Blogging is about expressing and developing opinions, and it is important to understand how opinions have been informed. So this week as we expand the roadmap and think 750, there are two more books, and another week of life-experience, to add to the discussion:
(ii) Air Guitar 'At Home in the Neon' by Dave Hickey
Hickey gives us a seductive insight into the gratification of being able to call Vegas home, whilst Davis provides us with a series of facts and figures portraying the truth behind Dubai's glamorous facade. The style of the texts are very different making it hard to draw many real comparisons between two cities that it is quite easy to feel detached from, particularly if all knowledge has been informed from the media, literature and film, rather than first hand experience. But the writing style is also significant in representing the different types of the society that our discussion embodies.
The similarity between Dubai and Vegas is that of a shared geographical landscape to which people travel to spend money. Both are located in relatively remote desert climates of unbearable heat. But context is not just physical; it is also informed by the social and historical characteristics of an area. And it is the social connotations of context that have encouraged both cities to develop different skylines, each as ridiculous as the other, and representing their conflicting values.
I have long imagined Dubai to be a kind of hell-on-earth, symbolising everything I hate about the world. But somehow it is perversely enticing to watch Dubai's growth from afar - rather like Badiou's movie scenario. From a distance the development is incredible (disgustingly pointless and unsustainable, but incredible all the same), but once you read further, delve into the facts, it is clear there are many problems with the structure of the society. Treatment of construction workers clearly breach human rights, there are tight restrictions on the press, and there is a clash of culture between western ex-pats and the more conservative laws of the region.
Vegas is transparent, advertising itself as it is, it breaks the class barrier - the only way you can be an outsider is to be underage, although this obviously didn’t affect Hickey’s childhood visions of Vegas too much. Hickey tells us how Vegas is the ultimate democracy, with a flat-line hierarchy, as "there only two rules: (1) Post the odds, and (2) Treat everyone the same". The style of his writing, in being so understandable, and rid of high academic language, also represents this.
Another interesting point in Hickey's text is his slight at the art world today, comparing slot machines to artwork - the repetitiveness of modern art is that people are not developing any real ideas or thinking anew. At what point does a piece of art stop being about enjoyment, reflection, ideas, and start being about money, and who defines the real value of a painting? And one can't help but think of Dubai trying to buy its culture, skyline and artwork when Hickey writes "Define culture! They think it is all about money, which, I always agree, is the worst way of discriminating among individuals". There was a great quote I read a few years ago from a member of SOM, who when discussing whether the Burj Dubai or Shanghai World Financial Centre would be the tallest in the world, said something along the lines of "At this point they may as well as just drop their trousers down and compare penis sizes."
Dubai shows you the game, but doesn’t allow you to take part. Its brochures will have you believe it is an open society - so open, that is, that drinking and kissing are not allowed in public places. There is a clear hierarchy from which you will always be a foreigner will never be able to climb. People go to Vegas with a common dream – to have fun. They go to Dubai to be seen, to make and spend money. Vegas is a product of the sexual revolution, whilst Dubai presents a cityscape of globalism at the height of the Capitalist boom. Dubai purposefully destroyed its nomadic culture, replacing it with a Western Capitalist nightmare.
The bright lights of Vegas - A product of the post-war 50s displaying hope and wealth
Dubai skyline: The ultimate symbol of the age of disposable income
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