Welcome to the latest edition of The Arts Edit, the weekly newsletter from The National's Abu Dhabi newsroom rounding up this week's most noteworthy arts and culture stories.
IN FOCUS
The tide is turning on Palestine in the West, with prominent figures who previously remained silent now raising their voices against the devastating violence in Gaza.
In the past week, two open letters – one from literary figures, one from those in film, music and beyond – have categorically condemned Israel’s continuing assault and called for a ceasefire.
British writer Zadie Smith – a year after writing an essay in the New Yorker scolding campus protesters for making some students feel unsafe, and others for “quibbling over the definition of genocide” – was among the most prominent names to join the open letter signed by 379 other writers from across the UK and Ireland.
“The use of the words 'genocide' or 'acts of genocide' to describe what is happening in Gaza is no longer debated by international legal experts or human rights organisations,” the letter reads.
The second letter, signed by 300 figures from across the entertainment industry including Benedict Cumberbatch, Riz Ahmed and Dua Lipa, was perhaps even more pointed. It was addressed to UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and urged him “to take immediate action to end the UK’s complicity in the horrors in Gaza”.
“Mothers, fathers, babies, grandparents – an entire people left to starve before the world’s eyes,” the letter said. “290,000 children are on the brink of death – starved by the Israeli government for more than 70 days.”
A similar open letter was published just before the start of the Cannes Film Festival, earlier in May, signed by Ralph Fiennes, Richard Gere and Juliette Binoche, among others.
Writer and activist Malala Yousafzai made her most pointed statement yet on Gaza on May 20. She wrote on X: “It makes me sick to my stomach to see Israel’s cruelty and brutality in Gaza … I call on every world leader to put maximum pressure on the Israeli government to end this genocide and protect civilians.”
Irish actor Paul Mescal, while promoting The History of Sound at Cannes, spoke about the impact of Palestinian-Israeli film No Other Land on him, and lamented its lack of traditional distribution.
“The story that I feel like needed to be told the most was being censored, it felt like almost,” said Mescal.
Even Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke, previously criticised for performing in Israel in 2017, issued a statement against the country's actions on Friday. On Instagram, Yorke said he “remained in shock that his supposed silence was somehow taken as complicity”. He denounced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the “horrific blockade of aid to Gaza”, adding that the “excuse of self-defence has long worn thin”.
Notably, however, Yorke stopped short of using the word “genocide” and criticised “unquestioning” use of the phrase “free Palestine”.
Following No Other Land's Academy Award win, international bodies such as the Cannes Film Festival and the Venice Biennale have offered larger platforms to Palestinian voices.
A project that reimagines Gaza shelters as memorials and study spaces is on display at the Venice Biennale of Architecture. The project, titled Time Reclaiming Structures by Dima Srouji and Piero Tomasson, captures the multifaceted uses that shelters gain during conflict.
“Anyone that has experienced war will have this intimate relationship with the architecture of a staircase, for example” Srouji says.
The National's Razmig Bedirian met Srouji in Venice. Find more on the project here.
The message is clear: even the most reticent now feel compelled to use their voices for peace. In the arts world, silence when thousands are at risk of starvation is, in the eyes of many, no longer an option.
Why Stanley Tucci doesn't want to be a global food expert like Anthony Bourdain
Actor Stanley Tucci, star of the new documentary series Tucci in Italy in which he reconnects with the food and traditions of his ancestral homeland, will not bring his talents to other countries.
In an interview with The National, he made it clear he doesn’t want to be the next Anthony Bourdain – the late chef who became internationally famous for his globetrotting food series Parts Unknown.
“I don’t want to do different regions and different countries, because I don’t think that would be appropriate. I don’t have a connection to those countries,” Tucci explains.
In fact, it sounds like Tucci doesn’t think there should be another Anthony Bourdain at all. Instead, he wants the Tucci in Italy model to be repeated globally – starring figures who are looking to explore their roots, not modern adventurers looking to become the Indiana Jones of restaurants.
“I think it would be more interesting to have somebody like me explore those countries in the way that I’ve done it – and they need to have a connection to those countries. They need to speak the language, and they have to really, really appreciate the food – not just like to eat.
“They have to know food and be willing to explore and ask questions. It’s not just about what’s delicious – it’s about understanding the passion of the people that make it.”
Find more on his political motivations to make the series here.
Lebanese band Adonis grapple with national tragedy on new album
What’s the difference between silence and quiet in times of conflict? For Lebanese band Adonis, it came down to agency – the ability to choose how, and when, to express themselves.
The veteran group, known for their ebullient sound and emotionally precise lyrics, have delivered a set of songs, released last month and recorded during the 2024 Israel invasion of Lebanon, intentionally detached from the immediate context of the conflict.
In doing so, it becomes a statement of resilience – that their art is guided by creative intent, not shaped by the surrounding disorder. And, crucially, that making music became a means of emotional preservation in times of chaos.
“We were devastated during the war, of course,” singer and keyboardist Anthony Khoury tells The National. “But the music was elsewhere. It didn’t sit with us in that very dark place. We needed to protect something. Maybe it was our joy, our creativity … maybe even our sanity.”
Find Saeed Saeed's latest entry in his series on mental health in Middle East music here.
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
· Mohamad Abdou at Coca-Cola Arena, Dubai – June 7
· Candlelight: Tribute to Coldplay at Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai – June 7
· Shradda Jain at Sheikh Rashid Auditorium, Dubai – June 9
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
