The Arab blogosphere has become a very interesting place to be. Egyptian bloggers have been interviewed on CNN and Jordanian bloggers organized their very own “Blog About Jordan Day” last March. Now while it hasn’t been all peaches with the Arab blogosphere, the appearance of a decent Arab blog aggregator has definitely done its part to sweeten the atmosphere.

Frieze week has passed, as have the London auctions, to quite a miserable atmosphere all around.  The jubliation of Frieze, although somewhat muted seemed to illustrate that the art world would survive the insanity of the financial crises, but the auctions proved this assumption completely false.  The happy and optimistic mood has quickly dissipated.  Even the markets that everyone thought were immune are teetering.  The Edge of Arabia show which opened at the Brunei Gallery was a wonderful display of contemporary Saudi Arabian art but it was certainly bad timing with conversations and foc

If the fall catwalks were any indication, big hijab might be the Muslim girl’s answer to fashion’s current push toward ever bigger manes.  On ’08 runways from Michael Kors to Thakoon and Dior to Derek Lam, the bouffant was back – and with a vengeance.  Perhaps part of the allure of this highly structured silhouette lies in its participation in an international look du jour.  But given that Kuwait University’s glam-abaya set began raising the bar for hijab nearly two years ago, my hunch is that the Gulf trend for big hijab goes deeper than the mere globalization of fashion. 

In these strange and crazy times, the art world seems to holding out though it’s not as deliriously out-of-control as it once was.  The VIP opening attendance at Frieze was overwhelming with what seemed to be like more people than art!

Are you on the job hunt? If so, we have some good news for you. A new job recruitment portal, Twffaha, is launching on October 15 and it’s geared specifically towards Middle Eastern women. Interestingly enough, the website was co-founded by two men, Ashraf Mansour and and Ammar Mustafa, who are Sudanese and Syrian respectively. Starting out with an English version, the site will soon branch out into Arabic as well.

The City of Light doesn’t often conjure up images of Ramadan warmth and Eid festivities, especially in the last few years.  The social integration of France's Muslim population (the largest in Europe) remains a touchy subject, and yet, beyond the headlines, the city has embraced many aspects of the Middle East...

So after a relatively sleepy summer the fall art season has kicked off with a bang with Damien Hirst’s insanely successful auction at Sotheby’s!  Interestingly enough, the sale was on the same day as the collapse of Lehman Brothers and continued for 2 days with no signs of any effect on the art market (although whispers have it that Hirst’s dealers and galleries were those that bought the majority of works).

Tvosz.com, the video sharing website based in Egypt, has its work cut out for it. It’s come into an arena, competing with the sites like the colossal YouTube, which is embedded in everyone's mind as the first stop for online videos. Tvosz.com has set itself apart from YouTube in two distinct ways. First, it promotes itself as a family-oriented website.

A look inside Athens’ Benaki Museum of Islamic Art:  How one European institution has been quietly exhibiting its precious trove from the Middle East for close to a century.

September 11th had one unlikely effect on the art world: a reawakened interest in the West for art and culture emanating from the Middle East.  A trend seen throughout Europe, where significant collections of Islamic art, hidden away in the basements of some of the West’s grandest museums, are reemerging from years of obscurity.

Capturing Cairo’s Glamorous Past in a Tale of International Espionage