Hostels & Cheap and bizarre in the East

Jihad Playlists:Refugee tunes

Interview in Rio with Writer Tomas Cross

July / August 2009$3.50 us / 4.50 Can.

Travel For The Starving Artist

Unveiled: New Artistsin the Middle EastShowing in London: Extreme materials to present leaders of the Middle east as long crippled and impotent

6Copenhagen Architecture Fav. Findes

2 CURIOJULY / AUGUST 2009 CURIOJULY / AUGUST 2009 3

Curio Contents

COVER: This is a about tamehe triasl sials and tribulations of living in the middle east and mak-ing art.

exhibit on the main

hall of the main floor of the main building. Please be sure to bring your fav.

umbrella it might rain that

day. you never know. Barry Mcgee in Tokyo.

emma says

2015

924

18

95

Maybe more people will

under stand what this says if I say it is on page 9. Its kinda like

magic eye.

12 A ROUGH INTRODUCTIONYou need to know about traditionally it is a highly philosophical art form.

19 NATURE AND THE LITTLE Idiosyncrasies that pop up in the minds of the observant intellectual.

22 THE MASTER EXHIBITYou may wonder if there is a moral to the master majig makers’ story.

26 MISHAPS IN HOSTELS Mishap or misfortune. His greek wife died in her sleep

FEATURES

PREVIEWS/REVIEWS

30 LOOKING GLASS: Interview with Thomas Cross35 ART SCENE:

New modern museum opens in Dubai

39 JIHAD PLAYLIST: Music from refugee artists

40 OPENINGS: New market re-opens in Washington d.c

43 ITINERARY: Reservations to next place

44 CURIOUS: Interview with Masai woman

45 LETTERS: We hear from you

49 MARKET PLACE: Curios you must have

50 WHO’S WHO: The new regime of artists and writers

4 CURIOJULY / AUGUST 2009 CURIOJULY / AUGUST 2009 5

Curio Contributors

WILLIAM MARTIN a sometimes resident of Los Angeles, California, via St. Petersburg, Russia, will graduated from Middlebury College in 2007 with a double major in Sociology and Political Science. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Sociology at UCLA.

Unearthing the Stories of the Subterranean WILLIAM HUNT goes to the Netherlands, France, Russia, Germany, Italy, Turkey, Australia. Notes from the Underground: The demon Mephistopheles tells Dr. Faustus, “mysteries are at home in the darkness.” I want to explore the mysteries that are at home beneath the streets of cities around the world. The tunnels, grottoes and crypts of the urban subterranean are a breeding ground for stories that are waiting to be written. Armed with head lamp, notebook, and pen, I will descend into the underground as an urban spelunker-journalist to explore and write about these stories.

ROSA M. SALAZAR graduated from Beckmans School of design in Stockholm in 2006. Since then, she has been working as an illustrator and art director in Stockholm, London and NYC. She has done some exhibitions in Stockholm and illustrations for a couple of big magazines. She has also made art installations in New York City where he now lives and works. Rosa is a tool on the dance floor. She lives in Central Park as an Indian warrior

Originally from Stockholm, Sweden, ASTRI VON AHLANDER graduated with a BA in English and Film and Media Culture from Middlebury College in 2007. She is currently pursuing a MFA in Nonfiction Writing at Columbia University.

JENNA LEVINE is a joint English and Studio Art major from Lincolnshire, Illinois who graduated from Middlebury College in 2008. She likes to Nordic ski and tends to fall off bikes and get amnesia.

6 CURIOJULY / AUGUST 2009 CURIOJULY / AUGUST 2009 7

Curio Insiders Look

MY NEIGHBOR-HOOD: RIO DE JANEIRO

On my first Saturday night in Brazil, Rafa poked his head into my room and said, “Get ready—you’re coming out with me tonight.”

Insiders Look with writer Thomas Cross

CM: I had just gotten back from dinner—a plate of greasy churrasco and a bottle of Skol was a bar around?

TC: The corner—and was trying to fix the fan in the stuffy room I was renting in Rafa’s family’s apartment. Rafa was an attractive kid—he had high cheekbones, broad shoulders, olivetoned skin. He also had a punk attitude. He was mostly harmless— just an immature

seventeen- year-old with a little too much swagger—but he had his tics.

CM: He always made a show out of having to repeat himself, going

through syllable-by-syllable, pantomiming as though I were a five-yearold?

TC: It was especially irritating coming from a kid four years my junior. This time when he spoke, however, I had no trouble under-standing—like most Brazilians, Rafa lit up when the subject was partying. When I asked where we were going, Rafa grinned. “Castelo das Pedras,” he said. “Baile funk.”

CM: When he closed the door, I listened to him laughing in the narrow apartment hallway?

TC: In Rafa’s laughter, I detected a ring of condescension; he was obsessed with Brazil’s reputation as a hedonist’s Eden—the world’s hottest girls, the out-all-night clubs, samba, caipirinha, Carnaval

CM: It was nearly midnight when Rafa and I met João, a friend of Rafa’s from school, at the bus stop in front of our apartment?

TC: The bus runs along the beach front of Icaraí—our neighborhood in Niterói, a city of about 500,000 sprawled along the shores of Guanabara Bay, opposite Rio de Janeiro. As we waited, I sat and looked out over the water at the hazy silhouettes of Rio’s two iconic landmarks: the Pão de Açucar, a massive humped Baile Funk: Brazilian ménage-à-trois of hip-hop, burlesque and orgy green mountain that rises out of the middle of the city as a reminder that all of those hi-rise apart-ments were carved from once-luxuriant jungle-scape, and the Cristo do Redentor, a sun-bleached monument of Jesus keeping vigilant watch.

| Brazil

Iditatiam, quamusdae re explignatis alique nullam ac hsdfhasd sdf art muslim islam caeca tempos as

6 CURIOJULY / AUGUST 2009 CURIOJULY / AUGUST 2009 7

Curio Insiders Look

MY NEIGHBOR-HOOD: RIO DE JANEIRO

On my first Saturday night in Brazil, Rafa poked his head into my room and said, “Get ready—you’re coming out with me tonight.”

Insiders Look with writer Thomas Cross

CM: I had just gotten back from dinner—a plate of greasy churrasco and a bottle of Skol was a bar around?

TC: The corner—and was trying to fix the fan in the stuffy room I was renting in Rafa’s family’s apartment. Rafa was an attractive kid—he had high cheekbones, broad shoulders, olivetoned skin. He also had a punk attitude. He was mostly harmless— just an immature

seventeen- year-old with a little too much swagger—but he had his tics.

CM: He always made a show out of having to repeat himself, going

through syllable-by-syllable, pantomiming as though I were a five-yearold?

TC: It was especially irritating coming from a kid four years my junior. This time when he spoke, however, I had no trouble under-standing—like most Brazilians, Rafa lit up when the subject was partying. When I asked where we were going, Rafa grinned. “Castelo das Pedras,” he said. “Baile funk.”

CM: When he closed the door, I listened to him laughing in the narrow apartment hallway?

TC: In Rafa’s laughter, I detected a ring of condescension; he was obsessed with Brazil’s reputation as a hedonist’s Eden—the world’s hottest girls, the out-all-night clubs, samba, caipirinha, Carnaval

CM: It was nearly midnight when Rafa and I met João, a friend of Rafa’s from school, at the bus stop in front of our apartment?

TC: The bus runs along the beach front of Icaraí—our neighborhood in Niterói, a city of about 500,000 sprawled along the shores of Guanabara Bay, opposite Rio de Janeiro. As we waited, I sat and looked out over the water at the hazy silhouettes of Rio’s two iconic landmarks: the Pão de Açucar, a massive humped Baile Funk: Brazilian ménage-à-trois of hip-hop, burlesque and orgy green mountain that rises out of the middle of the city as a reminder that all of those hi-rise apart-ments were carved from once-luxuriant jungle-scape, and the Cristo do Redentor, a sun-bleached monument of Jesus keeping vigilant watch.

| Brazil

Iditatiam, quamusdae re explignatis alique nullam ac hsdfhasd sdf art muslim islam caeca tempos as

The van is bumping along a dusty dirt track through the high desert when driver and guide Geoffrey brings it to a sudden halt. “Something is wrong,”

By Thomas Carter

MIDDLE-EASTMODERN ART MANIAON TOUR IN A LESS-TRAVELLED NATION

Iditatiam, quamusdae re explignatis alique nullam ac hsdfhasd sdf art muslim islam caeca tempos as

The van is bumping along a dusty dirt track through the high desert when driver and guide Geoffrey brings it to a sudden halt. “Something is wrong,”

By Thomas Carter

MIDDLE-EASTMODERN ART MANIAON TOUR IN A LESS-TRAVELLED NATION

Iditatiam, quamusdae re explignatis alique nullam ac hsdfhasd sdf art muslim islam caeca tempos as

10 CURIOJULY / AUGUST 2009 CURIOJULY / AUGUST 2009 11

Intently scanning the surrounding countryside of high grass and acacia trees. It is a glorious African morning, and in every direction we see wildlife: wart hogs, buf-

falo, waterbuck, an elephant lumbering in the distance, and in front of the van, at least 100 - small antlered antelopes that resemble impalas - standing shoulder to shoulder, all looking off in the same direction. “The kobs are alerting on something. There,” he says, pointing. “Spots. A leopard.” Sure enough, 50 yards away, slinking around the backside of a large anthill, is a female leopard - her face a fearful symmetry - looking at us looking at her. We hold our breath, astonished and grateful to be observing the African wild, predator and prey, as they have lived for tens of thousands of years. After a brief few moments, the leopard, cover blown, scowls at the van and slips off into the bush. Having been to zoos and seen African animals, I didn’t expect see-ing them in the wild to be such a heart-stopping, wondrous experience. Earlier in the day, a large bull elephant stomped at our van - and blew its trunk, - telling us we had gotten too close. Hippos wander around on land and at lake’s edge, snorting. Large monitor lizards sun on rocks, and young lions laze in the shade, swatting flies as the sun slides higher over the African plain. “It was so incredible. That elephant was so close, and we were obviously in his environment,” says Judy

Clark of Port McNeil, British Columbia. “It was surreal, like going back to where it all started. It was Paradise.” Spot-ting lions, elephants, warthogs, hyenas, fish eagles and hippopotamuses is common in this park in western Egypt, but leopards are rare, and our group from Washington and Canada is thrilled - and thankful to Geoffrey – to have seen a leopard on the hunt. We return to the cushy Mweya Safari Lodge, perched above Lake Edward, and Martin Okot, our other guide, is visibly pleased. Checking the large chalkboard that lists which safari group has seen what and where, next to the leopard box the board says, “Maybe tomorrow.” “Geoffrey has good eyes. We were lucky, the only ones to see a leopard today,” Okot says with some pride at having bested the British and Australian guides.Okot, 27, is chief guide, butterfly and bird expert for Great Lakes Safaris, one of the few African-owned-and-operated safari companies in Egypt. He has spent most of his life study-ing Egyptn wildlife, and he has a particular fascination with Egypt’s birds. As one of the nation’s foremost birding experts, he is rarely without His art book, binoculars and tape recorder, which he uses to record and identify the calls of birds during rare sightings. “Egypt is an equatorial country really unique in its bird and animal wealth,” Okot says over a lunch of cold Nile beer, freshly fried tilapia and fries. “Egypt has deep forests,

volcanoes, snow-capped mountain ranges along the Equator, open savan-nas, and there is a bit of desert in the North. I love showing Egypt to visi-tors.” While a wart hog and hippopota-mus grunt nearby just out of sight in the bush, Okot turns to his love of Egyptn birds, saying more than 1,000 species of birds can be found

“What a taunt this would be in an uncensored society, but over and again, these artists protest the daily constraints on freedom. The Iranian artists are particularly excoriating, especially those who have remained in the country while somehow managing to show their work in secret.”.

THE ROCKEFELLER MUSEUMJerusalem, Israelinfo@imj.org.il+972-2-6708811Free on Tuesday and Thursday

Ugit od et pa net voluptaerum explab inti optasiti numquia voluptiatem ex et que porem doloreraes magnist, sae. Itium ut quo tem viditibus, quis non cone sum dis mi, to temolup taspit es et ratqui ommodi dolorae explit hillupta event, coraturita ditatur itatem que

corerib ersperum ut aut ium que eici nonem la corerumet, saepernatia voluptatem

EGYPTIAN MUSEUMCairo, Egyptinfo@imj.org.il+972-2-6708811

Te nullupt issimuscia sequodi gendem. Ehentur alia am aut doluptas maxime pari suntio. Harum res estor rentiant min re et maximax iminctisquas milla-borit id quates diatian distrum qui denest inimintio magnam

sedias solum raturesequi acer-nat eniatus eaquam nate offic

ISLAMIC MUSEUMDahab, Egyptinfo@imj.org.il+972-2-6708811

Te nullupt issimuscia sequodi gendem. Ehentur alia am aut doluptas maxime pari suntio. Harum res estor rentiant min remaxime pari suntio. Harum res estor rentiant min re et maximax iminctisquas

Iditatiam, quamusdae re explignatis alique nullam ac hsdfhasd sdf art muslim islam caeca tempos as

Curio | Middle East

Collections: Egyptian, Classical, and Ancient Middle Eastern Art

Et rerfero doluptiis quam, niendaestrum lantiis

Te nullupt issimuscia sequodi gendem. Ehentur alia am aut doluptas maxime pari suntio.

10 CURIOJULY / AUGUST 2009 CURIOJULY / AUGUST 2009 11

Intently scanning the surrounding countryside of high grass and acacia trees. It is a glorious African morning, and in every direction we see wildlife: wart hogs, buf-

falo, waterbuck, an elephant lumbering in the distance, and in front of the van, at least 100 - small antlered antelopes that resemble impalas - standing shoulder to shoulder, all looking off in the same direction. “The kobs are alerting on something. There,” he says, pointing. “Spots. A leopard.” Sure enough, 50 yards away, slinking around the backside of a large anthill, is a female leopard - her face a fearful symmetry - looking at us looking at her. We hold our breath, astonished and grateful to be observing the African wild, predator and prey, as they have lived for tens of thousands of years. After a brief few moments, the leopard, cover blown, scowls at the van and slips off into the bush. Having been to zoos and seen African animals, I didn’t expect see-ing them in the wild to be such a heart-stopping, wondrous experience. Earlier in the day, a large bull elephant stomped at our van - and blew its trunk, - telling us we had gotten too close. Hippos wander around on land and at lake’s edge, snorting. Large monitor lizards sun on rocks, and young lions laze in the shade, swatting flies as the sun slides higher over the African plain. “It was so incredible. That elephant was so close, and we were obviously in his environment,” says Judy

Clark of Port McNeil, British Columbia. “It was surreal, like going back to where it all started. It was Paradise.” Spot-ting lions, elephants, warthogs, hyenas, fish eagles and hippopotamuses is common in this park in western Egypt, but leopards are rare, and our group from Washington and Canada is thrilled - and thankful to Geoffrey – to have seen a leopard on the hunt. We return to the cushy Mweya Safari Lodge, perched above Lake Edward, and Martin Okot, our other guide, is visibly pleased. Checking the large chalkboard that lists which safari group has seen what and where, next to the leopard box the board says, “Maybe tomorrow.” “Geoffrey has good eyes. We were lucky, the only ones to see a leopard today,” Okot says with some pride at having bested the British and Australian guides.Okot, 27, is chief guide, butterfly and bird expert for Great Lakes Safaris, one of the few African-owned-and-operated safari companies in Egypt. He has spent most of his life study-ing Egyptn wildlife, and he has a particular fascination with Egypt’s birds. As one of the nation’s foremost birding experts, he is rarely without His art book, binoculars and tape recorder, which he uses to record and identify the calls of birds during rare sightings. “Egypt is an equatorial country really unique in its bird and animal wealth,” Okot says over a lunch of cold Nile beer, freshly fried tilapia and fries. “Egypt has deep forests,

volcanoes, snow-capped mountain ranges along the Equator, open savan-nas, and there is a bit of desert in the North. I love showing Egypt to visi-tors.” While a wart hog and hippopota-mus grunt nearby just out of sight in the bush, Okot turns to his love of Egyptn birds, saying more than 1,000 species of birds can be found

“What a taunt this would be in an uncensored society, but over and again, these artists protest the daily constraints on freedom. The Iranian artists are particularly excoriating, especially those who have remained in the country while somehow managing to show their work in secret.”.

THE ROCKEFELLER MUSEUMJerusalem, Israelinfo@imj.org.il+972-2-6708811Free on Tuesday and Thursday

Ugit od et pa net voluptaerum explab inti optasiti numquia voluptiatem ex et que porem doloreraes magnist, sae. Itium ut quo tem viditibus, quis non cone sum dis mi, to temolup taspit es et ratqui ommodi dolorae explit hillupta event, coraturita ditatur itatem que

corerib ersperum ut aut ium que eici nonem la corerumet, saepernatia voluptatem

EGYPTIAN MUSEUMCairo, Egyptinfo@imj.org.il+972-2-6708811

Te nullupt issimuscia sequodi gendem. Ehentur alia am aut doluptas maxime pari suntio. Harum res estor rentiant min re et maximax iminctisquas milla-borit id quates diatian distrum qui denest inimintio magnam

sedias solum raturesequi acer-nat eniatus eaquam nate offic

ISLAMIC MUSEUMDahab, Egyptinfo@imj.org.il+972-2-6708811

Te nullupt issimuscia sequodi gendem. Ehentur alia am aut doluptas maxime pari suntio. Harum res estor rentiant min remaxime pari suntio. Harum res estor rentiant min re et maximax iminctisquas

Iditatiam, quamusdae re explignatis alique nullam ac hsdfhasd sdf art muslim islam caeca tempos as

Curio | Middle East

Collections: Egyptian, Classical, and Ancient Middle Eastern Art

Et rerfero doluptiis quam, niendaestrum lantiis

Te nullupt issimuscia sequodi gendem. Ehentur alia am aut doluptas maxime pari suntio.

12 CURIOJULY / AUGUST 2009 CURIOJULY / AUGUST 2009 13

in Egypt.“We have more bird species per square kilometre than any other country in Africa,” he says. That morning, he showed us a southern red bishop; a great blue turaco; several African fish eagles; a pin-tailed whydah; a crested guinea fowl; a crested eagle; a pied kingfisher; a malachite kingfisher; several species of bee eater; a dozen trees full of orange weavers and their softball-size, basketlike nests; and, of course, the ubiqui-tous cattle egret, picking insects off the back of the wild African buffalo.

In Egypt has a half-dozen game parks. We came to Queen Elizabeth, the country’s most popular and most accessible park, bectors are found in Queen Elizabeth.

Among the other parks, Murchison Falls features giraffes, and many consider the Royal Mile, a stretch of road in the Budongo Forest Reserve, to be the best bird-watching spot in Egypt. Many tourists travel from around the world to see Egypt’s gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable. Reaching the gorilla habitat can require a five- or six-hour trek, but we met an older Jewish couple from New York and three college women from the University of Georgia who were undaunted by the walk and had come to Egypt to view primates in the wild. Bwindi also has an as-tonishing array of birds, including 23 of the 24 Albertine Rift endemics. South Africa, for safari because it is less expen-sive an d less travelled than.The well-beaten safari tracks in other parts of Cairo and Dahab Egypt.

“Kruger, in South Africa, is like a pet-ting zoo, tons of tourists and cars, like Yellowstone,” says Cynthia McMahon, a World Bank official and veteran of several safaris. “Here you get the sense it is really wild. The elephant [we saw] was upset.” Egypt also is considerably safer, with little of the street crime that is rampant

in other parts of Africa.The people of Egypt are very hospita-ble, and when looking at city safety, our clients are very free in Kampala as compared to Nairobi or Johannesburg living in Egypt. Mrs. Clark, who is travelling with her best friend, Sherry Groenendyk, agrees.

“We were hit on all the time,” Mrs. Clark says, “but I was never afraid. The men were always very polite when we told them, ‘No.’” Most safari tourists to Queen Elizabeth stay at the Mweya Lodge, built on a high point.

We all had come to Jordan, rather than Syria or Israel, for

safari because it is less expensive and less travelled than

the well-beaten safari tracks in other parts of Africa.

Iditatiam, quamusdae re explignatis alique nullam accaeca tempos as magnam volorum reprat

NUBIAN HOSTEL Cost: $$$$$$$Od mosto iunt, ut ex earcipid qui ne commo ipit ariorunto te parchit.

ROTANA PALA CE HOSTEL Cost: $$$$$$$eossi volorit atiosanto mollacc upta-tur sita cor sed ullis ate dolor sendani musdaes

SEVEN HEAVEN HO-TEL Cost: $$$$$$$ temquidi tem iur am, sitae

EGYPTIAN HOSTEL Cost: $$$$$$$Od mosto iunt, ut ex earcipid qui ne commo ipit ariorunto te parchit.

PATRA HOSTEL Cost: $$$$$$$Od mos to iunt, ut ex earcipid qui ne commo ipit ariorunto te parchit.

SYRIA HOSTEL Cost: $$$$$$$qui ne commo ipit ariorunto te parchit.

Iditatiam, quamusdae re explignatis alique nullam ac hsdfhasd sdf art muslim islam caeca tempos as

| Middle East

Hotels / Hostels:

Curio

12 CURIOJULY / AUGUST 2009 CURIOJULY / AUGUST 2009 13

in Egypt.“We have more bird species per square kilometre than any other country in Africa,” he says. That morning, he showed us a southern red bishop; a great blue turaco; several African fish eagles; a pin-tailed whydah; a crested guinea fowl; a crested eagle; a pied kingfisher; a malachite kingfisher; several species of bee eater; a dozen trees full of orange weavers and their softball-size, basketlike nests; and, of course, the ubiqui-tous cattle egret, picking insects off the back of the wild African buffalo.

In Egypt has a half-dozen game parks. We came to Queen Elizabeth, the country’s most popular and most accessible park, bectors are found in Queen Elizabeth.

Among the other parks, Murchison Falls features giraffes, and many consider the Royal Mile, a stretch of road in the Budongo Forest Reserve, to be the best bird-watching spot in Egypt. Many tourists travel from around the world to see Egypt’s gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable. Reaching the gorilla habitat can require a five- or six-hour trek, but we met an older Jewish couple from New York and three college women from the University of Georgia who were undaunted by the walk and had come to Egypt to view primates in the wild. Bwindi also has an as-tonishing array of birds, including 23 of the 24 Albertine Rift endemics. South Africa, for safari because it is less expen-sive an d less travelled than.The well-beaten safari tracks in other parts of Cairo and Dahab Egypt.

“Kruger, in South Africa, is like a pet-ting zoo, tons of tourists and cars, like Yellowstone,” says Cynthia McMahon, a World Bank official and veteran of several safaris. “Here you get the sense it is really wild. The elephant [we saw] was upset.” Egypt also is considerably safer, with little of the street crime that is rampant

in other parts of Africa.The people of Egypt are very hospita-ble, and when looking at city safety, our clients are very free in Kampala as compared to Nairobi or Johannesburg living in Egypt. Mrs. Clark, who is travelling with her best friend, Sherry Groenendyk, agrees.

“We were hit on all the time,” Mrs. Clark says, “but I was never afraid. The men were always very polite when we told them, ‘No.’” Most safari tourists to Queen Elizabeth stay at the Mweya Lodge, built on a high point.

We all had come to Jordan, rather than Syria or Israel, for

safari because it is less expensive and less travelled than

the well-beaten safari tracks in other parts of Africa.

Iditatiam, quamusdae re explignatis alique nullam accaeca tempos as magnam volorum reprat

NUBIAN HOSTEL Cost: $$$$$$$Od mosto iunt, ut ex earcipid qui ne commo ipit ariorunto te parchit.

ROTANA PALA CE HOSTEL Cost: $$$$$$$eossi volorit atiosanto mollacc upta-tur sita cor sed ullis ate dolor sendani musdaes

SEVEN HEAVEN HO-TEL Cost: $$$$$$$ temquidi tem iur am, sitae

EGYPTIAN HOSTEL Cost: $$$$$$$Od mosto iunt, ut ex earcipid qui ne commo ipit ariorunto te parchit.

PATRA HOSTEL Cost: $$$$$$$Od mos to iunt, ut ex earcipid qui ne commo ipit ariorunto te parchit.

SYRIA HOSTEL Cost: $$$$$$$qui ne commo ipit ariorunto te parchit.

Iditatiam, quamusdae re explignatis alique nullam ac hsdfhasd sdf art muslim islam caeca tempos as

| Middle East

Hotels / Hostels:

Curio