Friday, September 3, 2010

Michael Jackson to live forever as an island in Dubai

September 25 2009

No less than three entries to Archinect and Bustler’s ‘Live Forever’ competition to design a monument to Michael Jackson have been proposed for Dubai.

Steven Ward of Louisville proposes a 25km long profile of MJ’s signature moonwalk profile as a new artificial island development extending from the tip of the Palm Jumeirah, creating “thousands of opportunities for Jackson’s legacy to inspire exciting new residential, leisure and entertainment centers in a variety of settings.”

Almost identically, New York’s Eigenvectors have applied the very same pose of MJ to the aerial view of Dubai, opening up huge new areas of development that they suggest would “include an airport, amusement parks, and many ranches.”

The Jackson Islands scheme by entrant Zsuzsanna deploys a high-contrast profile of the legend, creating mountains, residential districts and green fields surrounding a large lake spotted with islands in the shape of Michael’s facial features.

Despite the tenuous connection between Michael Jackson and land reclamation projects in the Gulf, each entry highlights Dubai as a place of unbounded possibility - perhaps it is the only place that projects like this could ever come to fruition?

Live Forever Competition

UPDATE

Thanks to the Crane Country blog over at The National for picking this up and also drawing our attention to Michael Jackson’s visit to Nakheel back in 2005. Photos from Nakheel - the real estate development company behind the major land reclamation projects in Dubai - show Michael inspecting a model of ‘The World’. So much for a tenuous connection, these bizarre proposals are almost starting to look contextual.

Filed under Culture, UAE
13 comments to...
“Michael Jackson to live forever as an island in Dubai”
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September 25th, 2009

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Al Manakh. Al Manakh said: Michael Jackson to live forever as an island in Dubai http://bit.ly/heDIp [...]


Mishaal
September 25th, 2009

This is a sick joke.


Dubai Property
September 28th, 2009

Interesting that 3 different entries proposing islands in Dubai!

Shows that Dubai has a worldwide reputation for making the unthinkable come true :)

Great blog - came here from Crane Country blog. Now following you on Twitter.


megan
October 7th, 2009

i think this is a GREAT idea


romi
October 7th, 2009

This is AMAZING! nothing like this has EVER happened. Now MORE tourists are gonna be visiting. Me being one of the. IT IS AMAZING! Thank you DUBAI!

LOVE YOU MOST MIKE! RIHeaven!


Lala 89
October 7th, 2009

That is going to be AMAZING beyond reason/


Mahra
October 17th, 2009

Huh seriously!!
i bet its a silly rumor
WHY DUBAI??


Dougy Fresh
November 17th, 2009

This just goes to show that they have too much “BLOODY MONEY”!!!! It’s a nice tribute to the pop artist, but damn! Can you hand me some of that MULA….I’m thinking of investing in your arttifical islands!!!


skize
November 17th, 2009

This must be the Middle-East version of April Fools Day … the other islands are cool - this would make Dubai a laughing stock for the sane, and a new Mecca for the loons …
Maybe they could call it Wacko Jacko Mecco ??
No, there’s only one place to build this - off the coast of his home state: Indiana, USA !!


Ferdz
November 18th, 2009

That is crazy!!! How about putting M.Jordan instead of M. Jackson.


Bryan
July 10th, 2010

Really love it!.. wemiss you M. Jackson.


Power House Property
July 27th, 2010

@Mahra Why dubai?

Beacuse dubai is a beautiful country, period.




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