Manarat Al Saadiyat, the centre that housed the Disorientation II event last winter and now houses the permanent Saadiyat Story exhibition, is not easy to find. Ironic, considering that the word ‘manarat’ translates as ‘lighthouse’. So let’s get this out of the way early: once you’re on Saadiyat, head straight for gate C. Heading for gates A or B will only result in widespread confusion.
Widespread confusion, of course, is the new exhibit’s antithesis. The Saadiyat Story was put together to keep the residents of Abu Dhabi informed and up to date on what’s going on out there beyond the mangroves. Let’s face it, the majority of us could probably do a reasonable job of explaining what Saadiyat’s future is all about (‘there’s a couple of museums for arty types being built out there, and I think there’s a golf course or two’), but it’s always been a bit like trying to describe Neverland. What this new exhibition does is bring it out of the realms of imagination and plonk it down in front of you in a very tangible manner.
Interaction is the name of the game here. From the beginning, it’s a very hands-on exhibition. Laid out in chapters, the first display pins down a brief history of Abu Dhabi, collated on the walls of a small library. The books deal largely with the country’s big hitters: tons of tomes on Wilfred Thesiger, a few about the current royal family, and more than a handful on Sheikh Zayed, without whom all this would not be possible – a point that the exhibition drives home with gusto.
Should you require one, a guide will usher you on into a large, three dimensional cinema which promises to show you the full history of Saadiyat Island itself. It wasn’t working the day that Time Out visited, but we can report that it’s as plush as you like; decked out in cushions and finery as though it thinks it’s a corner of Pearls & Caviar. It certainly looks the part.
Moving on, the exhibit opens onto a large hall decked out in the kind of interactive gadgetry best described in a single word: cool. And you needn’t take our word for it. At the display counter dedicated to the life and times of Sheikh Zayed (or ‘Baba Zayed’, as our guide affectionately calls him), we stumble across a bunch of school kids digitally magnifying photos of the nation’s beloved father, flicking through his photo albums and whizzing jpegs of the legendary bedu leader across a digital surface for their classmates to get a better look. We wonder what it all means to them. ‘Sheikh Zayed was the first person to discover Abu Dhabi,’ explains one British six-year-old; not wholly accurate, of course, but she’s having a great time getting it right. Meanwhile, her mum stands engrossed in an interactive Frank Gehry presentation. Museum exhibits were never this fun in her day.
While much of this presentation deals with subjects covered at the long-running Saadiyat Island Cultural Exhibition (Emirates Palace; Daily 10am-10pm), The Saadiyat Story presents things from a less static perspective. Using continuously updated software, the displays endeavour to keep up with progress as it develops on the building sites outside. One particularly enthralling screen allows you to scroll through satellite images of the island taken since 2007 and added to as new images become available. Watching the bridge stretch out across the Saadiyat Channel as the new canals and marina take shape is a strangely stirring experience. This really is modern Emirati history in the making, documented for all to see.
It’s also the only exhibition to clearly reveal plans for the other six zones on the island. The Cultural District itself is already well known, though the new models on display here show an exquisite, shaded town situated on Venetian canals, dotted with smaller art galleries being developed to aid local artists – a relief for those of us that felt the 2030 vision was beginning to look a little top-heavy. Elsewhere, there are plush suburbs sprouting up around Saadiyat Beach, where nine five-star hotels line up (St Regis, Rotana Resort and Park Hyatt are all due in early 2011) overlooking a 9km beach, careful not to disturb the endangered hawkbill turtles that have also made their home there. Nearby, 621 residential villas are due completion by 2013, though, at Dhs3 million per villa, the turtles have obviously got the better deal.
As you move down onto the lower level, the feeling that you’re attending a trade show starts to itch, and the final chapter (detailing the city-wide projects attributable to TDIC) may only be of use to the company’s clients. However, there’s no denying that what they’ve achieved upstairs provides a mouth watering glimpse of what the next 10 years will bring. We reckon ‘Baba Zayed’ would be delighted.
The Saadiyat Story (Manarat Al Saadiyat) is open daily 10am-8pm, free of charge.
