Tears From Dubai
From 6 to 8 April 2017 “Imaginarium of Tears” was part of the REUSE x RISE festival. A three day festival that took place at the Dubai Creek Harbour Promenade.
Themed with “The Future of Living”, the festival was about giving a look into how design is helping too shape tomorrow. This event showcased emerging trends and concepts on the rise from the world of music, retail, technology, product design, and gastronomy. Celebrating the rising stars, start-ups, entrepreneurs and established brands from Dubai and beyond that are helping shape our future and evolving the way we live tomorrow.
The Innovation pod of Imaginarium of Tears at the Dubai Creek Harbour, with the “best view in town” durning the day.
When I arrived at the Dubai Creek Harbour, I was amazed by the venue and it’s view on the city’s skyline. Due the placement of the innovation pod of Imaginarium of Tears, I had the honour to see the stunning dynamics of light that played with the city of Dubai, while displaying my artworks and working on the tear donating sessions.
The Innovation pod of Imaginarium of Tears at the Dubai Creek Harbour, with the “best view in town” durning the night.
During these three days at the RISE festival, Imaginarium of Tears presented it’s fifty plus unique personal tears and stories. This was also the first time for me and the audience to experience the 3D printed tear sculpture, that could be interacted with. Resulting in the next level of creating a more spatial and tangible work of art that could be interacted with. The overall responses on Imaginarium of Tears I got from the audience were very positive; a very unique, fascinating and inspiring project that they heard of but not seen or experienced before.
People where interested in donating and booking session, to see, or to get their tear imaged into a work of art. But unfortunately also this time the challenge of getting genuine tears was there. Getting a tear was not as easy as they thought, since crying on command is very difficult. Other tools make them cry like cutting an union or eating a hot pepper or using a ventilator, unfortunately did not help. And next to that they would not result in genuine emotional tears.
So to say when it comes to creating tears on “command” its al about the numbers. Luckily enough few people actually managed to produce a genuine emotional tear. Their tears and stories are now perpetuated and added to the ongoing photography tear collection with personal stories at its heart.
Being in a different country like Dubai with a different environment meant that the crystallisation process of a tears happened faster than I was used to compared to home. This is due the different variables such as humidity and temperature, these variables play a roll in the crystallisation process together with the unique physiology of the person involved. Capturing and reflecting the moment in time, place and life the tears where created.
Below you can find two emotional tears from Dubai.
As you can see again these tears look unique and different then all others that had been imaged and seen before. One question I still have is; was the tear more influenced by its moment or by the different environmental conditions. I guess this is a question will stay unanswered for some time.
I want to thank the organisation for having me at Reuse x Rise, and the artists because of the lovely energy and inspiration. Hope to see you next time.
If you where part of Imaginarium of Tears in Dubai, thanks for visiting!
The “Imaginarium of Tears” innovation pod at the REUSE x RISE festival in Dubai Creek Harbour.