‘What If? Metropolis’Online Greenlight Review

Almudena Díaz

JEAN ARP• Jean Arp was a successful German-French abstract artist. He was born on September 16, 1886, in Strassburg, German Empire (now Strasbourg, France). And he died on June 7, 1966, in Basel, Switzerland. He was known as Jean Arp, but also as Hans Arp. This is because when he spoke German, he refered to himself as Hans, but when he spoke French, he refered to himself as Jean.

• Arp was a sculptor, a painter and a poet. He was best known for being one of the founders of the Dada movement in 1916. He was the leader of the Abstraction-Creation Group in Paris, 1930’s. And he was also a member of the American Abstract Artist group.

• Talking about Arp’s inspirations. Arp was influenced by the Expressionist artists’ group Der Blaue Reiter (“The Blue Rider”) by some Modern Art artists such as Wassily Kandinsky and Pablo Picasso. His first wife, Sophie Taeuber, was his primary collaborator and also his inspiration. He was also associated with the Surrealism and the Constructivism.

• Talking about his style, Arp’s main characteristic is the biomorphic evolution inspired by forms found in the nature. Almost all his works are sculputures made of bronce, stone and marble. And in these sculputures he always represents the organic forms he found in the natural world. Growth and fecundity are his main themes. Arp’s scultures have hard edges, shaper angles and straight lines. But the important thing is that the elements of his works can be pick up for re-doing another different work. Apart from this, the paintings, collages, bass-relieves, essays and poetry are also important characteristics of his style.

• Arp’s art is always an experiment with abstract form and colour in two and three dimensions.

Days and days at the sea, you will see an island that, in the distance, looks like a woman, Al-Medina. There are a lot of boats full of people that go there, but just a few of them, almost empty, return. Al-Medina is a city that expands on a huge island. On this island, changes take over. Al-Medina will amaze you with the metamorphosis that occur there. But do not be fooled by this city’s beauty, because nothing in Al-Medina is eternal and nothing is what it seems.

It will take you just a little time to realise that in Daphne, the things can change its shape. The time which forms take to transform depends on the thing that is changing. Buildings can change its shape in just a few days, they never return to their original shape and they never repeat any form previously made. But it is not only that, its inhabitants, who call themselves residents, can also change. They can change their body, their life, their personality, their age, their sex… And they will never again be the same people. When they go to sleep, they never know if they will be the same person they were on the previous day or whether they will be a different person. That is why it is a city made for silence. Its inhabitants do not often speak to each other, and when they speak to another person, they speak softly, almost whispering. You will never hear them speaking. Neither will you hear people laughing, crying or singing. Everybody who lives in this city is completed accustomed. The only sounds you will hear in Al-Medina are the noise the water makes when it flows from one place to another, the noise the buildings make when they are growing and transforming, the people working and the animals. But do not mislead by the idea that the city may be boring. Once you have lived here long enough you will be able to hear something you will never forget, the sound of silence.

Al-Medina. Evergreen Emerald.Travelogue

It is also a city made for the night. Its only light comes from the fire, a fire that never extinguishes and which is also constantly changing as the city. Sometimes this fire lights some streets, and sometimes it illuminates others. Perhaps, the only thing that does not change is that it always illuminates the same statue. A statue that is right in the middle of the island. A statue in which Daphne it’s not longer a woman and it’s becoming laurel. This laurel expands to all the buildings’ roofs, making the city like it is under a beautiful blanket of leaves and branches. The sun light never penetrates directly into the city.

The old city of Al-Medina has an irregular shape and it seems to be a big maze. You will be lost in its narrow streets and in its incredible architectural monuments. The streets are paved and there are not such things as sidewalks. You can see small pieces of grass among the pieces of stone.

The streets are usually full of people, but they are always quite busy doing the job of the person in which they have woken up that day. Fortunately, they have already learned how to do any job. They work as acrobats, escapists, magicians, knife throwers… In Al-Medina, everybody works on the performance jobs. It is like a thousand year old carnival with its plentiful storytellers and soothsayers making their way through the labyrinth of alleys. And although it seems that is a big mess, it is something that is organized and everybody has a role and there are never disturbing noises.

In Al-Medina, almost all the facades are covered by vegetation. Besides the plants, the elements that were used to build the city are wood, stone and water. The wood and the stone are just the materials for giving certain strength to the city, as the important materials are the water and the vegetation that make the metamorphosis process possible. Some small rivers sneak inside the city, in some of its narrow streets and its endless dead end streets. There is water on every street, and in the streets where there is no river or canal, there are precious fountains. In all this fountains there are sculptures. There are some fountains whose sculptures symbolize growth, there are others whose sculptures symbolizes fertility ... The fountains are the most colorful part of the whole city and this is because they are full of a great variety of flowers. These flowers are never fade.

But the most important feature of this city is magic. Magic is that element that makes changes possible. It is said that the main source of magic is Daphne’s sculpture, but actually, the origin is unknown. This magic has many features. The first one is that it creates an incredible atmosphere inside and outside the city. It makes a different environment. One of the things that can get your attention about this environment is that almost all Al-Medina is green. But it is not the same color green everywhere. As the shape of the city changes, the green tone changes. What is in the metamorphosis process is in a dark green tone while the things that are without any apparent change remain in a light green.

Another feature of this magic is that the atmosphere never changes. The weather is always the same: it never rains and it does not snow either. There is no sunshine and no clouds. But despite this, Al-Medina is always kept in perfect conditions. It does not rain but the humidity in the ground, in the walls and in the vegetation, is considerable, everything remains fresh. There is also no sun light in Al-Medina, but the light of his inner fire is enough. In addition, it stays always in the same station, it is always Spring. The fresh air, an incredible variety of flowers and a good weather.

But the real essence of the Al-Medina ’s magic, is that it makes everything immortal. Magic gives a kind of life to the buildings and they can be changed a billion times without stopping. Also the inhabitants of Al-Medina are immortal. It is said that in Al-Medina resides the secret of the eternal youth, because all the inhabitants are young people.Al-Medina is an enchanted place where time has been suspended, giving you a glimpse of life that sticks out like a gem in the middle of a feverish imagination.

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