Abstract
Impermanent public arts are an important feature of tasks, celebrations, ceremonies, and events in the UAE. In several celebrations, events or tasks, impermanent public art designs are used to demonstrate what there was or what is to come. In cases of planning, impermanent public art designs help put down ideas into a realistic plan. Putting ideas down through impermanent art structures bring out more realistic structures and estimations that what pen and paper give. Impermanent public arts are also important to the culture since in itself, it is a cultural practice unique to the UAE members, although currently, it is spreading to other regions. Being a cultural practice, it helps maintain culture as well as transfer the same cultural values and beliefs. Impermanent public arts exhibit the beauty of the human imagination. Seeing that which the mind can create in the form of some simple material that will disintegrate after a while is interesting (Ponnamperuma, 2013).
Introduction
The impermanent public art refers to the works of art, representing the community's culture or beliefs of a certain society, brought out through means that do not last. In most cases, impermanent public arts are designed using simple material such that after the event in which the art is exhibited, the design goes down or is dismantled. Impermanent public art comes out through creative place-making. That is; a place, such as a city, a palace, a region an area of imagination can be physically represented using impermanent structures. For example, when planning a mission for the armed forces, impermanent public arts comes in handy to help demonstrate the region of attack to ensure that the fighting team has a clear understanding of the region in question. Another example is of a construction that is underway. Impermanent public arts design is useful to help demonstrate the ideas of the planners concerning the construction. Impermanent public arts are important in the UAE region. They are important instruments in cultural maintenance and development. They also assist during celebrations and honoring national days. Impermanent public arts are exhibited during different occasions and events; bring out different means to the events. They also help attach some meaning to the event in question. Whole thinking about the impermanent art, the question comes in mind, how significant is the impermanent public arts to the society, and culture of the UAE members? This paper will look into the way impermanent public arts is important to the events in which it manifests as well as its importance to the UEA members' culture.
Artists to the impermanent public art contribute a lot to the culture development. As a result of their designs it has become possible to celebrate culture and a country's traditional in the UAE in different events. These gives people a chance to enjoy that they cannot otherwise enjoy. The artists also make it possible to represent ideas which are not possible to be rep in any other way that is, through the impermanent public arts inspirational ideas come out clearly than they could through the impermanent public art. The current designers help transfer the knowledge of impermanent public art to others ensuring the continuity of designing of these art works (Codrai, 2009).
It is possible to transfer cultural beliefs and myths through the impermanent public art in that; some of the image that comes out through the impermanent public art is of a historical nature being represented in the present. Generations that did not witness whatever that was not in the images get to know such through the impermanent public art (Kay, 2006). From generation to another, they learn their traditional from the impermanent public art. It is also possible that across the UAE, members of various countries can visit countries within the same region, learn tradition from the others and carry it home. Displaying such at home country will not only have helped to learn the culture by the persons who carried the images, but also those who see it back at home.
During national celebrations impermanent public arts come in handy to display the UAE cultures. During traditional celebrations, impermanent public art are important exhibition. During achievements celebrations impermanent public art arts are also deigned.at times, when there is a national launch of construction, the impermanent public art can be used as a visual representation. Since the impermanent public art are designed frequently demonstrating the different UAE member cultures, that culture cannot be lost. The reason is that the impermanent public art shop that which is vital to the UAE members or that which rep their culture. The frequency of the designing ensures that the cultural aspects or vents demo in the impermanent public art are fresh in the minds of the people. The impermanent public art itself is part of the UAE culture. Therefore, there is no way cultural ideologies will be forgotten or abandoned while impermanent public art designing is going on. The design of impermanent public art can be of cultural type, political, academic nature, or other social activities. The unifying factors to these diverse fields are that the designs show the past things which are memorable or heroic. The design can be of a religion type in honor of a religious figure for the event that is being celebrated. The image figure or structure that appears in the impermanent public art is either in honor of something or demonstration of what will be (Codrai, 2009). At times, the design of impermanent public art does not have to be historical since in events of launching a plan the impermanent public art design show what is expected to be built.
The impermanent public art help a country to assess its cultural, historical, as well its social context. Such inventories include the assessment, identification and mapping of the country's cultural and artistic resources (Labonte, 2014). Conducting inventories of this nature helps a given country's planners to be able to reveal the assets of creativity for the nation. The designers and the representatives of cultural institutions strengthen the role of planners. Cultural, educational and artistic institutions have the skills of capturing the special qualities of impermanent public art and then help citizens understand their country's art, and culture, and link them to their everyday life. An understanding of the social context of a country is a vital thing. The impermanent public art is a good channel through which many citizens of different UAE countries have been able to assess and know more about the cultures of others. The arts also have been a way in which the people have learnt to appreciate the works of others.
The expo 2020 sandcastle is a celebration of the Dubai winning in 2020. This piece of impermanent work made of sand, hence the name sandcastle digs deep into the culture of India, remind people of the original state of India as a desert. This piece of art, the expo 2020 sandcastle contributes to the title of this essay, creative place-making since it is a creation of future expectation. It is also a piece of work, representing an area, not a single building or structure; hence it is an imagined place that has been made in the sandcastle (Ponnamperuma, 2013).
Although these works of art have a lot of advantages, there is one thing that discredits them. The fact that they are impermanent makes them weak than all the permanent forms of art. As a result of their impermanent nature, it is not possible to refer to them in the future or enjoy their beauty once they are gone. As Matthew argues, they are also ineffective since they may disintegrate before they have served the purpose for which they were constructed. If there was a way of making it as a little bit more permanent as it is then it would be the perfect way of presenting things (Matthew, 2007).
Conclusion
In conclusion, impermanent public arts are an important tool in cultural development, as well as adding meaning to events. As aforementioned, impermanent public art enable cultural transfer, from generation to generation over the years. These designs also help in improving, developing, as well as maintaining cultural. In addition, the artists or designers of these impermanent arts are important assets to their countries as well as the whole region. In events that these works of impermanent art is exhibited, a lot of importance is attached to them as well as to the event. It is only in important national or regional events that such works are employed. In simple normal events, such extensive creativity and artistic efforts are not necessary. That means, the presence of the impermanent arts in a ceremony, tells it all. The ceremony is historic and considerably important. These works of art are not only used during events or ceremonies, but they are also used for the purposes of different field tasks. They help bring out a clear picture of a place than the way maps do. Maps only show linear representation of locations, while these impermanent works of art help bring out every fine detail concerning the location in question. Therefore, for tasks that require the detailed understanding of the location, such as military operations, the impermanent works of art come in handy. To sum it up, impermanent public arts are a clamor of beauty. The figures or structures that come out of the works are beautiful to behold. Similar to all other works of art, results of impermanent public arts are interesting to behold.
References
Codrai, R. (2009). Contemporary arts and public art in the United Arabs Emirates. Sharjah Publishers
Kay, S. (2006). Emirates Archaeological Heritage. Dialectical Anthropology 17: 53-84
Labonte, P. (2014). All City: The book about taking space. Toronto. ECW Press.
Matthew, S. (2007). The impermanent art. The Boston Globe.
Ponnamperuma, S. (2013). Story of Sigiriya. Melbourne, Australia Panique Pty Ltd
Bibliography
Codrai, R. (2009). Contemporary art and Public Art in the United Arab Emirates. Sharjah Publishers
Codrai, in his book has made a clear description of the public art in United Arab Emirates. The book explains the various kinds of art found in the region. The book has shown how the people of this region have found pleasure in the designing and expressing their ideas and thoughts through the impermanent art. Such artistic designs have become part and parcel of the lives of the people. It has also outlined their origin, role and their connections with the culture of the people. Codrai took much time in research in order to come up with such extensive information. I got the information concerning the availability of Codri's book from the National library. After reading it, I found it to be very useful in the writing of this paper and recommend it to students doing research in the same field. Also those who are taking the courses that are connected to art, culture and social life can find this book to be very helpful. It has helped me not only in other areas of life such as general knowledge, but also given me points and a place of reference in the compilation of information for this paper.
Kay, S. (2006). Emirates Archeological heritage. Dialectical Anthropology 17: 53-84
Kay has been a very resourceful person in the area of anthropology. Kay, in this article gives a vivid explanation of the archeological heritage in the United Arab Emirates. The article is a clear outline of the historical nature of the public art in United Arab Emirates. Kay took time and felt that it was time to express his mind concerning the Art in the region. He has shown how the number of museums has grown over time within the region. The earliest tribes in the United Arab Emirates have worked on art. Then the designers and artists have come up with artistic works related to these people. I found students of anthropology discussing this article. The discussion was interesting and I can recall all about it since I went ahead to read it a number of times. I got all the points and got them well. I have also told others about it since it is also useful to them. For me, I have found the book good as it has enlightened me. I have used it in the writing of this paper. It has acted as my reference point in the writing of this paper. I therefore say that it is a good article written after a careful thought.
Labonte, P. (2014). All City: The book about taking space. Toronto. ECW Press.
Labonte is a professional designer and artist of impermanent public arts. The book, All city: the book about taking space, is a book discussing the way impermanent pubic arts are employed in place-making. The book details how impermanent arts are designed, their significance to the society, as well. The book shows that impermanent public arts can be used in different occasions, and events, crowing them all. Labonte emphasizes the importance of impermanent art to the society in which it takes place. Impermanent art help in place-making, helping blend culture in economic structures. Culture comes out in its beauty, through the use of this kind of art. Their impermanent nature adds to their book. The book also details the beauty of impermanent arts in general as well as in relation to culture. I can across this book online, while researching for this paper, and decided to look for it and read in detail. The book has contributed to the development of the main argument in the paper since it gives reasons as to why impermanent art is important to the societies they are practiced. This book is recommendable to all those that seek to understand impermanent arts and how they are used in the UAE. The information there in is commendably reliable since it is as a result of deep research as seen from the citations in the book.
Matthew, S. (2007). The impermanent art. The Boston Globe.
Matthew is a professor in the field of arts relating to culture of the people from the Middle East and surrounding regions. In his article, the impermanent art in the Boston globe, Matthew argue that impermanent art is good but has limitations maiming its effectiveness. The article discusses broadly the disadvantages or limitations of impermanent art in comparison to other types of art. The main disadvantage of the impermanent art relating to art and design is the fact that it does not last long. The short period that the works of this type of art lasts is a limiting factor. There are other limitations that Matthew points of which are of economic nature. The article ends with pointing out that it is important for designers of impermanent public arts to come up with ways of eliminating this problem. A colleague, who had read this article, recommended it. As I was conducting my research in the national library I came across it and I decided to have a look at it. The article is detailed and relevant to this study. It has helped in developing the counter argument in the paper. It is recommendable for people taking courses related to contemporary arts in the UAE to read through it. In addition, the information is reliable since the author is a renowned professional in the field in question.
Ponnamperuma, S. (2013). Story of Sigiriya. Melbourne, Australia Panique Pty Ltd
Ponnamperuma, 2013 is a book concerning the way place making blends culture in impermanent arts. The book cites example in which art has incorporated culture in place making. It also explains the concept of place making in detail. In addition, it defines the meaning of impermanent public art. This book is a book that is not detailed in explaining but it is detailed in giving examples in which impermanent art has been employed successfully. I came across the book in the national library some time before taking this course. When I started researching for this assignment I remembered it and decided to source examples from it. The book is recommendable for someone looking for examples of impermanent public arts. It has helped in explaining this paper in lay man's language since the examples it gives brings out the meaning and usage of impermanent arts clearly.
