30 May 2013
I should have updated this blog with the Interns’ arrival 4 days ago, with the arrival of Mohammed Al Serkal and Adel Al Jabri, both selected to be part of the inaguration of “Walking on Water” exhibition featuring the work of Mohammed Kazem at the National Pavilion of the United Arab Emirates in la Biennale di Venezia. But as you can all imagine, things have been quite intense the last couple of days as we prepared for the grand opening of our exhibition.
But to give you a quick recap on what happened when our interns arrived to Venice:
Mohammed Al Serkal experienced walking on water literally upon his arrival to Venezia. The rain had not stopped for a week before, and the tides were high signalling “Aqua Alta” Mohammed was walking in and on water on his first night.
Adel was lucky enough to come at a time when Venezia was her usual beautiful self; Sunny, Warm and welcoming. Needless to say, Mohammed spent the whole day telling Adel about the wonders of Aqua Alta, and the rain that welcomed him upon his arrival.
The Emirati interns spent the first two days in Venice immersed in work at the pavilion. Packing, arranging and sometimes cleaning in a display of a great team work that made me really proud of the spirit of collaboration they showed, and quite happy with selecting them to be part of the first batch.
Today was the Preview, and both Adel and Mohammed along with our Italian interns: Valentina Pelosi and Bendetta Lanza worked hard welcoming more than two thousand visitors, and introducing them to the works of Mohammed Kazem, and the National Pavilion of the United Arab Emirates.
We are all equal in the space, no interns, and no managers; just a group of motivated young people proud and happy to be representing a great nation: representing the UAE.
I will keep you posted with some videos, and images from our behind the scenes series taken by the wonderful team of photographers from seeingthings.ae , The interns will be also sharing their stories with you. Do follow us, and keep reading this blog!
Love from Venezia,
Mariam Al Dabbagh, Education Coordinator – Venezia
