A perspective from Dubai

I've been privileged to have had the opportunity to spend a few weeks in Dubai and in Slovenia recently. Such a relatively short trip does not an expert make, but let's share some thoughts on Dubai; on its shopping malls.

The Divine Worship of our Great Lord Mammon

The Dubai Mall (next to the Burj Khalifa) and the Mall of the Emirates (close to where I stayed) are two of the biggest Malls in Dubai. Both are completely and entirely devoid of anything that could be termed 'soul'.

A vulgar gaudy culture of spend-spend-spend pervades. And, the notion that this type of behaviour is the Yellow Brick Road to the delights of the Emerald City - is de rigueur.

Happiness truly is within reach. Behold! The only ticket that you will ever need, to enter this Elysium, is a fat wallet.

Escape from Alcatraz

Having, fortunately, never previously been prone to depression or any such types of dreaded afflictions, I happened to experience a bout of very(!) severe sadness and claustrophobia while in the Dubai Mall. The endless parade of Louis Vuitton, Bvlgari, Tiffany & Co., Christian Louboutin and tens upon hundreds more brands (and more and more and more brands!) with no respite, had me desperately and wretchedly looking for an exit.

Any exit would do.

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made

I could not find an escape route for a very long time. Exits are carefully disguised and are well hidden. Almost all of them lead to taxi and car-parking facilities.

Then, from those steel-and-concrete parking area oblations (constructed to honour our automobile overlords) all escape routes to the outside are for vehicular purposes only; strictly not for pedestrians. It is about as difficult to extract yourself from that mall as it is to end a modern online subscription service or gym contract.

I'm Sorry Love - I was Wrong about You

Back to Cape Town:

We previously lamented the disappearance of serendipity and variety in South African shopping locations. How bad our situation is, we thought. How much worse can it be(?), we pondered.

How wrong we were!

Yes, our local shopping centres truly are on the downhill path (in terms of the concerns that we expressed), but there is a lot of still-unnegotiated declivitation.

Beauty can still be found in the South African retail 'machine'.

Oh, I've been to Nice, and the isle of Greece
While I sipped champagne on a yacht
I moved like Harlow in Monte Carlo
And showed them what I've got
I've been undressed by kings
And I've seen some things that a woman ain't supposed to see
I've been to paradise, but I've never been to me

Call me a neanderthal for not having recently traveled to 'sophisticated' destinations. Journey's ends such as our neighbouring countries, Cuba, and Brazil clearly don't fit into such a category. I just did not fully realise that I have, in fact, here at home, been to relative 'paradises - and I've been to me'.

Fight The Good Fight Then

So, what do we do? Roll over and hand over everything but the retail scraps and whit to the big brands? Or do we find a way to continue producing the art and creativity that we still produce here in the good old RS-of-A.

It seems as if there are only two possibilities. (1) We concede complete and utter victory to the large global brands, with no way back once the final battle is lost. Or, (2) we have to find a way to hang on to essential parts of our human experience - and, when we manage that, we also have to figure out a way to do so ... (yeah, yeah, I know) ... p.r.o.f.i.t.a.b.l.y.

Ending on Positive Notes.

Less than 500m away from the Dubai Mall - and from the Burj Khalifa - is the Dubai Opera House. It is here that we managed to attend a performance of Beethoven's 9th with the Polish National Opera Orchestra, Dubai Festival Choir and maestro Patrick Fournillier - 200 years after its first performance in 1824.

So, all's well that ended (very) well in Dubai.

Past the End ...

Some useless info and some musings (all of which you can now safely ignore):

(a)
Beethoven's 9th, together with works such as the Kyrie from Mozart's great Mass in C Minor, Melville's Moby Dick, Williams' Stoner, Modigliani's Woman with a Fan and Studio Ghibli's Grave of the Fireflies are good reasons to celebrate life, art and creativity. Why mention these artworks, in particular? Well, all of these had cameo roles (at one point, or another) during this trip.

(b)
Beethoven used Schiller's "An die Freude (Ode to Joy)" poem in the 4th movement of the 9th and we also used the word "Elysium" above.

An die Freude

Freude, schöner Götterfunken,
Tochter aus Elysium ...

Ode to Joy

Joy, thou shining spark of God,
Daughter of Elysium ...

(c)
Oh yes, and the 9th is better than the 5th. It's the 9th (the 'choral'), then the 6th (the 'pastoral'), then the 3rd (the 'Eroica' - first dedicated to Napoleon and then retracted after Napoleon crowned himself Emperor), only then the 5th (the 'ba-na-na-na' that many people will recognise), and then the rest. To be fair though, others disagree with my prefered order.

(d)
The Dubai Mall did have two redeeming factors: (1) The 155-million year old Diplodocus Longus - Jurassic Period dinosaur on display, and (2) the ice rink where, inter alia, a woman of (apparently) Olympic standard was busy training.