Artist's question for Dubai and Abu Dhabi

Kurt, there are plenty of places you can visit to see local workers but what you will experience does depend on the day of the week. Friday is best if you want to see people relaxing on their day off.

I would suggest walking along the Creek (both sides) in the late afternoon or early evening. especially the area on the Deira side where the Dhows are moored. Try the Fish Market and Baniyas Square in Deira, and then there's more obvious places like the Spice Souk and Gold Souk.

On the Bur Dubai side of the creek, Go to Al Fahidi Street in Bur Dubai and the Textile souk which is near there.

Check areas like Karama and Satwa which have large Asian communities. Al Diyafah Street and Satwa High Street have a lot of local life.

Try the public beaches in Jumeirah - always a good mix of people on the beach unless it's mid summer. Try Creek Park, Safa Park where you can usually find families having a picnic. There's normally games of cricket or volleyball happening on patches of wasteland in various locations around the city.

thanks! this is a great help for Dubai.

If by local workers you're referring to labourers from the Indian subcontinent, then another place is the fish market/corniche on the Deira side of the creek, which is, roughly speaking, the opposite side of Deira from the creekfront. If you're adventuresome you could hire a taxi to drive you around the labour camps in the Al Quoz district.

Another large pool of workers are Filipinos (mostly low level white collar and service sector workers) and their centre is probably Satwa with its high street featuring the "only in Dubai" blend of Filipinos, Asians and Arabs.

I'm intrigued by your project and it sounds fascinating, but I will caution you that Dubai and the UAE are benevolent dictatorships so you will be limited in what you can portray in a public place. I'd be surprised if the powers that be allow you to glorify the roles of labourers in constructing Dubai and Abu Dhabi in your artwork. Even western expats are barely acknowledged in any official histories or stories or public displays.

tally - your right its of course a sensitive issue. the mandate of the project is not specifically to go to say workers camps - thought I would like to do something with that someday. I am looking for places where people gather and hopefully find some architectural elements to work with as that is the other need of the project if you take a look at it. The people I am working with, who are part of the AD municipality and by extension the UAE event/pr side of the gov. are interested in reaching out to beyond just nationals and have made that clear. Where that leads is what I have to investigate. In general I like for the work to move between sites that are on tourist maps to less known more local sites, and for non-nationals this is harder to figure. which led me to post here. AD and Dubai are so focused on the glam buildings you have to work to move beyond it.

very much appreciate your thoughts I am going to try to it these places when I am in Dubai, though it will not just be weekend sites I need.

great help! - kurt

A very good place to see all nationalities and classes side by side are the open beaches in Dubai, particularly the Jumeira open beach and the Umm Suqeim/Kite beach just north of the Burj al Arab. Go on a Friday and you will see everyone from western expat families to Asian labourers enjoying the beaches, and you will also see different ethnicities/groups of people use the beaches in different ways. It's well worth the trip.

Dubai is so new and grew so quickly that even many low income workers live in new developments and new communities. I wouldn't hesitate to say that perhaps more than most places, the glam and shiny architecture of Dubai defines the city and its character. One way of looking at it is that without the shiny towers and artificial new developments, most of us wouldn't be in Dubai. All these buildings and developments are the result of the astounding Dubai real estate boom between 2000 and 2008 which launched the city on the global scene in a way it never had before. The construction brought everyone from labourers to architects as well as bankers and financiers. The fancy new malls and restaurants hired tens of thousands of workers from across the world.

The boom is long gone now and the (smaller) economy is somewhat more diversified, but it's still remarkable that Dubai went from a tiny desert town on the Gulf with little natural resources (most of the oil wealth is in Abu Dhabi) to a major city known across the world in just one generation - less than that even, and the extravagance of the Dubai real estate boom was a major factor in the growth of the city and its repute.

thanks tally, a good reminder of the history. I appreciate the feedback I have gotten here. I also posted in an expat forum and got zip, so thanks for taking the time. do you think there is a good active expat forum for AD/Dubai that is worth visiting? That would be great to know.

I am headed out tonight to the uae, a few days in AD at the Shangri-La Hotel, and then I hope off to Dubai and Liwa to explore. I have two weeks in total, so wish me luck. its a lot to cover!

best - kurt