Van Gogh Restaurant – a memory
Text: Ar. Maria A
Photography: Bashesnef
Some cities embrace and preserve centuries of culture and pays poetic tribute to the layers of civilization unearthed on its site. But not Dubai, Dubai is cosmopolitan in its own way, the very best example that the world has to offer on globalization. Culture and its remnants have taken a back stage to the multitude of sky scrapers popping into its horizon. Dubai the world’s fastest changing city, an urban landscape that has come to be characterized by quick development in architecture ‘without identity’ and with an anonymous core. This is a place in race with itself in all compartments, a place where all cities of the world meet and collide with a result of no identity. These are the premises of ‘Dubai- scape’. Yet Dubai has it all.
The sound and sights of places is unforgettable and this is the stuff that our memories are made off. Van Gogh and Amsterdam are synonymous; anyone who has been to the quaint city of Amsterdam knows the numerous Museums and Van Gogh’s lifelong work on display in one space. Amsterdam has 37 museums, each of which offers very diverse permanent collections and temporary exhibitions. The largest and most renowned institutions include: Van Gogh Museum, Rijksmuseum, Stedelijk Museum, Hermitage, Anne Frank House and Rembrandthuis. There is also a surprising amount of smaller museums, each of which brings very different types of art and collections to Amsterdam. In recent years, photography and multimedia exhibitions have also been booming.
A visit to the Van Gogh Museum is a unique experience. The museum contains the largest collection of paintings by Vincent van Gogh in the world. It provides the opportunity to keep track of the artist’s developments, or compare his paintings to works by other artists from the 19th century in the collection. The museum also holds an extensive offer of exhibitions on various subjects from 19th-century art history.
The museum’s permanent collection includes more than 200 paintings by Van Gogh and many drawings and letters. In addition to work by Van Gogh, the museum has a rich and varied collection of other 19th-century art. The artists represented include Impressionists, Post-Impressionists and others: Van Gogh’s friends and contemporaries, those who inspired him, and those who drew inspiration from him.
One must be wondering what is the connection between Dubai and Amsterdam and Van Gogh? But somewhere, somehow Dubai does surprise you and Van Gogh restaurant WAS one such place. Some years back in its sweltering heat I had by fait accompli searching for any eatery to qualm the pangs of hunger and thirst stumbled onto Van Gogh restaurant, and was entranced.
The restaurant an inspiration of the artist and also homage to his great work is a sensitive approach. A space which for the Van Gogh lovers in this desert turned green city far away from the artists place is indeed a worthy attempt. The general interiors though spacious have been worked out on a neutral note, no strong facades, stone or iron elements but tall mirrors which reflect the work of Van Gogh from all vantage points. The walls which are resplendent of Van Gogh’s works are the main highlight of the space. The simple furniture in contemporary lines and flooring all take a deliberate back seat to the actual display.
The project posed a number of challenges to its designer Basheer of Bashesnef. In addition to creating an exhibit gallery, Basheer was charged with relating the new restaurant to diverse existing elements on the site (read neighborhood). In a nod to the area’s shopping crowd, the architects designed the restaurant as a stage composed of a series of foreshortened frames. The experience begins with a blank façade that does not betray much to the outside world. Restaurant visitors enter a brightly lit reception area into a space washed with varying shades of reds. The entrance facade is obscure with no hint of what lies inside. Passing through the reception, one is plunged into the shifting darkness of a vast and spacious ground-floor space. This spacious interior is clearly bifurcated with flooring and wall as exhibition space of Van Gogh’s works.
Light and sound penetrate the pseudo perforated brick walls. The street noise reinforces an awareness of the exterior, and a recording of instrumental fills the space with the haunting stirrings and cooings of pigeons that once nested and played among the ancient walls of the artist Van Gogh. There is an absurd of sorts. The walls are encased with bricks, sheathed in wood, reflected by colored glass and this crowd of materials frames works of the artist. It is a question and yet an answer to the multitude layering of our lives itself
The glass façade and entry belies the interior except for the name. The interior is segregated in two sections. One corresponds to Van Gogh and his works and the other as a regular hi profile eatery outlet. The muted varying shades of oranges reminding one of ‘Sunflowers’? with stone flooring. The furniture inspired from his paintings of that particular period and the table settings are reflections of the flower series. The other section is a savvy layout of any restaurant interior and décor; the polished wooden flooring with modern style leather like seaters in stainless steel. But the highlight is the juxtaposition of Van Gogh’s works on the featured walls of the contemporary décor. It is a stage setting a mirror of Van Gogh’s works thrown into the interiors, a make believe world.
Make believe, transitory, reflection, a mirage and a memory. As our readers might have noted the project data and its details are missing. The reason being the project is not there any more, simply put. It was a brief journey of Van Gogh in a different world, when it existed there was a milling crowd of artists and art lovers but now there is nothing; Nothing to remind us that the place ever existed. In this ever changing consumeric, migratory world how can art which has sustained for centuries compete with the time warped effervescence of today’s life? Architecture and to some extent interior design is for posterity, the only art form with a huge span of survival and service but the influx of technology has transcended it into time warps with specific span of life.
Photography: Bashesnef
Some cities embrace and preserve centuries of culture and pays poetic tribute to the layers of civilization unearthed on its site. But not Dubai, Dubai is cosmopolitan in its own way, the very best example that the world has to offer on globalization. Culture and its remnants have taken a back stage to the multitude of sky scrapers popping into its horizon. Dubai the world’s fastest changing city, an urban landscape that has come to be characterized by quick development in architecture ‘without identity’ and with an anonymous core. This is a place in race with itself in all compartments, a place where all cities of the world meet and collide with a result of no identity. These are the premises of ‘Dubai- scape’. Yet Dubai has it all.
The sound and sights of places is unforgettable and this is the stuff that our memories are made off. Van Gogh and Amsterdam are synonymous; anyone who has been to the quaint city of Amsterdam knows the numerous Museums and Van Gogh’s lifelong work on display in one space. Amsterdam has 37 museums, each of which offers very diverse permanent collections and temporary exhibitions. The largest and most renowned institutions include: Van Gogh Museum, Rijksmuseum, Stedelijk Museum, Hermitage, Anne Frank House and Rembrandthuis. There is also a surprising amount of smaller museums, each of which brings very different types of art and collections to Amsterdam. In recent years, photography and multimedia exhibitions have also been booming.
A visit to the Van Gogh Museum is a unique experience. The museum contains the largest collection of paintings by Vincent van Gogh in the world. It provides the opportunity to keep track of the artist’s developments, or compare his paintings to works by other artists from the 19th century in the collection. The museum also holds an extensive offer of exhibitions on various subjects from 19th-century art history.
The museum’s permanent collection includes more than 200 paintings by Van Gogh and many drawings and letters. In addition to work by Van Gogh, the museum has a rich and varied collection of other 19th-century art. The artists represented include Impressionists, Post-Impressionists and others: Van Gogh’s friends and contemporaries, those who inspired him, and those who drew inspiration from him.
One must be wondering what is the connection between Dubai and Amsterdam and Van Gogh? But somewhere, somehow Dubai does surprise you and Van Gogh restaurant WAS one such place. Some years back in its sweltering heat I had by fait accompli searching for any eatery to qualm the pangs of hunger and thirst stumbled onto Van Gogh restaurant, and was entranced.
The restaurant an inspiration of the artist and also homage to his great work is a sensitive approach. A space which for the Van Gogh lovers in this desert turned green city far away from the artists place is indeed a worthy attempt. The general interiors though spacious have been worked out on a neutral note, no strong facades, stone or iron elements but tall mirrors which reflect the work of Van Gogh from all vantage points. The walls which are resplendent of Van Gogh’s works are the main highlight of the space. The simple furniture in contemporary lines and flooring all take a deliberate back seat to the actual display.
The project posed a number of challenges to its designer Basheer of Bashesnef. In addition to creating an exhibit gallery, Basheer was charged with relating the new restaurant to diverse existing elements on the site (read neighborhood). In a nod to the area’s shopping crowd, the architects designed the restaurant as a stage composed of a series of foreshortened frames. The experience begins with a blank façade that does not betray much to the outside world. Restaurant visitors enter a brightly lit reception area into a space washed with varying shades of reds. The entrance facade is obscure with no hint of what lies inside. Passing through the reception, one is plunged into the shifting darkness of a vast and spacious ground-floor space. This spacious interior is clearly bifurcated with flooring and wall as exhibition space of Van Gogh’s works.
Light and sound penetrate the pseudo perforated brick walls. The street noise reinforces an awareness of the exterior, and a recording of instrumental fills the space with the haunting stirrings and cooings of pigeons that once nested and played among the ancient walls of the artist Van Gogh. There is an absurd of sorts. The walls are encased with bricks, sheathed in wood, reflected by colored glass and this crowd of materials frames works of the artist. It is a question and yet an answer to the multitude layering of our lives itself
The glass façade and entry belies the interior except for the name. The interior is segregated in two sections. One corresponds to Van Gogh and his works and the other as a regular hi profile eatery outlet. The muted varying shades of oranges reminding one of ‘Sunflowers’? with stone flooring. The furniture inspired from his paintings of that particular period and the table settings are reflections of the flower series. The other section is a savvy layout of any restaurant interior and décor; the polished wooden flooring with modern style leather like seaters in stainless steel. But the highlight is the juxtaposition of Van Gogh’s works on the featured walls of the contemporary décor. It is a stage setting a mirror of Van Gogh’s works thrown into the interiors, a make believe world.
Make believe, transitory, reflection, a mirage and a memory. As our readers might have noted the project data and its details are missing. The reason being the project is not there any more, simply put. It was a brief journey of Van Gogh in a different world, when it existed there was a milling crowd of artists and art lovers but now there is nothing; Nothing to remind us that the place ever existed. In this ever changing consumeric, migratory world how can art which has sustained for centuries compete with the time warped effervescence of today’s life? Architecture and to some extent interior design is for posterity, the only art form with a huge span of survival and service but the influx of technology has transcended it into time warps with specific span of life.
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