Results tagged “unitedarabemirates”

Every November and December, a handful of current and former Toronto International Film Festival employees make the trek to the United Arab Emirates to help run the Dubai International Film Festival. Its fourth year having wrapped up on Sunday, DIFF—like most everything else about Dubai—is an experiment in accelerated postmodernization, an attempt to create a world-class film festival (this year's opening movie was Michael Clayton, with George Clooney in attendance) from scratch.

It’s finally going to happen: after years of seeing challengers boast of their aspirations only to fall short, in a matter of days or weeks, the CN Tower will be surpassed as the world’s tallest free-standing structure by the Burj Dubai, an office and condo tower in the United Arab Emirates. The 553.3-metre-tall tower has held the distinction for the last 31 years, making this the perfect opportunity for Torontoist to reflect on its history and ambiguous place in the collective imagination of the city. Will Torontonians be struck with a collective identity crisis, or will the occasion pass largely unnoticed by locals, who long ago relegated the spire to afterthought status?

Of all the things Canadians will boast about, our banking system isn't one of them despite being one of the strongest and most advanced in the world. Early co-operation between the financial institutions allowed Canada to become world leaders in the use of debit cards and internet banking, and we have the highest number of ATMs on the planet, per capita.

Christo is the installation artist best known for wrapping up bridges and buildings, placing giant umbrellas in a California valley and even draping a canyon in orange fabric. Working with his partner Jeanne Claude, for the last three decades, the couple has created a series of works that examine our relationship to our spaces, both natural and urban. Their pieces take years to plan, are meticulously planned but once installed are often only up for a few short weeks, a gesture that comments on our abilities to affect our surroundings but also on our impermanence.