Caught out on Abu Dhabi (Skull 2.0) (Extended remix)

A warning to anyone thinking of traveling to Abu Dhabi / Dubai / UAE. The first Internet search pulled up spectacular art/design pr. But shocking content in further searches reminded the PR guy that media surfaces can be very misleading, and in this case, wickedly dangerous in unfamiliar ways.

I received a nice telephone call about my interest in a post of leadership in the creative industries in Abu Dhabi. At the time, my image of the country was the continuous TV commercials showing the beautiful Dubai coastline, striking hotels and leading edge investments. Sometimes the adverts are every half hour on CNN Europe. Plus I’d seen reports of British and Hollywood celebrities excited about a hotel opening.

There was a 20 million dollar fireworks display.



Lindsay Lohan and her lover were there.

There’s the world’s tallest building... new islands shaped like an abstract palm tree...
and even the world...


Living in my specialist bubble—shifting across art and the designs, the public relations/journalism interface, and critical media analysis—I admit I wasn’t paying attention to this one. I learned about it just the day before, with exciting plans for a new Louvre, Guggenheim, and NYU campus. I learned that a famous curator is heading the new UAE pavilion at Venice. A sculptor colleague was recently offered a large investment in public sculpture—by a prince.

Yes I recalled something about "sex on the beach" and an arrest.

But, hey, I can get by without that.

Then, I saw some images of amazing architecture...



Partners to my dream program have brands I admire from afar...

One thing I stressed in my contact was my interest in how good art and design stories can multiply into other publications and sections like travel, lifestyle, celebrity, business news, etc.

Then there are of course the Internet media flows...

In other words, global news media flows can be activated to inform more people across the world about these great new projects...



For one night,

I dreamed of a special place...

I dreamed of an exotic desert island...

Along the coast of a faraway land...



I dreamed of new publicity stage sets—

Twenty years after Starck mapped out the floor plan...



I dreamed of a journey to see new pyramids.

I dreamed of sipping tea in a desert...

on a coastline...

and watching the setting evening sun...



I dreamed of a new international meeting point.

Of new art, sensational designs, interesting conversations,

and full-on global media flows...


For one night,

I dreamed of an island called Saadiyat, in a place called Abu Dhabi...

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