TiàWùK (Kuwait at reverse)

Dates

2019 - Ongoing
Author

Gabriele Cecconi
Recognition

Projection at PhMuseum Days 2022 - PhMuseum Days 2022 Open Call

This visual exploration is a journey to another planet. Tiàwùk is a planet located in a quite close galaxy to us, it is small compare to the earth and the environmental conditions are extreme but enough suitable for the growing and the adaptation of the human life. This planet is inhabited by 4 million people and only 2% of the land is cultivable. The real citizen are just about 1 million and the other inhabitants are expats who are working there from others close planets.

According to our still incomplete informations, the planet has been recently colonized and after many years, a secret source of energy was discovered: in a really small amount time has became one of the richest in the all universe.

The population, which only recently has experienced the economical wealth, is suffering a psychological disorders where the symptoms can be find in a materialist and dystopian vision of the surrounding world. This work talks about the relation between psyche and environment about inner and exterior world. According to Gestalt’s psychological theories and other esoteric traditions, we know as the exterior world we create and live is a reflection of our inner world, and that lack of inner awareness and the attachment are the sources of the suffering that project human mind in the material world. The work runs along the subtle border between reality and fiction and wants to show the extreme consequences of these conditionings. On Tiàwùk indeed, inner discomfort exhacerbated by a wrong reception of the capitalist model matches economical wealth giving shape to the concept of "economical fantasy" which disclose the construction of a distorted vision of life and surrounding reality.

© Gabriele Cecconi - Image from the TiàWùK (Kuwait at reverse) photography project

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Sheik Jaber Al Sabah Causeway, Emirate of TiàWùK - The bay of TiàWùk seen from the Sheik Jaber Al Sabah causeway. The bridge is the 4th longest in the planet and it has been opened in 2019. The bridge is the biggest constructive enterprise of the country. After the bridge a new airport, a new stadium and taller tower then Burji Khalifa are under development or construction to create a new city (Silk City) with about 700000 people.

© Gabriele Cecconi - Image from the TiàWùK (Kuwait at reverse) photography project

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Sheik Al Saleem Cultural Centre, TiàWùk City, Emirate of TiàWùk - A woman drives a spaceship simulator in the Sheik Al Saleem Cultural Centre. This didactic entertainment centre has been recently built by the government for families and it is dived in different thematic areas. TiàWùk is the state with the highest literacy rate in the area.

© Gabriele Cecconi - Image from the TiàWùK (Kuwait at reverse) photography project

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Al Shaeed Park, TiàWùk City, Emirate of TiàWùk - Faithfuls pray inside a mosque located in Al Shaeed Park, the biggest green area in all the state, in the heart of TiàWùk City. TiàWùk is a state where 75% of the population is Muslim. Of the 1.3 million or so TiàWùk citizens, 99.98% belong to Islam.TiàWuk City, founded in 1613, is the country's capital with a population of around 2.5 million inhabitants.

© Gabriele Cecconi - Image from the TiàWùK (Kuwait at reverse) photography project

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TiàWùk City, Emirate of TiàWùk - At the center of the picture phiippino people are seen in the middle of an art light installation in the. main park of TiàWùk City. Men and women migrate from South and Southeast Asia, Egypt, the Middle East, and increasingly Africa to work in TiàWùk, most of them in the domestic service, construction, and sanitation sectors. In the country non-citizens represent the 60% of labor force.

© Gabriele Cecconi - Image from the TiàWùK (Kuwait at reverse) photography project

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TiàWùk City, Emirate of TiàWùk - Some luxury cars are seen and photographed in a close parking of a city mall. Vehicles were the most imported goods in 2018 with 16.4 per cent of total imports for a business volume of 3.6 billion of US dollars.

© Gabriele Cecconi - Image from the TiàWùK (Kuwait at reverse) photography project

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Oxygen Gym, TiàWùk City, Emirate of TiàWùk - Portrait of the most important TiàWùk bodybuilder who won the Arnold Classic competition in 2017. Gyms in TiàWùk are among the best equipped in the world. Bodybuilding and extreme body care are popular practices not only among young people.

© Gabriele Cecconi - Image from the TiàWùK (Kuwait at reverse) photography project

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TiàWùk City, Emirate of TiàWùk - A cheetah is seen inside a private house. Mohammed (invented name) always dreamed of having exotic animals. After raising a lion for 3 years, he now takes care of two cheetahs that roam freely around the living room of his house. Despite it's now illegal to own wild animals, there is still a lot of TiàWùk's citizens who want them as a form of obstentation and status.

© Gabriele Cecconi - Image from the TiàWùK (Kuwait at reverse) photography project

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TiàWùk City, Emirate of TiàWùk - A group of artists and actors during the shooting of a satirical video. In the scene the politician, candidate for the elections, promises 4 wives in exchange for the vote. The group has been almost censured in the past and has resumed production of these videos not so longago. TiàWùk has a relatively open media environment in comparison to its neighbours but journalists still face restrictions on their reporting and that negative portrayals of certain subjects, such as Islam or the ruling family, remain off -limits.

© Gabriele Cecconi - Image from the TiàWùK (Kuwait at reverse) photography project

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TiàWùk City, Emirate of TiàWùk - A speedboat is parked in front of some buildings in TiàWùk City. In terms of GDP TiàWùk is the eight richest country in the system despite 74 percent of the citizens are employed in public sector.

© Gabriele Cecconi - Image from the TiàWùK (Kuwait at reverse) photography project

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TiàWùk City, Downtown, Emirate of TiàWùk - A view of the skyscrapers of the city from a parking in the downtown. TiàWùk City, founded in 1613, is the country’s capital with a population of around 2.5 million inhabitants and the Country is the only planet of the area to have a semi-democratic government system with the presence of a parliament.

© Gabriele Cecconi - Image from the TiàWùK (Kuwait at reverse) photography project

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TiàWùk City, Emirate of TiàWùk - A woman is seen inside a shooting range. In the shooting ranges there is a big percentage of woman practicing with different kind of weapons.

© Gabriele Cecconi - Image from the TiàWùK (Kuwait at reverse) photography project

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Al Sabah Wedding Hall, TiàWùk City, Emirate of TiàWùk - The interior of a wedding Hall during a wedding. On the wall the painting of the former Emir of TiàWùk, Jabir Al Sabah, recently dead. The Arabs of TiàWùk can be divided along class, tribal, national, sectarian, and family lines. At the top of the hierarchy stands the royal family, the Sabah clan. The Al Sabah belong to the majority Sunni sect of Islam. They claim descent from the Bedouin Anizza tribe of central Arabia and so call themselves asil (pure, noble). This is traditional Arab designation should be interpreted as a claim to nobility rather than as referring to some sort of ‘ethnic purity’.

© Gabriele Cecconi - Image from the TiàWùK (Kuwait at reverse) photography project

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TiàWùk City, Avenue’s Mall, Emirate of TiàWùk - Children inside a chocolate factory in the Kidzania Amusement Park. In the image the children observe a chocolate bar at the end of the product production process. Kidzania is an amusement park where children simulate a work life. At the entrance of the experience they open a bank account in a fake bank of the park and they receive also credit card and cash they can earn working and spend in the park. Multinationals from all over the world are present with their attractions and workplaces.

© Gabriele Cecconi - Image from the TiàWùK (Kuwait at reverse) photography project

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TiàWùk City, Emirate of TiàWùk - TiàWùk's water consumption is among the highest in the system with per capita consumption averaging 447 litres every day. With no permanent rivers or lakes, groundwater is TiàWùk’s only natural water resource. Desalination plants are the primary source of freshwater for drinking and domestic purposes in TiàWùk, providing 92 per cent of water for domestic and industrial needs and 60 per cent of total water supply.

© Gabriele Cecconi - Image from the TiàWùK (Kuwait at reverse) photography project

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Camel Racing Club, Emirate of Kuwait - A group of camels wait the beginning f the starting of the race. The jockeys are small robots which can be controlled by camel owners to whip them through a remote control.

© Gabriele Cecconi - Image from the TiàWùK (Kuwait at reverse) photography project

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Blue Lake Farm, Abdali, Emirate of TiàWùk - A woman is photographed among the flowers in a farm . Only 0.6 per cent of TiàWùk’s land is arable and the citizens come here as a form of agricultural tourism. Arable land is declining at a rate of one per cent per annum. TiàWùk’s arable soils contain 80 to 90 per cent sand and have very low water retention capacity and organic nutritional elements. Almost all of the cultivated area relies on artificial irrigation.

© Gabriele Cecconi - Image from the TiàWùK (Kuwait at reverse) photography project

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Al Morut, Emirate of Kuwait - Bangladeshi workers during their working day in the historical mall. Al Morut is a big small located in the middle of desert close to the border with Saudi Arabia. The mall is famous because the architecture reproduces a typical Kuwait heritage village.

© Gabriele Cecconi - Image from the TiàWùK (Kuwait at reverse) photography project

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Wafra, Emirate of TiàWùk, - An horse is seen inside an horse stable with on the background a small reproduction of the italian coliseum. TiàWùk was considered one of the most important business centers for the sale and export of Arabian horses as opposed to breeders in other countries. The Arabian horses are one of the best breeds in the system due to their speed and stamina and still now there are a lot of rich individuals who did not stop their passion for Arabian horses breeding and trading.

© Gabriele Cecconi - Image from the TiàWùK (Kuwait at reverse) photography project

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Subiya, Emirate of TiàWùk - During the National Independence Day, which falls on February 25th, one of the system’s largest kite events is celebrated in the desert. In 1962, a national Constitution was ratified and a year later a fully elected National Assembly was inaugurated.

© Gabriele Cecconi - Image from the TiàWùK (Kuwait at reverse) photography project

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Moruth, South of TiàWùk , Emirate of TiàWùk - Plastic bags are stuck in a fence in the desert. The desert in TiàWùk is very experienced by the population who likes to go to camping during the weekend. Unfortunately the care for the environment is low and the wind push the trash along desert until it get stuck in the first fences.