Show on How global cities in future will develop

Participants will have a unique opportunity to stand face to face with designs of future cities at the International Design Forum (IDF) 2007. The Forum to kick off tomorrow in Dubai is organized by Motamarat, a joint venture of Dubai Holding's Tatweer and Saudi Research and Publishing Company. It will feature Michael Najjar's solo gallery show on future cities - "netropolis" - during the opening ceremony.Held under the official patronage of Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Executive Council of Dubai, the IDF will take place at the Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai from 27-29 May and will focus on industrial and urban design and seek to promote creativity in the Arab world. Michael Najjar's "netropolis" investigates the current development of global mega cities - sprawling urban masses whose space is too big and elusive for its inhabitants to comprehend.In netropolis various panoramic views of the city are taken and superimposed to form a landscape, an abstract and shimmering elusive pattern of multi-layered relationships. The works show the real world city as a mapping of the density of the information flows they nurture. This is an understanding that gives rise to a new and totally unprecedented form of imaginary urbanity - netropolis, the city of the future for the digital age.Najjar explained: "In a post-industrial age, it is mainly its representation in the media that determines the character of a city and points the way to its future. 'netropolis' treats future development of the megacity as a locus for spatial and informational diversification. Media-driven representation of the city endows it with a virtual dimension that can be entered and experienced from any point at any time." netropolis was first shown in 2006 at the 10th International Architecture Biennial in Venice and consists of 12 large-scale photo works, a video installation and a 3D photo sculpture. The cities portrayed are Berlin, Dubai, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Mexico City, New York, Paris, Beijing, Sao Paulo, Shanghai and Tokyo. Najjar has exhibited at the Museum Ludwig in Cologne, Kunsthalle Hamburg, Deichtorhallen-International House of Photography Hamburg, Willy-Brandt-Haus in Berlin, Danish Design Center in Copenhagen, Goethe Institute New York, Arco 2004 in Madrid and the Science Museum, London. His previous gallery shows had been featured at Lutz Teutloff Gallery in Cologne, Cato Jans Gallery in Hamburg, and Bitforms Gallery in New York.The curator Harald Szeemann (Venice Biennial, Documenta) invited him this year to participate in his new exhibition "The Beauty of Failure/The Failure of Beauty" at the Museum Fundacio Joan Miro in Barcelona. Source