our table to protect the audience from the heat.

At first sight, it seemed as though it was a usual display of sundry goods, and at first people could not recognize the objective of our show. Reactions were varied. Some people listened to some of the tales without making any comment. Others stopped nearby just for few seconds and left when they knew that the stuff was not for sale, not even wanting to know why such a large crowd gathered around the tables. But there were many people who took the time to sit and listen to all the tales. They went so far as to pose numerous questions about the tales as well as about the project itself.

Bus Stations
Date: 22 May 2009
Venue: Bus Stations Along Isa Town / Manama / Isa Town Bus Route
Area: North Of Bahrain

After the Tales project, the group felt the importance of continuing with such an experience aimed at communication and interaction with people while they carry out their day-to-day activities. Zahra Khamis proposed to work on ideas related to the local transport system by going on a bus tour between the central bus station in Isa Town and the central bus station in Manama, disembarking along the route at several stations where each participant would display and perform his or her own idea.

We were only three this time: Zahra Khamis, Hassan Al-Haiyki, and myself, Anas Al-Shaikh. The other members of the group could not participate either because of the high temperatures or for other reasons. We were accompanied by Hooriya Mansoor, who participated in the documentation of the experience. There had not been any coordination as to what each of us would present during our stopovers. However, when we met at the central station in Isa Town, we discovered that the three ideas converged and complemented each other without any previous intention. The tour took about two and a half hours. Each of us could implement his or her own idea at each bus station where we disembarked:

Zahra put up photographs of people and laborers from various denominations and nationalities, which she had snapshot earlier. The intention of showing them to people at the bus stops was to convey the message that there is someone sharing their daily worries under other circumstances.

Hassan Al-Haiki had brought with him a long mirror, which he set up near the different stations for the passengers to arrange their appearance or their hair while waiting for the bus to come.

Because of the high temperatures, I had brought with me a number of boxes of tissue paper and affixed them to the walls and poles at the bus stations so that passengers and passers-by could use them. The people were amazed and inquisitive about what was going on at the bus station. Some passengers – when they saw our cameras – thought that we were journalists carrying out an investigation to report about the public transport. They started complaining about their job in terms of harassment, lack of obtaining their financial rights, and other issues. They even requested that we publish their complaints in the newspaper. But when they realized what we were doing, their reactions differed immediately. Some gathered around the photographs talking about them with their friends and with us. Also, many used the mirror to arrange their appearance and were grateful for the tissue paper to dry their sweat on such a hot day.

 http://universes-in-universe.org/eng/nafas/articles/2009/garrulity_of_places

Al Waqt Newspaper - A Beautiful Mess

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Al Waqt Newspaper - A Beautiful Mess

Click Here for Full Size

Al-Wasat Newspaper 23 July 2009

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