Dubai Miracle Garden

Arid Dubai isn’t where you’d expect to find the world’s biggest natural flower garden, but then again the state specialises in superlatives and the unexpected – as well as the world’s tallest building and the world’s tallest hotel, it includes such incongruous attractions as the substantial ski resort Ski Dubai, which is chilled all year and comes complete with real snow.

Located in Dubailand near the Arabian Ranches and opened on Valentine’s Day, Dubai Miracle Garden contains over 45 million flowers over a 72,000 sq metre site and, as well as traditional flowerbeds, it features topiary-style displays with blooms fashioned into the shapes of hearts, stars, igloos, pyramids and so on. Intended as a tourist attraction which should attract one million visitors a year once fully established, the site was developed by the landscaping company Akar. Floral displays will change each season so that repeat visitors will have a new experience each time.

Speaking to Gulf News, developers of the garden have said that it has been possible to develop this oasis in the desert “through judicious re-use of waste water, through drip irrigation.” While Britain is still to emerge from the ongoing cold snap, winter in Dubai provides the optimum growth period for flowers and the garden will close at the peak of summer.

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Liu Xue: Sculpture

Chinese artist Liu Xue has created some fabulous anthropomorphic sculpture which are sure to tweak your “Eweeee, gross!” button, in a great way. The unusual hybrids are from his series - ‘We are the World’ and they aren’t far from it. Obese fat Buddha men sit on their frog legs or flippers while emaciated men and women balance on chicken legs or dog bodies. The different anatomies merge seamlessly into a viable being. They are distorted and somewhat monstrous – yet at the same time so realistic, one might believe they actually do exist. Liu lives in Beijing, Chaoyang, China and that’s about all we could find out about him. We would love to know a little about his process – any Chinese folks out there that could throw a little research our way? LINK: To Liu’s Website/Blog

Wildlife conservation on ice: frozen zoos to save animals

On the edge: Disease and habitat loss is decimating wild amphibian populations globally, with more than 200 species needing urgent intervention through captive breeding, says Dr. Simon Clulow. In a south-eastern suburb in Melbourne, there’s a zoo. It has no visitors, and there are no animals anywhere inside it. Rather, the Australian Frozen Zoo houses living cells and genetic material from Australian native and rare and exotic species. This place, and others like it, could be a big part of the future of conservation. Department of Biological Sciences’ Simon Clulow and his colleagues make the case for ‘biobanking’ in a recent piece in Conservation Letters. Clulow is keen to stress that this doesn’t mean getting rid of conventional zoos or captive breeding programs. “Captive breeding has had some wonderful successes, and there will always be a huge place for it,” he says. PhD student and lead author Lachlan Howell agrees. “It was captive breeding that brought the giant panda back f...

Room XX

Recently the Spanish Government officially presented Miquel Barceló’s latest art installation in the UN’s palace of Nations in Geneva. The controversial work of art is a massive sculptural installation located on the domed ceiling of the building’s newly created human rights and alliance of civilizations chamber, known as room XX. The work consists of multi-coloured stalactite forms that appear to be dripping from the ceiling. The art project was introduced by the Spanish organization ONUART, which was established in 2007 to promote dialogue, through the use of Spanish contemporary arts to create understanding between cultures and societies and to foster multilateralism at the UN in Geneva. Inspiration: Miquel Barceló’s work often features natural elements and imagery but the chamber’s ceiling takes this idea literally by recreating the natural stalactite forms, albeit through the artist’s lens. Barceló has revealed that the concept for the project came to him while he wa...

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