Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind: A guided tour of contemporary Arab art and specialty coffee tasting

Kutubna Cultural Center, Dubai’s newest independent bookstore and cultural center, will host a multisensory coffee, art, and writing experience on Sunday, August 25, at 5 pm. The event will be held at Kutubna’s new exhibit “One Hundred Years of Painting: Art from 1916 to 2017” and feature works by award-winning artists.

This immersive experience combines a guided tour of the art exhibit with a tasting of curated specialty coffee from around the world – followed by a creative writing workshop. Six paintings by Khaled Ben Slimane, Najat Makki, and Ali Hassan will be paired with nine types of specialty coffee sourced from Colombia, Uganda, El Salvador, Ethiopia, and Brazil, roasted at Cazador Specialty Coffee Roasters. Cazador representatives will guide attendees through the tasting, discussing the notes and flavors of each coffee, and how these flavors correspond to the colors and emotions evoked by each art piece.

Coffee aficionados use the “flavor wheel” to identify the taste of different coffees. The flavor wheel is categorized by colors, so each color evokes a different tasting note. At this event, the colors in each painting are linked to different coffee flavors to create a multisensory experience (sight, smell, taste) for participants, as they look at the art while the coffee flavors fill their palate.

Following the tour and tasting, attendees will have the opportunity to join a writing workshop. This workshop offers a creative space where participants can reflect on the emotions stirred by the art and coffee and explore their thoughts through writing. Attendees will get a chance to express their creative side, channel their interpretation of the paintings combined with the coffee flavors, and write anything that comes to mind, be it poetry, prose, fiction, or nonfiction. Prompts will be provided, and aspiring writers of all levels are welcome to join.

The sensory experience allows attendees to connect on a deeper level with the art on display and the coffee types that are paired with it. They can also connect with fellow art lovers, coffee enthusiasts, and writers. Kutubna aims to build community and create an inclusive space for cultural exchange and creative expression.

The registration fee for the workshop is 50 AED. Registration can be done on the Events section of the website, www.kutubna.ae.