Her Excellency Nourabint Mohammed Al Kaabi, Minister of Culture and Youth and President of Zayed University, inaugurated the College of Art and Creative Enterprises “showCACESenior StudentsExhibition at d3” for the academic year of 2019/2020 while ensuring all the precautionary and social distancing measures.
The Exhibition include 52 displays of senior students from the classes of Visual Arts, Graphic Design, Interior Design and Animation. The exhibition concluded on Thursday November 26that Dubai Design District.
Her Excellency Noura Al Kaabipraised the students’ for their commendable work during her tour around the exhibition and expressed her admiration, saying: “CACE students have always proved the highest level of creativity and expression through their exceptional work. It is a reflection of the reality of the artistic talent we have right here in the UAE.”
And she added, “Zayed University is constantly motivating its students to become entrepreneurs during their undergraduate and graduate studies, and supports them to engage in businesses that match the movement of integrating creative environments for innovation. Events such as the showCACE exhibition, guarantees young talents all the necessary education and practices to complete the sustainable development of the creative economy in the UAE.”
On his part, Kevin Badni, Dean of the College of Arts and Creative Enterprises, pointed out that the prestigious venues provide an excellent platform to showcase the student’s thesis projects to a large audience. It allows for stakeholders and industry professionals to see the work, celebrate their achievements and interact with the graduates while assuring all the proposed safety procedures.
He said: “This year’s exhibition was challenging for everyone, which reflected positively on the students’ work, as it showed the extent of their commitment and determination to persevere. I am proud of the results they reached and happy with all the topics that was covered such as UAE culture and heritage, woman and society.” “Zayed University constantly provides student artists and designers the opportunity to explore and develop their own creative ideas while ensuring a clear intermix wit hthe cultural, entrepreneurship, as well as social and educational contexts of the United Arab Emirates. The College of Arts and Creative Enterprises adapts initiatives that allows students to integrate traditional and new practices to produce exciting and innovative outcomes, and also give back to their community.”
For their senior projects in Animation Design, students further developed their techniques and explored topics that were meaningful to them. The issue of pollution is represented through a video game titled “Sha’ari’s Tale” by MozaAlsuwaidi that aims to spread awareness on the dangers that face our local waters in the UAE.
A women’s empowerment topic is represented through a digital animation that also uses a significant auditory component by Hind Alfalasi who was inspired by Mariam Almansouri, the first female fighter pilot in the UAE and titled her work “Follow Your Ambition”.
Graphic Design students used diverse social and cultural dimensions in shaping their 24 projects, including topics about preservation of culture and language through design; challenging common, modern social issues; and addressing stereotypes with humor.
AshwaqAlMahri came up with an exhibit under the name of “NIQAB” where she examines the stereotypes of the Niqab in modern- day through humor to address misconceptions, and educate people, show the reality of “Mutanaqibat” (women who wear the Niqab) as they live their lives and get to choose what’s “convenient” to them freely.
Another exhibit which presented the gap between the younger generation and their families was the focus area of Maitha Bin Hammad who realized a project titled “The Side Eye” in hope to raise awareness on the pressure that the youth face in our society as they conform to the expectations of others.
The Interior Design program hosts one of the largest student cohorts in the college, of which the design-learning process explores all scales of projects – from small- scale residential to large-scale commercial projects.The projects exhibited range from commercial developments, to a selection of healthcare and educational institutions.
Alia Alblooshi’sdesign solution portrayed a motivational environment that helps people suffering from obesity and other diseases to overcome their health challenges. Combining different components that encourage individuals to visit the “facility” regularly and enjoy exercising.
Amna Al Bastaki worked on a distinctive design for a nursing home in an exceptional location next to the beach to reduce anxiety and mental stress and increase physical activities to maintain a happy and healthy lifestyle. The design solution focuses on developing living and working environments for elders that make them feel at home, and includes a learning center that welcomes children and gives them the opportunity to learn from the stories and advice of the elderly.
“The Healing Center” for pregnant women revolves around the idea of AshawaqAlmaazmi after a research study she conducted that showed that 25% of babies born in the UAE were premature. Her aim is to create an environment for women to reduce stress and allow the process to go through relaxed and comfortable process in order to give birth to healthy babies.
Both the students and faculty have tirelessly worked side by side to launch this exhibition regardless the circumstances.The show copes with the difficulties they encountered in distance learning, especially since the field of arts is a sensory field that requires a high level of human interaction and the display of experiential executions of creativity.
